Types of Questions

There are four basic types of general questions: direct, indirect, open, and closed. An additional twenty different specific types of questions are variations of these four basic types. They may be asked in such a way as to make them fit under any one of the four basic types.

The kinds of questions that will become part of the normal repertoire of any individual manager will vary, depending on the role and position that a person holds in an organization. The most effective managers I have seen have always been able to meet difficult situations with a new question—one that the management team is not used to hearing. In other words, they always seem to be able to summon a different type of question when it is needed.

In my experience, most of the questions used in business are direct and closed—a reflection that “answers” are the primary preoccupation of management. There is nothing wrong with this as long as consideration is given to asking open questions (for example provocative, hypothetical, and divergent questions) when the appropriate opportunity arises.

For example, examining market opportunities is a time for more open-ended questioning, whereas closed questions are probably useful when evaluating root-cause analysis in a product failure. However, there are no rules. Many different types of questions can be creatively applied to situations to yield new insights, ideas, and action plans.

The purpose of this introductory discussion about questions is to provide a creative approach to considering what and how questions are asked. Even though there are a few basic types, the manager ought not to be limited by thinking that a limit exists.

Think of this list as a starting point for growing more questions.

39 Direct Questions

Most questions should be direct. Why? It is the easiest form of question to understand. A direct question is more likely to yield a direct answer. Managers generally have little patience for respondents who are long-winded, unclear, or indirect when answering a question, so why ask questions that suffer those same flaws?

Asking a person a direct question by his or her name, especially in a meeting or public setting, is a positive practice. Notice during any presidential press conference that the chief executive often tries to do this when he calls on people, even though he is the one answering the questions. When you are in control of a meeting or when you are participating as a member of a management team, you have a share of the control by virtue of your position. By calling on people by name, you are exercising the positive attributes of control.

Calling on a person by name is a form of recognition. If the question is direct (easy to understand, clear in what you are asking, and so forth), the person you call on will feel good about answering. Of course, in some situations, direct questions make people feel uncomfortable, too, but the purpose of the direct question is always to get a direct answer.

40 Indirect Questions

In some situations, a manager wants to avoid sounding too onerous. For example, a problem might have occurred where it is less important to fix blame than it is to fix the problem. Alternatively, in other settings, there might be a need to pursue a relaxed or less-intense approach to getting answers because of the personalities of the people involved. In these cases, the indirect type of question can prove helpful.

The “I wonder” mode of questioning is a good one to consider. It is indirect in that it doesn’t require a specific answer, and it is also open, allowing for the maximum degree of freedom in response. It was good enough to drive a Nobel laureate physicist²³ to discover the behavior of matter, it ought to be good enough to help us in the more mundane aspects of driving a business.

A statement rather than a question appears last on the preceding list. Many statements are just questions in disguise, as is this one. Responses may vary from head nodding in assent or disagreement, to people responding with comments. Either way, a response is what a manager is looking for. If none is offered, a direct question can always be asked. This is as indirect as a manager can get.

These questions all stay on topic but avoid defining the nature of the answer.

41 Open Questions

If you want to maximize the opportunity for any type of response, a direct open question is the method of choice. They are generally received positively and communicate a willingness to listen to whatever is answered in return.

Open questions allow for broad dialogue and free discussion. They are designed to draw out the maximum in response.

Open questions provide the best method for avoiding surprises in business. I have yet to meet a manager who really liked surprises, either good or bad. They all want to learn, in real time if possible, what is happening. The relatively neutral forum created by the use of open questions can allow employees to raise issues that might be circulating just below the surface of managerial awareness:

Q: Where do you believe the next competitive threats will come from?

Q: How can we learn about our customers purchasing preferences more quickly?

Q: “Well, Watson, what do you make of this?”²⁴

Open questions are not designed to yield “yes” or “no” answers. They are asked specifically to avoid yes or no, and are usually asked to provide an unrestricted general direction.

42 Closed Questions

Closed questions are direct question tools. They are generally used along with other types of questions. An entire discussion of closed questions can get tedious, unless it is a session devoted to examination of facts or conducted to probe specific events. Closed questions are used to ask for specifics: facts, opinions, details, or descriptions.

Q: What time was it when you arrived at the office this morning?

This question is completely closed. Although the respondent might know that you will ask about tardiness, or extol the virtues for arriving early, there is really only one option. You answer the question. The manager may or may not have a follow-up, and it might be a different follow-up question than the respondent is thinking about. That is why it is recommended that closed questions be answered as if under cross-examination.

The following question types discussed in this chapter are just variations of the four basic types of questions (open, closed, direct, indirect).

43 Stupid Questions

There is no such thing as a stupid question. People might do stupid things, or have stupid ideas (which lead them to do doing stupid things). Questions, by their very nature, are expressions of ignorance, not stupidity. Asking expresses an interest in learning. Even when a question is asked as a way of teaching a respondent to think or provide an answer that a teacher, for example, may already know, the question is educating the respondent and providing the instructor with information about that individual.

One often quoted expression that the “stupid question is the one that goes unasked” is popular, but it’s not the question that is stupid. So, any time you hear someone express the sentiment that the unasked question is stupid, don’t be taken in.

A person can be acting stupid by not asking a question that cures ignorance. All of us are likely to have some personal experience with unasked questions. In the product meeting described in “Introduction: Questioning Is the Skill of Management,” although I asked “too many questions,” there were many questions I did not ask in this first meeting of a product development team that I had ever attended. The ones I did ask, although good questions, might not have been the wisest choice. They exposed the foibles of a group of senior managers who had been so successful that they had started to take success for granted.

From my current vantage point, I can tell that I was both ignorant and stupid. My questions were direct and closed. Had I considered asking other types of questions, or taking a different approach, the company might have avoided wasting more time and money. That particular meeting would very likely have ended the same way—with no decision. However, the members of the team might have been willing to listen to my questions.

That is all speculation and unimportant except as an object lesson. What is important for all managers to consider is how to avoid reflexive questioning and apply more thought to the situation.

The person might be ignorant of the answer, but the question is always smart.

44 Filtering Questions

A question asked specifically to exclude extraneous information is a filtering question. It is a type of closed question most often employed as a follow-up question or when probing for information.

45 Double-Direct Questions²⁶

The double-direct type of question is an exception to many of the rules noted earlier. It is a type of compound question, which puts words into the mouth of the respondent while leading down the path of inquiry chosen by the questioner. However, if done correctly, it is clear, easy to understand, and should yield good answers.

46 Hypothetical Questions (If, What If, Suppose)

The use of hypothetical questioning is a great technique for expanding beyond the limitations of a discussion. You can use these questions for a number of tasks: test strategies, consider alternatives, disagree without disagreeing, allow a minority opinion, and so on. (However, you must take care not to act on the hypothetical answers.)

Remember this advice when using the hypothetical. If, in one of the early examples, the senior manager had asked for a hypothetical answer on the potential size of the new business opportunity, she probably would have gotten the same magnitude of response. However, given her behavior (she had asked for a lie), it is unlikely that she would have acted any differently. She would probably still have treated the hypothetical answer as a potentially factual one.

Considering a change in strategy? Try introducing the idea with a hypothetical question rather than a direct assault on the issue.

47 Provocative Questions

Use provocative questions when you are probing for information that the respondent may or may not part with willingly. Provocative questions do just that: They provoke. They issue a challenge to the respondent. The intended respondent either meets it, attempts to ignore it, or attempts to redirect it. A good provocative question will not be ignored, however.

These questions can be open or closed, but most will be direct. It is difficult to be provocative in an indirect fashion.

Provocative questions are also used to expand the thinking of a group. They can also be used to attack a problem, stimulate a moribund staff, and challenge the current management if you are a member of the corporate board of directors. Questions that provoke are too often thought of in negative terms.

They need not be argumentative or negative in nature. We often think of provoking as a negative attribute. In the case of a manager attempting to shake up an organization, get attention focused on the problem in a hurry, or just to engage everyone in the conversation, a question can be used to provoke or stimulate creative thinking.

48 Rhetorical Questions

Rhetorical questions are asked for effect. Answers are not wanted. These are questions that contain the answer—by implication. The problem is that in many instances, this kind of a question can backfire and result in an answer the manager might be unprepared for.

A rhetorical question can, and often does, backfire when confronted with a wise-ass. “Are you always looking for trouble?” can lead a respondent to answer “yes.” The manager in this situation now has to confront an employee who may be looking for a conflict, or this person may be the corporate version of the class clown.

Before asking a rhetorical question, it is always a good idea to consider how a person might react.

49 Reflective Questions

Reflective questions do exactly what the name indicates: They ask the respondent to reflect—to look back on a decision, on an event, a change in direction, or on information. The implication is that there is a lesson to be learned by doing this.

50 Leading Questions

A discussion of leading questions is included under strategies. A leading question, although it can be deployed by itself, is usually part of a strategy—a plan for delivering a specific message or finding a way to get people to focus on the issue of importance.

When used by attorneys or by journalists—Do you still beat your wife?—it is designed to be more of a trick question, to entrap or to generate a response that provides a reporting opportunity.

Leading questions are really not recommended. Although they find their way into business situations in many instances, their use may be viewed negatively.

51 The Pause as a Question

One of the most effective tools for eliciting more information—the pause—can be used in place of, or as part of, a question. When a comedian delivers a punch line, it is often set up by a pause. Setting up a question can work in much the same way.

It alerts all listeners to something different (and different is often interpreted as important) coming. The pause provides a natural break between a remark and a follow-up. It also serves to reinforce whatever the opening remark was because it requires the listener to make a note of it so that it is remembered in the context of whatever is coming next. If you think this is too subtle, just try using the pause and see what kind of responses you get, either from the pause itself or the question that follows.

One of my fellow managers had the uncanny ability of raising one eyebrow so that it almost appeared to be a question mark framed against his nearly bald head. He would start a question such as “Is it a question of resource availability (raised eyebrow)....” This act generally precipitated a deluge of information. After his staff got wise to the technique, he then started to use the pause as an exclamation point, and then follow up the rest of the question, raising his eyebrow at the end.

Q: Was it a question of resources availability (pause) or, was the system overwhelmed because of inadequate planning?

Although it appears to be a bit of a theatrical technique, managers are often called on to “play a role,” whether large or small, in a meeting.

52 Silent Questions

A pause can act as a question during a statement, but the silent question is deafening in the way it can deliver a message. A research manager in a high-tech company used this method of asking her engineers questions all the time.

When data was presented that she was uncomfortable with, or just plain made no sense, she would lean forward and shrug her shoulders, opening her hands up as if to say “What?” However, she spoke no words. She would then wait for a reply. Although she used this practice quite a bit, it never failed to deliver—as long as she was in her element. The engineers had adapted to her style by responding just as if she had verbally asked.

When she employed this technique when speaking with the marketing organization, she tended to get silent replies. She then switched to the more common form of communicating verbally—asking a question to get a response.

A silent question, although an effective tool in many circumstances, does not provide any hint of what you need for decision making or what thought processes you might be focusing on.

The important point here is that the manager is empowered by the other person when using a silent question or gesture as an interrogative. This is an interesting dynamic in that, as in the preceding example, the marketing folks just sat and looked at her and waited her out. It could be that they had seen her in action before, or it could be that they really just wanted her to commit. In any case, it’s a technique best used in situations considered friendly.

53 One-Word Questions

One-word questions are not used often enough. People feel compelled to expound on why they are asking or attach a preamble to their question. A one-word question might be a bit theatrical, but the situation may call for it. Shocking news that has you in disbelief might yield a “Really?” or a “What?”

The side benefit of one-word questions is that they are open—as open as can be. They do not limit the kind of response and, therefore, allow the greatest possible latitude in reply. Their use also does not disclose any preconceived notion of the interrogator manager.

Not every setting is a good one for single-word questions. They can also become habit forming if effectively used by a senior manager. In a mid-sized company, a taciturn former operations manager had risen to take over the company. In doing so, he brought along his habit of asking one-word questions whenever he could. After a while, the questions wore very thin on his staff. Although he added the appropriate number of words, he took refuge in single words whenever he could.

The impact it had was to force people into presentation formats that enabled the questions of their leader, rather than the leader recognizing the kind of queries needed by management. Performance of this company remained mediocre.

54 Clarifying Questions

A clarifying question is another type of a closed question whose purpose is to make information understandable. Some managers use clarifying questions to refine the message they are hearing. Others use them as a way of building a case for a difference of opinion. Senior managers and leaders of companies or organizations often use clarifying questions as a tool to influence people rather than order their organizations to take specific actions.

Think of a clarifying question as a “Robert’s Rules of Order” type of query. Legislative bodies use these rules to control the process of interaction common to the houses of lawmakers. A hierarchy of these kinds of questions establishes the concept that one type of query takes precedence over another in a debate or ordered discussion. Although effective, this process is not conducive to management.

One thing that you should be aware of and avoid is the use of clarifying questions to manipulate the comments so that they align with what you want to hear. A division director of an electronics business continually manipulated his staff with questions to “clarify what was meant by...,” causing distrust to grow among the talented managers of his group.

He was overly concerned with any message in any presentation that did not perfectly align with what he had already explained or told to senior management. He would ask clarifying question after clarifying question. “Tell me exactly what this means.” Or “Could it have meant...?” And then he would go on to describe what he wanted the response to be.

His personal strategy worked very well. He did become an executive officer in a company—a company that has done very poorly since his arrival. (The performance of the firm might be completely unrelated this individual, but his habit of clarifying everything he hears remains.)

55 Divergent Questions

Divergent questions are used to expand the number of possibilities without changing the subject. These questions usually change the perspective of participants or the direction of the discussion.

Every discussion in a business has a number of different constituencies. Instead of thinking like a business if a discussion is stuck on a particularly knotty issue, some creative managers often find it interesting to ask what other constituencies might have to say about the same issue?

This may include government, beer distributors, public policy groups, military, stockholders, and so on. One manager always used to ask her teams what consumers would think about the product if they knew about it. This was a company that produced materials for industry and was many steps removed from dealing with consumers. The manager was very sensitive to the fact that any misstep by a business they supplied could result in liability for her business, too. So, she used to ask her teams about this possible exposure. This technique changed the perspective of the teams. Although it is impossible to determine whether this line of questioning had a positive impact on the business, it certainly sensitized the organization to consider the external perspective at all levels in the business.

There are many ways to move off the beaten path with new lines of questioning. What the manager must be aware of ahead of time, before diverging, is the following:

• Do you have the time to diverge?

• Do you have a strategy for converging again once the diverging process takes hold?

• Are you prepared to actually go off in a new direction? Avoid using diverging questions if there is no real interest in the end results of the discussion.

• What is the purpose of diverging? Sometimes it is simply to let people vent or explore. If this is the case, the manager should say so to avoid building expectations beyond the intent of the manager to deliver.

56 Convergent Questions

Convergent questions are used to move toward uniformity, to develop consensus, or to move to a decision. Converging brings all the discussion, ideas, and factors together to close out the issue under review.

These questions can end a discussion that has taken place over a considerable length of time, such as for months, or a discussion that has lasted only a few minutes.

It’s often necessary to draw a discussion to a close but to avoid doing it in a way that chokes off all debate. The gerbil versus the sunflower example actually closes debate. So, the approach taken to converge might be started by the manager by following two different paths of questioning:

1. The manager could ask about the testing criteria as a way off introducing the need to converge, which is often a good strategy to follow. Signaling that you are ending the discussion is often wise. It allows for final points to be made and provides the opposite sides, if there are any, to sum up their arguments.
2. After asking the signal question, a follow-up could be used to make a comparison of two sides (gerbil versus sunflower). If the discussion has no sides, asking for a participant in a discussion to identify the key issues is another way to move forward toward convergence.

57 Redirecting Questions

A redirect question refocuses attention on the questioner’s issue of choice and away from whatever the respondent is discussing. It is an effective tool to steer conversations around indirect answers and to avoid confrontations.

Redirecting is also a way to disagree with what was said without actually having to disagree. It also reduces the creep of the unrelated subjects into the conversation. In addition, a manager can use a redirect without exposing his or her personal bias for the information just covered. You might want to dismiss it, or return to it later. The redirect opens these options.

58 Negative Questions

Negative questions have a limited purpose; they are positioning questions. They work similarly to a personal-positioning question except they are asked in a way that negatively positions an issue, a set of facts, an action, a plan, or a proposal.

The negative question may also be used in a similar manner to the rhetorical question with the answer already in it. The answer being requested in this type of a question is a negative one that is in agreement with the premise of the question. The management purpose of this use of the negative question might be to chastise, point out the deficiency of a system, or to criticize in an indirect manner.

Q: Have we not done the mailing on time again? (or, even better: Is the mailing late again?)

59 Either/Or Questions

Either/or questions can be used in variety of ways. They can help assess opinions, make decisions, poll a group, force a commitment, or narrow the number of choices.

In the following example, John, the vice president of a business, is speaking to his boss, the chief executive officer. Because of an environmental problem with his business’s highest-volume and highest-earning product, John needs to find a replacement in a hurry. His research budget has been increased by 50 percent. At his last meeting with his boss, he had narrowed his choices to four. At this meeting, the CEO expects to hear which of the four John is going to recommend.

CEO: John, why do I see a list of six possible replacement products?

John: That’s the short list. R&D has indicated that there may be as many as 11 possible replacement candidates.

CEO: John, we had agreed to make a decision today on which one was going to be our leading candidate and one backup, did we not?

John: Yes, but....

CEO: Yes, but I see a list of six.

John: One of these other candidates might be the best alternative for us in the long run.

CEO: John, if you had to choose either the original list of four on the left or the two possibilities on the right, which list would you work on?

John: I would work on the original list.

CEO: For our two candidate products, either you are prepared to make a recommendation or someone else will make the choice. Which is it?

John made his recommendation. In defense of John, he was trying to do what he thought to be in the best interest of the business in the long term—choose the product with the best possible outcome. In defense of the CEO, he was doing what was in the best interest of the business in the short term. After all, without a short term, there is no long term.

60 Loaded Questions

Q: So, Mr. Enron, if the company was going to do as well as you projected, why did you cash in all of your stock?

All questions are loaded to a certain extent. If managers follow the guidelines recommended in this book, some thought is always given to the answer before any question is asked. This anticipation loads the question to a certain extent. A load is a hidden meaning, an implication of something other than what the respondent may intend, or a method of obtaining a response that might be unintended by the respondent. However, the true nature of the loaded question is to find a way to break down an argument, position, plan, statement, or story.

Loaded questions differ from trick questions. They are clearly marked as “loaded.” The best example of a loaded question is the one the press asks every president who is ever confronted with a potential conflict. It goes something like this:

Q: So, Mr. President, does this mean you are ruling out the use of force?

Any answer is going to get the president into hot water with someone. Yes, no, maybe, perhaps. These kinds of questions in the political arena are designed specifically to develop a headline. There is little value to the actual answer itself, whereas a trick question is designed to deliver a valuable answer.

61 Trick Questions

Employing trick questions or attempting to expose something by trapping respondents during a business discussion is not recommended. Unless a manager is in a particularly contentious discussion or in heated negotiations where there is little risk in damaging anyone’s sensitivities, it is unwise to attempt trick questions. If the veracity of the speaker is in question, probing around factual issues is a better path to follow. Trick questions are entrapments.

Examples of a few tricks and traps are included here to acknowledge their existence, but their use is not recommended.

The “wife beating” question is commonly found in cross-examination textbooks and in jokes about lawyers’ behavior in the courtroom. It typifies the kinds of questions used by attorneys when they know they will not be working in a business setting with the person whom they are interrogating. The business environment is not the best place to use this approach.

62 Dual-Answer Closed Questions

Some questions have two possible responses—both are acceptable. Typical of these questions are yes/no, agree/disagree, and male/female questions. Market research surveys use these types of questions to develop information for statistical or qualifying purposes. The answer is important to develop demographic information or to qualify the respondent for further questions in an area of expertise. Any answer within the parameter of the options the questions permits is acceptable to the person asking. These questions are almost always designed to lead to more questions for clarification.

63 General Reference Questions to Keep Handy

One basic rule should be followed in all business settings. And, although it seems like common sense, it’s worth mentioning before we discuss good questions: Before asking any question, the manager must know what to do with the answer.

Thinking of questions is both a conscious and an unconscious act. Developing good questions takes work. However, some shortcuts exist. Keeping a list of questions around to help you in many different kinds of business settings might prove useful. So, here is a list to keep around in case you need them:

What do you mean by that?

What does that mean?

What difference does it make?

What are our options?

How would you decide?

Why?

Can you explain?

Do you know whether there is a problem?

What should we expect?

Have we ever seen this before? Where? When?

How much more is possible?

What are the limitations?

How do we know?

Why do we see changes?

How did it get that way?

To what extent is this supported by experience?

What do you mean by your assertion?

How long have we done it this way?

How much more does it cost?

What is the incremental difference?

What are the alternatives?

What if we tried to approach this from another angle?

What is likely to happen if we are successful in accomplishing this objective?

What should we expect?

Who is taking responsibility?

What if this doesn’t work?

What if it works better than expected?

Why are we doing this?

Add to this list if you like and carry it around tucked away for that moment when you are asked to attend a meeting, it’s late, you are not prepared, and you need to play an active role in the discussion.