Why Strong Leaders Ask Better Questions

Research & Sources / Leadership & Decision-Making

Walk into a dark room with a flashlight. You do not light up the whole room at once. You point the beam, and wherever it lands, things become visible: a chair, a door, a box you would have tripped over. A good question is a flashlight. It lights up the part of a problem nobody was looking at.

Leaders are expected to have answers

Most people became leaders because they were good at answering. They solved problems fast, knew the product, had the right idea in the meeting. So when they lead, they keep answering.

The trouble is that answers close a conversation. Once the boss has said what to do, most people stop thinking. The team gets quicker at following and slower at thinking for itself. And the leader becomes the bottleneck for every problem.

What research shows about questions

Researchers at Harvard studied thousands of conversations and found that people who asked more questions, especially follow-up questions, were liked more by the person they talked to.¹ Questions signal that you are listening and that you care.

Alison Wood Brooks and Leslie John, who summarised this research for leaders, found that questions also help people learn and exchange information, and that most of us ask far fewer than we should.²

And in the large Google study of what makes managers effective, being a good coach and communicating well, which includes listening, ranked among the most important behaviours. Technical expertise mattered, but it was only one of many.³

Five questions that change a meeting

“What problem are we really trying to solve?” Teams often argue about solutions to different problems. This question puts everyone in the same room.

“What would have to be true for this to work?” Instead of arguing yes or no, you list the conditions. Then you can check them.

“What are we not seeing?” An open invitation to bring up the uncomfortable thing.

“What do you suggest?” When someone brings you a problem, this hands the thinking back, without leaving them alone.

“And what else?” The first answer is rarely the full answer. Asking again often brings out the real one.

The art of the follow-up

The most powerful questions are often the second and third ones. Someone says “the project is a bit behind”. The first question might be “how far behind?”. The better follow-up is “what is getting in the way?”. And the best might be “what would help most right now?”.

Each follow-up moves the flashlight a little further into the room.

Questions are not a trick

Questions only work if you really want to hear the answer. A leader who asks “what do you think?” and then does what they planned anyway teaches the team that questions are theatre. So ask fewer questions if needed, but mean every one of them, and let the answers change what you do.

What this means for you this week

• In your next meeting, ask at least three questions before you give any opinion.
• When someone brings a problem, ask “what do you suggest?” before answering.
• Use one follow-up on every important answer you hear.
• Write down one decision this week that changed because of an answer to your question.

You do not need to light the whole room yourself. You just need to know where to point the flashlight.

Sources

1. Huang, K., Yeomans, M., Brooks, A. W., Minson, J. & Gino, F. (2017). It doesn’t hurt to ask: Question-asking increases liking. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 113(3), 430-452. doi.orgPeople who ask more questions, especially follow-up questions, are liked more by their conversation partners.
2. Brooks, A. W. & John, L. K. (2018). The Surprising Power of Questions. Harvard Business Review. hbr.orgHow the type, tone and sequence of questions shape learning and relationships in business conversations.
3. Google re:Work. Following the data: The research behind great managers (Project Oxygen). rework.withgoogle.comBehaviours of Google’s most effective managers: coaching, empowering, communicating, a clear vision; technical skill is only one of them.