Question: I am one of many these days; made redundant last year. But I’ve been lucky; I decided to strike out on my own and I now provide Consultancy services in the Information Management area. That used to be called I.T. but there’s a lot more to the business these days what with Information Security, use of ‘The Cloud’, Client Relationship Management etc. I’m doing okay thus far, although it is a constant struggle. I was told by one Client recently that I need to improve my questioning skills. This Client is important to me so I have read a little about the value of open versus closed questions, how to probe or dig for deeper meaning and the effective use of silence but can you suggest some simple yet effective questions that I can use? Val

 Answer: Val, I know you are in a high tech area and I know you have excellent technical expertise but know this one fact; you will not build an effective and profitable long term relationship (with this or any other Client) without meaningful Communication. And that is impossible without good question skills. The means and methods of Communication have become ever more sophisticated but in reality it is the humble question that provides most value. That question must be thoughtful and thought provoking. The questioner must be considerate and considered. You must realise there’s no quick fix here. Good questions require good listening. Good listening requires thought, patience and time. And generally you need to be ‘face to face’ with your Client. Rather than looking for a ‘menu’ of perfect questions you need to think about what it is you are looking for and how best to go about that.  

As a Consultant your first priority must be how you can help your Client. So you should Ask thought provoking questions, e.g.  “Help me understand why this is so important to you?” “Can you describe for me what a perfect situation might be?” Building on this you might try to Dig deeper, e.g. “What needs to be changed?” “What is the meaning of this?” “Can you tell me more about …” These are sometimes called Probing Questions.

Remember ‘Listening’? You have to show the Client you heard and understood so ‘Reflecting’ or ‘Paraphrasing’ is required, e.g. “So from your perspective the issues are … is that right?” If you get positive replies to this you can then progress to Generate alternatives, e.g. “You mentioned … how about these additional options…?” “How might this work …?”

I would suggest that you Avoid “why questions” e.g. “Why did you do that?” Why didn’t you…” It seems to come across as accusatory. Instead of “Why don’t you ..?” try; “Where would you …?” I would also recommend that you do not over use “closed or yes and no” questions, as they tend toward a passive state – a lack of real involvement.

Assuming you have established a ‘mutual understanding’ of the situation you can proceed to the next stage. As Consultant or Advisor you want to Empower and Encourage action, e.g. “What would you like to do?”  “How can we help you best?” “What should we do next?”

 A man called Edward Hodnett said; “If you do not ask the right questions, you do not get the right answers. A question asked in the right way often points to its own answer. Asking questions is the A-B-C of diagnosis. Only the inquiring mind solves problems.” Your business is solving problems isn’t it, Val? To solve problems you need to get answers. You’ll get better answers if you ask better questions.