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Transcript
What is a good question? That is a good question.
Why is “What is a good question” a good question? Because it’s something that I’m curious about and I’m guessing that you’re curious too because why else would you be spending your valuable time watching this video or reading the transcript?
So in my mind, a good question is something that you’re curious about. You want to know the answer.
Interestingly though, according to the dictionary, a good question is a question that is hard to answer immediately. I think yes, I agree with this in the case of coaching, for example.
So if, as a coach, I asked the coachee a question and coachee pauses to think — “Hmm…” — and then responds, that’s a good question because it’s got the coachee to think, maybe see things from a different perspective, learn something for themselves.
It’s also the case in meetings, for example, if everyone is moving harmoniously in one direction toward a solution and then you ask a question and that causes people to pause, and to question their assumptions, and as a result you may get to a better solution than the one that you were initially moving towards.
So a good question can be something that is hard to answer immediately.
However, if we say that that is the only kind of a good question, it really raises the bar. It makes it very difficult to think of what is a good question. What is it that’s going to be hard for the other person to answer immediately?
And if you’re the sort of person who already hesitates a little bit to ask questions, why make it more difficult for yourself?
So my suggestion is to think of a good question as something that you are curious about. Because if you get the answer to something you’re curious about, you have more knowledge, you grow, you can make a better contribution — maybe in your workplace, maybe in the world — so that’s a good thing.
You may though be thinking, “Ah, but what will other people think about my question?”
What if other people judge or criticize? So actually it’s probably not going to happen as much as you think it’s going to happen.
But sometimes it does. Sometimes there are people who judge and criticize.
And if you find that, if someone judges you or criticizes you for a question that you ask, that is more of a poor reflection on them than it is on you because what it suggests about them is that they are closed-minded. They’re not willing to help you to grow by asking your questions that you’re curious about or maybe they’re insecure and they want to make it look like they’re more superior to you by judging or criticizing your question.
So don’t worry about those people. Think about yourself and focus on your growth.
The more that you ask questions, the more ideas for questions will pop into your mind and that gives you more and more opportunities for growth.
If, to start with though, you’re struggling to come up with some questions to ask, I’ve created a list of 25 questions that you can ask in meetings to make meetings more meaningful. So you can start with this list, look at what you might find useful and start asking questions from there.
So I hope you think that these are good questions. You can download them from the link below — completely free. I hope you find it useful.
Here’s the link: 25 Questions to Make Meetings More Meaningful.