Better Questions = Psychological Safety for Learners

By Brett Barker

Psychological safety is something that needs to be built and worked on everywhere. As a teacher and student, there is one common thing I see often in trainings that will damage the sense of safety for almost everyone in the class, and that is the teacher asking a question that they have a specific answer for.

We've all experienced this. I'm pretty sure this is how almost every teacher asked questions when I was going through school, the teacher has taught you about how cells work and the teacher says "What is the powerhouse of the cell?" and students are expected to give their answer in front of the class. I hate being wrong, I hate being wrong in front of people, and I hate being told I'm wrong when I am trying to learn. Guess how often I participated in class... (WRONG! I was very vocal. In some classes. Ok, you were right)

Unfortunately, this method has continued in corporate training, and it does not work. Imagine you're in a class about Business Agility (Oh hey, here is one coming up on the 6th of September) and the teacher says "During what meeting do you commit to what will be getting done?" You, who have been paying close attention and want to participate raise you hand and say "Daily Standup!" and the teacher says "Wrong."

How did that feel? You gave an answer because you were pretty sure you were right, but got shot down in front of the entire class because your answer didn't match what the teacher was looking for. (You were right by the way, there can be multiple meetings where you commit to what will get done.)

Think about how you would feel if the next person to answer also got it wrong and was just shot down.

Would you even try to engage after that?

Do you feel like the teacher is trying to get you to read their mind? Are you feeling supported in your learning? And really, I would love to hear answers here, because I don't have a correct one, I really want to know how this feels for you.

There is a better way though, and that is to not ask questions that have a set answer.

Ask questions that spark dialog instead of a right or wrong response! Ask questions that let your students share with you what they don't understand without being told they're wrong!

Lets try our question again, and see if we can get a better result. How about "We've discussed the need to make clear commitments, can you give an example of when a good time would be in the sprint to do this with the team?" and sure, someone could give an answer that doesn't fit like, "In the Demo!" but you don't have to reply with "wrong," because you don't have a set answer in mind. You can reply with, "Ok, tell me where you would be making these commitments in that meeting?" and find out why they think that way. Then instead of saying, "You're wrong," if they don't understand the concept you say, "Alright, I see that there might be a challenge with this because you generally don't create or assign work in the demo, how would you work around that?" and let them think. The students can continue discussing and learning, no one gets shut down.

Ask questions that spark dialog instead of a right or wrong response! Ask questions that let your students share with you what they don't understand without being told they're wrong!

So next time you're in a class, whether teaching or learning, keep an eye out for questions with a set answer. They might help with regurgitating facts, but almost never help with gaining real understanding!