Framing Questions for Impact

Debbie Lively:

Questions have a lot of depth to them and how we ask them is so critical. I think the one that’s the most important to me is the non-judgmental. Because if we are judgmental, that discourages that conversation. And I just wanted to give an example of that. Now, this doesn’t sound like a bad question if you say why did you do it that way? Or I wonder why you did it that way or why, but if we want to be truly non-judgmental, it might be better to frame it. And a question doesn’t always have to be a question, but this one is here. But if you are able to redo your lesson, I wonder… And I wonder all the time what you might in the word might do differently next time. Those are keywords, wonder and might in questioning and instead of using would or could I always change and reframe and use the word might because might again allows that brain to take more risks.

So if you were able to redo your lesson, I wonder what you might do differently next time. All right, so questions there are thought provoking. They should generate energy like, “Oh I want to participate.” They should really focus on that inquiry and reflection, and they should really allow for risk taking. Those questions really are powerful.