Totally fair, Paul. I actually agree with you. "Would you like fries with that?" doesn't need to be changed to be an open question - I just need to be offered a choice, and to make it. But the contexts I'm thinking about are where conversation is needed to develop better understanding - and in those situations, while a closed question can sometimes serve a purpose, I find open questions move the conversation much further.
Very true. As a I.T. professional, Project Manager, Incident Commander or Team Lead working in an Emergency Management environmet, we often need to assess situations quickly in order to respond.
In many cases, we have a decision tree, and need specific inputs to determine our course of action.
In these cases, we are not asking "Bad Faith" questions, we are gathering the data we need to make decisions.
Over the past few years I find myself after the response having to go back and make sure nobody got offened by the questions or the pace at which we move.
Love a "Good Question", but sometimes a question is just a question.
Examples: Is the power on? Are you in a safe place? Can you see the door?
You're totally right, Danny. I agree that sometimes you just need an answer. This is especially true in high reliability organizations and moments of urgency/crisis/need. I think the key difference is, you're not trying to start a conversation there. When you want to start a conversation, an open ended question will almost always do it better.
"Closed-ended questions" have gotten a bad rap. There are many times you want a yes/no answer.
Totally fair, Paul. I actually agree with you. "Would you like fries with that?" doesn't need to be changed to be an open question - I just need to be offered a choice, and to make it. But the contexts I'm thinking about are where conversation is needed to develop better understanding - and in those situations, while a closed question can sometimes serve a purpose, I find open questions move the conversation much further.
Very true. As a I.T. professional, Project Manager, Incident Commander or Team Lead working in an Emergency Management environmet, we often need to assess situations quickly in order to respond.
In many cases, we have a decision tree, and need specific inputs to determine our course of action.
In these cases, we are not asking "Bad Faith" questions, we are gathering the data we need to make decisions.
Over the past few years I find myself after the response having to go back and make sure nobody got offened by the questions or the pace at which we move.
Love a "Good Question", but sometimes a question is just a question.
Examples: Is the power on? Are you in a safe place? Can you see the door?
You're totally right, Danny. I agree that sometimes you just need an answer. This is especially true in high reliability organizations and moments of urgency/crisis/need. I think the key difference is, you're not trying to start a conversation there. When you want to start a conversation, an open ended question will almost always do it better.
Totally agreed!