Got a Question?

You'll find it embedded in nearly everything you read about effective management communications: Ask Questions. It's almost the background music that comes with the advice.

That makes it easy to ignore or overlook the importance of asking questions when communications advice is being dispensed.

But, in all likelihood, most businesspeople seldom look for lessons about asking questions. They rely on OJT to hone their question asking skills. That can lead to uneven results.

Questions will happen without much forethought. They can come across as less that thoughtfully considered.

On other occasions, they're merely performative. Their only purpose is to demonstrate the questioner's prior knowledge about the subject. We've all attended events when, before the floor opens for Q&A, the moderator implores the audience "to make sure your questions contain a question."

Questions matter.

Questions are central to management communications. They matter. Deliberate and incisive questions make us more productive.

They take you beneath the surface of a marketing plan, a product strategy review, a presentation of the last quarter's financial results, the annual strategic plan, and even that performance review with your supervisor.

Good questions serve two purposes. They contribute to your understanding of the subject under review. At the same time, they let you know whether those making the presentation fully understand the subject, too.

Effective leaders ask questions.

They're especially important when leaders engage with their subordinates.

It's deceptively efficient to simply tell people what to do, but it risks having them shut down rather than contribute to the task at hand, Edgar Schein explained in his book, Humble Inquiry: The Gentle Art of Asking Instead of Telling, (Barrett-Koehler Publishing, 2013).

To encourage new ideas, avoid mistakes, and maintain a team's competitive agility, leaders need to ask well-crafted, thoughtful questions, he said.

Whatever the business setting, a leader's questions should be intentional and meant to serve a purpose.

Ask your way to a job.

The job search and recruiting process is almost entirely question based.

It starts with the HR manager who will scan the resume you submitted and question the details. Or perhaps that chore will be completed by an algorithm. Either way, it's a matter of questioning.

It then carries into the interviews.

They can be tricky experiences. Way too many hiring managers are lousy interviewers. They ask few questions and spend most of the time talking. (That includes the guy who hired me for my very first job. But to be honest, I still treasure the memory of his profound wisdom in offering me that job!)

Or sometimes an interviewer relies entirely on a static checklist of questions prepared in advance.

To break through with a less skilled interviewer you might have to do some "self-questioning." Take the initiative and raise an issue that the interviewer hasn't brought up framed as a question, and then answer it by explaining how you handled the issue in the past.

But be careful. In their article. "The Surprising Power of Questions," (HBR, May-June 2018), Alison Wood Brooks and Leslie K. John cite a study that suggests that many interviewees "excessively self-promote during a job interview."

They actually end up forgetting to ask questions.

One tactic Brooks and John recommend that can get you into question-mode is to simply ask the interviewer, "What am I not asking you that I should?" That question can signal competence, build rapport, and uncover useful information about the company or the job, they said. It might also speak to your self-confidence.

Questions are the lubricant that keeps businesses running efficiently.

Whether you're a leader, a team member, a customer, a vendor, or even that job applicant, everyone will find themselves asking questions. Here are a few other suggestions to keep in mind:

• Ask open-ended questions. They're more likely to reveal valuable information, and they don't back people into a yes-no corner.
• Ask follow-up questions that will yield more information. They also show people that you're listening and respect their views and insights.
• Avoid two- and three-part questions unless you're in the White House press room. Multi-part questions can lose focus.
• Be thoughtful about how you order your questions. Whether to start with the hard questions or instead build up to them depends on what you're trying to achieve. Check out Brooks's and John's HBR article to get some interesting advice on how to be strategic with your question order.

Questions forge human connections.

Some of the most interesting stuff on the topic portrays the art of questioning in decidedly human terms. David Brooks's book, How to Know a Person," which I discussed in an earlier post, encourages us to be curious about other people and to ask questions that connect us with them.

Edgar Schein says that questions build "a relationship based on curiosity and interest in the other person."

Alison Brooks and Leslie John believe that "the wellspring of all questions is wonder and curiosity" and that asking questions can be a "transformative" experience. Others offer similar views.

In this moment, when many are obsessing over the potential for generative AI to assume roles traditionally the province of flesh and blood beings, it's worth noting that the simple act of asking questions remains a human endeavor that can strengthen the connections with others in our careers and our lives.