How Technical Facilitators Can Avoid Provoking Others When Asking Questions

Technical facilitators should avoid provoking others when asking questions to maintain respect, productive effective communication, and create professional relationships. However, there are situations where provocative questions can be effective. For technically trained professionals, the balance lies in knowing when to use respectful inquiry to foster collaboration and when to employ pointed questions to drive necessary change and innovation. The bottom line is to ask powerful questions. This article discusses how to avoid provoking others when asking questions.

The A in CATER

The mental model CATER provides five ways to move your facilitation from good to great. CATER stands for CATER – Communicate, Ask, Trouble, Exercises, and Rhythm.

The A in CATER addresses asking powerful questions.

Powerful questions lead participants to active thought, debate, and compelling results. Weak questions do the opposite. Introductory questions and clarifying questions are the two major classes of powerful questions.

Sometimes, I am asked to provide the opposite of asking powerful questions. I cite a couple examples, but my response to facilitators is, “Avoid making people mad. Your job is to lead groups to solutions that are created, understood, and accepted by all.”

Eight Tips for Facilitators

1. Avoid Leading Questions

A leading question assumes an answer. People who ask leading questions want to confirm agreement or get the other person on the record. In other cases, the questioner pushes their agenda by directing the conversation. While sometimes harmless, leading questions don’t allow for varied responses or new information.

Tip: The strength of questions is learning something new. Don’t steer someone to a specific answer if their opinion is valuable. Keep your question clear, simple, and unbiased.

2. Respect Space – Don’t Ignore Clear Signals

Good questioning involves reading the room. Noticing verbal and nonverbal cues matters. Understanding what is not said is often more important than what is said in the answer.

Tip: If someone seems uncomfortable, respect their space—you won’t get honest answers anyway. Making someone uneasy will not build trust or help you learn what you need over the long run.

Tip: Do your homework. This applies to all questioning, but in business settings, there will be boundaries of comfort between technical information and organizational positions. Understand in advance, to the degree you can, where the comfort boundaries will be.

3. Don’t Ask “Yes” or “No” Questions

Questions that require only a “Yes” or “No” are good for confirming information but not advancing the conversation. To keep the dialogue flowing, ask questions that encourage the mutual exploration of ideas.

Tip: You can easily turn closed questions into open ones. Instead of asking, “Did your analysis indicate we should move forward?” ask, “What did your analysis tell you about our future direction?” Instead of asking, “Is there a high level of risk?” ask, “What are the primary sources of risk, and what do they mean?”

Tip: Good communication often requires patience. Allow the other person time to think and formulate their responses. Avoid interrupting or rushing them, as this can create pressure and hinder their communication ability.

4. Be Mindful of Timing

The timing of your questions can significantly impact the quality of the responses you receive. Avoid asking complex or sensitive questions when the person is clearly busy, stressed, or distracted. Choose a moment when they can give you their full attention and respond thoughtfully.

Tip: Use personality profiles to better understand when to accelerate or when to back off. A driver personality type will tend to provide quick answers, but those answers will not be well thought out and may not be productive. A structured personality type is likely to clam up to avoid conflict. An influencer will want to check with others before giving a difficult response.

5. Avoid Making Statements

The expectation is that you are asking someone a question because you want their opinion. Stating your opinion before you ask others for theirs is demeaning and disrespectful. And no one really cares if you agree with their opinion, especially if you have more to say about the subject than they did.

Make the conversation about the person you are asking questions. Turn your statements into questions.

Tip: Clarify and summarize. To make sure you understand the answers correctly, it’s helpful to summarize what the other person has said. This can be as simple as saying, “So, if I understand correctly, you’re saying that…”. This confirms your understanding and shows the other person that you value their input.

6. Adapt to Different Communication Styles

People have different ways of expressing themselves. Some might be more comfortable with direct questions, while others prefer a more roundabout approach. Tailor your questioning style to suit the communication preferences of the person you’re speaking with to make them feel more at ease.

Tip: Study communication. Most technically trained professionals have limited training in soft skills. No one becomes a great questioner or communicator overnight. There are many good resources available, including those from Communicating with FINESSE.

If You Want to Piss Off Someone…

Provoking others can sometimes be effective. Some reasons to do so include challenging complacency, revealing motivations, encouraging critical thinking, breaking through denial, and spurring innovation.

When choosing a provocative approach, carefully consider the context and potential consequences. Good questioning should gain desired information but not unnecessarily alienate or create conflict.

Asking Better Questions

This article provides ways to improve your questioning techniques and build more meaningful, effective facilitation. There are situations where provocative questions can be more effective. However, the bottom line is that avoiding provoking when asking questions is important to maintain respect, produce effective communication, and create professional relationships. Communicating technical information and facilitating collaboration in business environments is a long game.

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