To enhance your feedback skills, it’s essential to develop your ability to ask thoughtful questions. These questions should provide deeper insights into the individual you are interacting with—whether they are an employee, colleague, or supplier—and their work, thoughts, and feelings. To effectively conduct a feedback meeting or interview, it’s vital for the interviewer to possess both strong listening skills and the ability to ask the right questions.

As leaders, we should dedicate significant time to both asking questions and providing answers. However, many of us may not be fully aware of our questioning techniques. In particular, open questions can pose challenges, which is unfortunate since they are crucial for effective communication. If you find open questions difficult to formulate, practicing small talk can help you become more comfortable and ease into the main conversation.

Questioning Skills

Asking the right questions provides structure to your feedback session. Here are some general guidelines to consider:

Pose one question at a time, rather than attempting to address everything simultaneously.

Use simple, clear language that won’t intimidate your conversation partner.

Keep your questions concise; avoid questions longer than two sentences. Instead, break them into shorter, more manageable questions.

Frame your questions positively. Rephrase negative questions to foster a more constructive dialogue.

Utilize open-ended questions to gather more comprehensive information instead of relying on closed questions.

If answers are incomplete, follow up by probing for additional details.

You can prepare for the conversation in advance by determining the types of questions that align with your objectives. Design your questions to help you achieve any of the following:

• Gather information
• Build consensus
• Direct the conversation
• Begin wrapping up the discussion
• Collect opinions

It is helpful to have some good questions ready that relate to the feedback conversation. List some ideas below.

To improve your communication skills, consider the following types of questions.

Good Questions

Open-Ended Questions

 Open-ended questions are broad inquiries that require your conversation partner to provide more than a simple “yes” or “no” response. These types of questions allow the other person to decide how much information to share.

Open-ended questions can achieve the following:

• Provide more detailed information
• Encourage your conversation partner to express themselves freely
• Invite individuals to share their opinions and ideas
• Help clarify whether others have accurately interpreted your messages

Here are some examples of open-ended questions that can be effectively used in a formal feedback or performance evaluation meeting:

• “In your own words, how would you assess your accomplishments this quarter?”
• “Can you share more about your concerns?”
• “What support do you need from me to reach your goals?”
• “What can I provide to help you achieve our objectives?”
• “How do you perceive the development of the project?”

Hypothetical Open Questions

Hypothetical open questions offer your conversation partner the flexibility to choose how to respond to a constructed but plausible scenario. These questions allow you, as the interviewer or leader, to tailor your inquiries to specific situations. Here are a couple of examples:

• “Let’s switch roles for a moment. If you were the supervisor of this department and someone approached you with a complaint similar to yours, how would you handle it?”
• “Imagine you discovered a process that could save you one hour of time each week. What activities do you envision engaging in during that hour?”

Direct or Specific Questions

Direct questions are concise inquiries that typically require at least a short response and may include “yes” or “no” answers. They are useful because they limit the scope of the response, making it easier for some employees compared to facing numerous open-ended questions. Here are a few examples of direct questions:

• “Is the accusation against you correct?”
• “Did you achieve your top priority this year?”
• “Do you believe you deserve a promotion?”

Closed Questions

Closed questions can be answered with a brief response, typically just a “yes” or “no.” They can help conclude a conversation or confirm specific details, but they generally do not foster deeper discussions or gather extensive information. The benefit of closed questions is that they give you control over the inquiries and the types of answers you receive, allowing for quicker interpretations and responses.

However, closed questions do not encourage detailed explanations or allow the other person to express their feelings about a situation. If your goal is to elicit more comprehensive responses or to encourage someone who is frustrated to share openly, it’s best to avoid closed questions. Here are some examples of closed questions:

• “Does this upset you?”
• “Do you consider this appraisal fair?”

To reframe these questions for more depth, you might use the following open-ended prompts:

• “Can you describe how you feel about this situation?”
• “What are your thoughts on this appraisal?”

Third-Person Questions

Personal or sensitive questions can be presented in a less daunting way by referencing a third party. For example, instead of asking, “Do you find the raise fair?” a supervisor might ask, “How do the employees in our department view the fairness of the raise?”

It’s crucial to listen carefully to the response to determine if it reflects their personal opinion, which is typically what you’re aiming for. You may also need to pose follow-up questions to obtain more comprehensive information.

Poor Questions

Here are some question types that you should be cautious of using.

Loaded Questions

Loaded questions are those that lack a definitive answer and often provoke an emotional reaction. Skilled interviewers typically avoid these types of questions, as they can derail the conversation and may even have negative repercussions. Here are some examples:

• “Have you stopped drinking yet?”
• “Are you still hard to get along with?”

Leading Questions

A leading question tells your conversation partner what you really want to hear in their answer. All that you learn by asking these questions is that the employee has figured out how to give you the answer that you want; the “correct” answer. Examples include:

• “I don’t think you’ve been working up to your potential. What do you think?”

“You don’t mind helping Annie with her assignment, do you