The five types of questions that make a difference

Are you asking the right questions? My colleagues Arnaud Chevallier , Frédéric Dalsace and Jean-Louis Barsoux at 瑞士洛桑国际管理发展学院 (IMD) - 商学院 published a very insightful and important article in Harvard Business Review . Please read the full article or listen to the podcast.

https://hbr.org/2024/05/the-art-of-asking-smarter-questions

https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/are-you-asking-the-right-questions/id152022135

I took a summary from their online version of the article. All credits remain with the authors.

With organizations of all sorts facing increased urgency and unpredictability, being able to ask smart questions has become key. But unlike lawyers, doctors, and psychologists, business professionals are not formally trained on what kinds of questions to ask when approaching a problem. They must learn as they go. In their research and consulting, the authors have seen that certain kinds of questions have gained resonance across the business world. In a three-year project they asked executives to brainstorm about the decisions they’ve faced and the kinds of inquiry they’ve pursued. In this article they share what they’ve learned and offer a practical framework for the five types of questions to ask during strategic decision-making:?

Investigative: What’s Known?

When they are facing a problem or an opportunity, effective decision-makers start by clarifying their purpose—asking themselves what they want to achieve and what they need to learn to do so. The process can be fueled by using successive “Why?” questions, as in the “five whys” sequence devised by managers at Toyota.

Speculative: What If?

Whereas investigative questions help you identify and analyze a problem in depth, speculative questions help you consider it more broadly. To reframe the problem or explore more-creative solutions, leaders must ask things like “What if…?” and “What else…?”

Productive: Now What?

Productive questions help you assess the availability of talent, capabilities, time, and other resources. They influence the speed of decision-making, the introduction of initiatives, and the pace of growth.

Interpretive: So, What…?

Interpretive questions—sensemaking questions—enable synthesis. They push you to continually redefine the core issue—to go beneath the surface and ask, “What is this problem really about?” Natural follow-ups to investigative, speculative, and productive questions, interpretive questions draw out the implications of an observation or an idea. After an investigative question, you might ask, “So, what happens if this trend continues?” After a speculative question, “So, what opportunities does that idea open up?” After a productive question, “So, what does that imply for scaling up or sequencing?”

Interpretive questions come in other forms, too: “What did we learn from this?” “How is that useful?” “Are these the right questions to ask?”

Subjective: What’s Unsaid?

The final category of questions differs from all the others. Whereas they deal with the substance of a challenge, it deals with the personal reservations, frustrations, tensions, and hidden agendas that can push decision-making off course. Volocopter’s CEO, Dirk Hoke, once told us, “When we fail, it’s often because we haven’t considered the emotional part.”

If you neglect this mode of questioning or fail to push hard enough in it, your proposed solution might be undone by subjective reactions even though your analysis, insights, and plans are sound.

What’s Your Question Mix?

The questions below are taken from the self-assessment we use with executives and their teams. Our wording here is very direct to avoid ambiguity, but you’ll want to be more diplomatic in practice. Reflect on the five sets of questions and think about which ones come most naturally to you and which feel less comfortable, rating them on a scale of 1 (not part of my repertoire) to 5 (one of my go-tos). Compare the totals for each section and focus your attention on the lowest-scoring sets.

Investigative

• What happened?
• What is and isn’t working?
• What are the causes of the problem?
• How feasible and desirable is each option?
• What evidence supports our proposed plan?

Speculative

• What other scenarios might exist?
• Could we do this differently?
• What else might we propose?
• What can we simplify, combine, modify, reverse, or eliminate?
• What potential solutions have we not considered?

Productive

• What is the next step?
• What do we need to achieve before taking it?
• Do we have the resources to move ahead?
• Do we know enough to proceed?
• Are we ready to decide?

Interpretive

• What did we learn from this new information?
• What does it mean for our present and future actions?
• What should be our overarching goal?
• How does this fit with that goal?
• What are we trying to achieve?

Subjective

• How do you really feel about this decision?
• Are there differences between what was said, what was heard, and what was meant?
• Have we consulted the right people?
• Are all stakeholders genuinely aligned?

By pinpointing the strengths and weaknesses in your interrogatory styles and considering the five types of questions we’ve outlined, you and your team can make smarter strategic decisions. You’ll be more likely to cover all the critical areas that need to be explored—and you’ll surface information, insights, and options you might otherwise have missed.

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