What makes a question productive?
The best indicator is in the very first word. A productive question usually starts with one of the following words:
• How
• What
• When
• Why
• Who
It’s the difference between a command—which leaves little wiggle room for discussion—and an open invitation to communicate.
Here’s an example:
John knows his team needs to work on communication together. He could either:
A. Tell his team to work harder at communicating effectively with each other during a meeting.
C. Ask his team, “What makes communication as a team effective?” or “How can we do better at communicating as a team?”
Which option do you think will result in a more productive conversation?
They say no question is a bad question, yet not every question is productive. Learn the difference in my LinkedIn Learning course, How to Ask Productive Questions: davecrenshaw.com/questions.
