For most of my corporate career, I asked questions to get answers. What’s the status? What’s the risk? What do you need from me? Those are good questions. They’re efficient, they keep work moving, and leaders need to ask them every day.
When I began training as a coach, I learned there’s another kind of question — one that isn’t designed to get information for the person asking, but to create insight for the person answering.
What makes a question powerful
Powerful questions tend to share a few traits:
- They’re open. They can’t be answered with yes or no.
- They’re short. The fewer words, the more space for thinking.
- They point forward or inward. “What do you want?” or “What’s really going on for you here?” rather than “Why did that happen?”
- They’re asked without an agenda. The moment I have an answer in mind, the question becomes a leading one.
Compare “Have you thought about delegating that?” with “What would it take for you to let go of this?” The first is advice dressed as a question. The second invites the leader to discover something about themselves.
A few of my favorites
- What’s the real challenge here for you?
- What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail?
- What are you not saying?
- What would the leader you want to be do next?
- And what else?
That last one — “and what else?” — may be the most useful question in leadership. The first answer is rarely the whole answer.
Try it this week
In your next one-on-one, resist the urge to solve. Ask one open question, then stay quiet longer than feels comfortable. Notice what the other person discovers when you give them room. It’s often more than you would have told them.