Questioning Skills

This course is aimed at helping attendees’ question effectively. The materials cover a range of basic techniques that can be adapted to any situation where questioning is necessary. We take the normal Inovra approach where attendees learn through a range of activities. There is also the opportunity to put into practice what they learn during the day.

Topics covered:

• Don’t Ask/Not Interested – Two short activities where participants experience what it is like when they speak and receive no feedback. This emphasises the importance of questioning during communications.
• Yes/No – This activity demonstrates the difficulties when the person answering questions supplies only limited answers.
• Types of Information – A brief explanation of the three main types of information that may be uncovered during questioning.
• The Funnel Technique – An explanation of a simple and logical questioning technique that can be applied to most situations. Participants then get the opportunity to practice the technique on each other.
• Refining the Funnel – We consider ways of making our use of the question funnel even more effective. We also consider whether open questions are always necessary to encourage open answers.
• Preparing to Question – Participants are encouraged to think about the preparation they should make before questioning someone. They are also given the opportunity to practice this.
• Preliminaries – We look at how we can prepare the other person so that they are encouraged to answer our questions.
• Lubricating the Question – In this short session we consider how we can encourage the person answering to give as much information as possible. We also briefly consider how we can control situations where the other person is talking much more than we need.
• The Motor Accident/The Green Eco Car – These two activities give participants the opportunity to put into practice what they have learned.