Are you frustrated by employees who don’t seem particularly motivated or engaged? Folks who grunt out one-word responses to your questions? Who show zero curiosity about the what/how/why behind a project or task?
When we hear ag-industry managers and leaders complain about having monosyllabic, disengaged employees, we respond with a question … about questions. We want to know: What questions are you typically asking your team members?
Closed questions create big problems
When you ask the following questions, their answers are usually easy to predict:
- Do you understand?
- Do you have any questions?
- Does this make sense?
These seem like reasonable questions to gauge if employees know what’s expected of them, right? The problem is such closed questions typically elicit one-word answers. A short “yes” or a “no” doesn’t reveal how much someone understands, or doesn’t understand, an assignment. Nor does it shed light on what an employee believes to be the task at hand, since there may be a gap between what you intend to communicate and what your team hears.
Another problem? When leaders ask closed questions, employees may assume you don’t want, need, or value their input, which inevitably hinders creative thinking and innovation on your team. Worse yet, as these negative assumptions take root, workers feel undervalued and unappreciated … and ready to find a new boss.
It’s a vicious cycle that can jeopardize success at every level.
Open-ended questions for the win
Fortunately, a different approach to asking questions ensures both clear communication AND genuine engagement. The key is to ask open-ended questions.
Here are some examples of open-ended questions:
- What’s your understanding of the project?
- What’s going well for you?
- What challenges are you facing?
- Will you tell me more?
You can see how open-ended questions invite conversation and discussion and create space for a deeper exchange of ideas and information. These probing questions don’t just give employees “permission” to request clarification or more information about a project or task; they actually encourage it.
Perhaps most crucially, asking open-ended questions ensures everyone on the team is on the same page. Such alignment is essential for individuals, teams, and entire companies to reach milestones and achieve big-picture goals.
An approach that works everywhere
We love open-ended questions so much that we encourage people to use them at work, at home, and anywhere. For proof of their power, we point to Liz Wiseman,
People Spark Consulting answers the call for HR, leadership and strategic planning advice.
Liz is also a dynamic speaker. In her talk (starting at 14:15 mins), she describes the chaos of getting her two-, four-, and six-year-olds to bed. A coworker suggested she shift tactics. Instead of ordering the kids around, why not ask them questions?
Liz accepted the “Extreme Question Challenge” and transformed bedtime from chaos to calm. Next, she decided to stop barking orders to her work team and start asking them questions — and letting them provide the answers. It was an a-ha moment that “forever changed” how Liz led.
Clearly, even seasoned leaders can learn new tricks. That’s why we encourage supervisors and managers to pay close attention to their communication style and consciously ask open-ended questions. This small shift makes a big difference when it comes to building teams, and companies, that thrive.
