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Whatever your role in transformation, asking effective questions is a skillset that improves understanding, aids scrutiny and strengthens evidence-based decision making.
Whatever your role, asking effective questions is a skillset that improves understanding, aids scrutiny and strengthens evidence-based decision making.
You are likely to need to use different types of questions in different circumstances. Some examples of different question types and their uses are below.
Types of questions
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Open ended questions |
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| Cannot be answered with a simple yes or no. | Useful when you want to encourage explanation. | Example: "What do you think about the new development?" |
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Closed questions |
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| Require a yes or no response. | Useful when you need a definitive answer. | Example: "Did you achieve the forecast rise of customer satisfaction by 10% within the timescale?" |
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Fact seeking questions |
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| Questions that require a specific, factual answer. | Useful when you need clarity on the facts rather than opinions. | Example: "What is the cost of the ICT solution each year?" |
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Follow up questions |
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| Come after an initial response to get more detail. | Useful when more information or understanding is needed. | Example: "Please can you explain more about..." or "When you say ‘customer service improvement’ what exactly do you mean?" |
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Probing questions |
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| Often ‘why’ questions, but may also look at how. | Useful when you need to develop greater understanding of reasons or motivations for actions or recommendations. | Example: “Why do you think option A is preferable to Option B?” |
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Hypothetical questions |
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| Questions that encourage critical thinking. | Useful when you want people to open up to new possibilities and avoid existing constraints. | Example: "If you could design the service starting with a totally blank sheet of paper, what would you do?" |
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Reflective questions |
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| To encourage personal insight and reflection. | Useful when you want someone to reflect on their own thoughts, experiences or personal biases. | Example: “How has your past experience of transformation shaped your thinking about how we approach this work?” |
Top tips for effective questioning
- Ask one question at a time: Avoid asking multiple questions at once as this can lead to a confused response.
- Be clear and specific, for example: “Can you describe to me how the 20 per cent savings will be achieved in more detail?” rather than “Paragraph six, tell me more about that.”.
- Use different questioning techniques to achieve the outcomes you need – see the section above.
- Be polite / curious rather than accusatory: “I’m curious about...”, or “Let me understand more about the approach...” rather than “Why are you doing it this way?”
- Avoid leading questions: “Surely you think that....?”
- Listen carefully to responses.
- Don’t be afraid to follow up if you need to seek clarification or build your understanding.
- Ask for examples – can you give me an example of where this has worked well?
Questions to ask when things don’t go as planned
Transformation comes with risk and things can change that means plans need to adapt during projects and programmes.
Assuming effective governance is in place, Cabinet members and committees should be kept updated on progress, risks and changes that may be needed to aid effective decision making and to ensure appropriate scrutiny.
When things need to change, portfolio holders and Committee members may benefit from asking additional questions such as:
- What are the alternatives available to us within the cost envelope?
- What are the options, including stopping, pausing, or doing something different? What are the pros and cons of each?
- What are the root causes of the change, and how do we learn lessons to enable us to mitigate similar risks in the future?
- What assurance do we have that we can pick up early warning signs as we move forwards?
- How do we communicate this change of plan and who needs to know about it?
- What might the unintended consequences of the change be?
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