what is a trustA Lot of an executive's workday is spent Asking others for advice --asking status updates from a team leader, for example, or
questioning a counterpart in a tense negotiation. Yet unlike professionals like litigators, journalists, and doctors, that are
taught how to ask questions as an important part of their training, few executives consider questioning as a skill that can be
honed--or consider the way their own replies to questions can make conversations more productive.
That is a missed opportunity. Questioning is A uniquely powerful tool for unlocking value in organizations: It hastens learning
and the exchange of thoughts, it hastens innovation and performance improvement, it builds rapport and trust among staff members.
And it can mitigate business risk by uncovering unforeseen pitfalls and hazards.
For some folks, questioning comes readily. Their natural inquisitiveness, emotional intelligence, and ability to see people place
the ideal query on the tip of the tongue. However, most of us don't ask enough questions, nor do we pose our queries in an optimal
way.
We naturally improve our emotional intelligence, which then causes us much better questioners--a virtuous cycle. In this guide, we
draw on insights from behavioral science research to research the way the way we frame questions and choose to answer our
counterparts may influence the outcome of conversations. We offer guidance for choosing the best kind, tone, arrangement, and
framing of questions and for deciding what and how much information to share to reap the most benefit from our interactions, not
only for ourselves but for our organizations.
Do not Ask, Do Not Get
"Be a good listener," Dale Carnegie informed in his 1936 classic How to Win Friends and Influence People. "Ask questions the Other
person will enjoy replying." Over 80 years later, most folks still When one of us (Alison) started studying Discussions at Harvard
Business School several years ago, she quickly arrived At a foundational insight: Folks don't ask enough questions. In Reality,
among The most common complaints people make after having a conversation, such as an Interview, a first date, or a job meeting,
is"I need [s/he] had asked me more Queries" and"I can't believe [s/he] didn't ask me any questions."