Do Your Questions Invite People to Participate?

Engagement seems to be one of the hot topics in business lately. The reasons why it is important are everywhere, but how do you do it?  How do you help people participate? How do you help them become part of the effort?

A key step is asking questions that invite people to participate. Posing good questions can help you engage your team, develop shared perspectives and collective goals, inspire future possibilities and inform smart decision making.

Start with engaging questions.  Pose questions that ask and inspire people to explore their insights and share their perspectives. Engaging questions can foster energy by inviting people to participate, focusing on what is working and what can be achieved.

Here are a few questions to help you get started.

  • Why is this important to you?
  • What information, if you had it, could help develop the solution?
  • What is holding us back on this effort?
  • What have we accomplished so far that is supporting our success?

There’s a great HBR blog post today, Make it OK For Employees to Challenge Your Ideas, that highlights the value of asking questions and listening. If you are going to ask a question, be sure you are really ready to listen.

Have a favorite question, please share it.  Building a question bank is key to becoming a strong questioner.

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