All employers need to find out information from their staff from time to time whether that’s recruiting a new team member, managing performance or handling a disciplinary meeting.

The art of asking the right questions is certainly one worth mastering, and can be the difference between a good and poor outcome.

So what are the right questions?

  • Open questions – any question that starts with one of the old favourites: How, Why, What, When, Where or Who?
  • Conversation starters – “Tell me more about…”
  • Single questions – at all times avoid asking more than question at once – how will the employee know which one to answer?
  • Probing questions – follow up on vague answers with extra questions to tease out more information – don’t just leave it
  • Emotion seekers – sometimes eliciting the employee’s feelings is helpful “How do you feel about that?” Why do you think that?”
  • Non leading questions – no matter how tempting avoid asking questions where it is obvious what you want the answer to be – they are pointless
  • Silence – yes, I know that isn’t strictly a question, but the power of silence is enormous. To cover the quiet very often an employee will speak and you can gain a great deal from sitting back and listening

What question gets the best results for you?

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