This 7-point question asking strategy will make you better at every part of your job

This 7-point question asking strategy will make you better at every part of your jobThis 7-point question asking strategy will make you better at every part of your jobAsk yourself If you could interview like Cronkite, would you get more value from your meetings?Would your mentors become more valuable?Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreWould your chance encounters with executives in elevators and thought leaders in conferences yield action items and relationships?The answer is yes.As someone who had little to no experience in businessoutside of running my own one-man freelancing operationall thats really saved me (so far) from madness are the skills I used as a journalist, says Evan Ratliff, who wrote for magazines likeThe New Yorkerbefore founding his startup,The Atavist. One of those skills, he says, is being able to formulate questions that deliver useful answers, whether from a dvisors or clients or whomever.Good questions move your business, organization, and career forward.They squeeze incremental value from interactions, the drops of which add up to reservoirs of insight. Of all the skills entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs canlearn from journalists, the art of the expert QA is the most useful.The problem is, most of us ask terrible questions. We talk too much and accept bad answers (or worse, no answers). Were too embarrassed to be direct, or were afraid of revealing our ignorance, so we throw softballs, hedge, and miss out on opportunities to grow.But we dont have to.The following advice can make you a much better interrogator, not to mention conversationalist1. Dont Ask Multiple-Choice QuestionsWhen people are nervous, they tend to ramble, and their questions tend to trail off into series of possible answers. (Whats the most effective way to find a good programmer? Is it to search on Monster or to go on LinkedIn or to talk to people you know or uh uh ye ah, is it to, umis there another job site thats good?)Youre the one with the question why are you doing all the talking? Terminate the sentence at the question mark. Its OK to be brief.2. Great Questions at aGlanceDont ramble onterminate the sentence at the question mark.Get comfortable with silence.Start with who, what, when, where, how, or why for more meaningful answers.Dont fish for the answer you want.Stop nodding if you dont understandask a follow-up instead.If you get a non-answer, approach it again from a different angle.Rephrase the answer in your own words.Dont be afraid to ask dumb questions.On that note, learn to be comfortable with silence. Allow your respondent to think dont jump in with possible answers after a few seconds pass. You wont get answers if you keep talking, and youll rarely learn anything if you offer all the answers.Questions that start with who, what, where, when, how, or why have high probability of thoughtful responses, whereas those that begin with w ould, should, is, are, and do you think can limit your answers. (Of course, if youre trying to limit an answer to yes or no, you can do that, but if youre seeking advice or stories, opt for open-ended questions.)GoodWhat would you do?BadWould you do X?TerribleWould you do X or Y or Z or Q or M or W or?Adding a simple what to a bad question beginning with do you think is all it takes to generate an open-ended response. Practice asking questions that begin with the 5Ws (and H) to turn duds around.3. DontFishThe really bad questions are leading onesthe questions where youre fishing for a particular answer, says veteran journalist Clive Thompson, who writes forWiredandThe New York Times.You have to avoid those at all costs.First of all, if you know the answer, why are you asking?If youre seeking confirmation on something you already suspect, ask objectively, and ask directly. Youll come off as confident (and less of a chump), and youll get more honest answers.GoodDo you likeSpotifys new discovery feature?BadWhat do you think of Spotifys terrible new discovery feature?4. Interject With Questions When NecessaryStopping a conversation to ask the right questions is far superior to nodding along in ignorance, Ratliff says.A good journalist will steer a conversation by cutting in with questions whenever they need to. This helps rein in ramblers and clarify statements before the conversation gets too far ahead to go back. Notice how great interviewers like Larry King or Jon Stewart maintain control of their conversations its almost always through polite interruptionsnot with things they want to say, but with questions that keep the QA on course.Mature people will rarely be upset by interruptions that let them continue talking. To the contrary, additional questions make people feel like theyre being listened to.5. Field Non-Answers By Reframing Questions LaterJournalists are used to speaking with publicists and well-rehearsed businesspeople with whom its often hard to pin down to get a straight answer. Sometimes non-answers are delivered deliberately often theyre the results of simple rambling. (How many times have you forgotten the question halfway through your response?).In these cases, you can follow up with either a direct question (So, how many dollars per month will this cost?) or by slipping in a variation of the question later into the QA. Journalists often have to warenmuster from multiple angles before unlocking the information they need. As long as you are sincere, you wont come off badly if you ask clarifying questions about the same sorts of things. You wont come out as empty handed either.6. Repeat Answers Back For Clarification Or MoreDetailIf youre getting vague responsesor complicated ones for that matterrestate the answers in your own words. (So, your software will email me any time there are important news stories in my industry?)This will typically yield either a definitive thats correct, or clarification with extra detail. Eithe r way, its useful for getting a precise answer.I know some people who deliberately misparaphrase respondents answers in order to incite quick, and often less careful, responsesor in some cases catch someone whos lying. (Be your own judge of when and whether you feel comfortable employing such tactics.)7. Dont Be EmbarrassedThe worst kind of question is the one left unasked.Theres typically no point in pretending you know something when you dont, Ratliff says. As a reporter, the goal is to gather information, not to impress your subjects. Youd think it would be different in business, but its not.People are much kinder than we often give them credit for.And if you ask a bad question from time to time, its okay. It happens to the best of us. Legendary business thinker Seth Godin writes, in response to my query about how to ask good questions Im not sure I have a useful answer for youWANT TO WORKSMARTER?Ive created a little cheat sheet for how to uselateral thinkingto change your work a nd life. Its battle-tested and free.Get the cheat sheet hereThis article first appeared on Medium.