How do we make smarter, more strategic decisions? Through better questioning.

In the Art of Asking Smarter Questions, in the May-June 2024 Harvard Business Review, Arnaud Chevallier, Frédéric Dalsace and Jean-Louis Barsoux identify inquiry as one of the most powerful skills a leader can develop to drive smarter, better, more collaborative decision making, and show us exactly which ones we should be asking.

They introduce this idea by laying the foundation for where true innovation and ideas emerge: innovation doesn’t happen from the top, it happens when those in leadership source, invite and welcome ideas by probing and asking questions in a posture of curiosity. Your team, your workforce, have the best answers. You just need to ask.

They note a rise in “Question storming” – “brainstorming for questions rather than answers,” and argue that the questions that get you in trouble? “The ones you fail to ask.” Successively asking “How?” can also help you transcend generic solutions and develop more-sophisticated alternatives.

So what types of questions should we be asking?

Investigate: “what’s known” – clarifying purpose, what do you want to achieve and what do you. Need to learn in order to do so?

Speculative: “what if” – identify and analyze a problem in depth

Productive: “now what?” – assess the availability of talent, capability, time, resources

Interpretive: “so, what?” – sensemaking questions that allow for synthesis

Subjective: “what’s unsaid?” – personal reservations, frustrations, tensions and hidden agendas

Two of my favorite quotes from the article:

“As a leader, you’re responsible for noticing missing perspectives and giving people a chance to contribute.”

For Gilles Morel, the end goal is clear. “I want to create a questioning muscle within the team.”

For me, this article was powerful because it put into words so much of what I see to be true in my context every day, that the people closest to the problems are also the people closest to the solutions. But you can’t get there through assumptions, or through one-way-communication. Partnership is about getting clarity around what the best next step is, in community, and you gain that clarity through honest and open dialogue with questions that draw people and ideas out.

One of the ways I am learning how to do this both with my kids and in my wider work is to build curiosity into how I think and work. That truly is the foundation: being genuinely curious and open helps others know they will be listened to.

I love thinking about solutions, but I am working very hard to come at problems with curiosity, recognizing that the answer will lie not in my thinking alone, but in community and from a posture of openness and listening.

How to actualize this in your life and work:

This week, before offering your opinion in a meeting, try asking one more question to yourself or others:

• What am I missing?
• Who hasn’t spoken yet?
• What would someone closest to this challenge say?
• What assumptions are we making?

Wait three seconds:

After someone answers a question, wait three more seconds before speaking. People often continue thinking, add nuance, or share the insight they almost kept quiet. Look out for deeper thinking and better answers after the silence. I am still working on this, but every time I do it, I learn more and I build better!

Replace advice (at first) with curiosity:

I get asked a lot for advice. Here is how I am trying to get better: rather than giving it – initially, I try to ask just one or two more questions. Instead of, “here is what I think you should do…”, I ask “What have you already tried” or “What is making this the most difficult for you?” and help guide people to their best answer. You can mix in your perspective, but often people know what to do or why they need to do it, they just need to hear themselves say it.

What would you add? How are you developing as a better questioner? Share your thoughts below!!