Great questions are key in action learning approaches
Asking questions is a discipline and skill which can be
practiced in sets. Here are some which help:
Clarification
What are you trying to do?
How do you see it?
What is the difference between the current situation and the way
you would like it to be?
Who will be affected if you are successful?
Who might help you?
What obstacles do you envisage?
Where might you get useful information?
Probing
Can you explain?
What exactly?
How do you now?
Can you give an example?
What happened…and?
Because?
Everyone?
Always?
Who are 'they'?
How do you feel?
What assumption are you making?
Is that assumption stopping you?
What are you expecting to happen and why?
What are the consequences of doing that?
What is your instinct about what is going on?
What was the high point for you?
What was the low point for you?
What has been your key insight from this situation?
Action
So what can you do next as a result of this discussion?
Where could you get more information about this?
Who else could you talk to that might have an interest in
this?
What are you going to do next?
What are your options for action now?
What are you going to do for yourself before the next meeting?
Questions that lead to insight
What is it that is challenging about this issue?
What opportunities can you see in the situation?
What would success look like?
What part of the problem needs working on urgently?
What have you thought of already?
What have you tried? Why did/didn't it work?
Who have you involved?
Who can give advice and information on the difficulty that you are
facing?
General questions
How can we help you to make progress?
What if…?
How do you think the person would respond if…?
When you talked about that person/thing, you seemed excited. Is
that right?
How do you feel about…?
What do you think about…?
What inner conversations are you having?
How helpful are our questions?
What metaphor could you use to describe the situation?
What would happen if you did nothing?
Great Questions
What are the effects of this on others?
Is there another way of working?
What more do you have to learn?
What are the pros and cons of your behaviour?
What skills do you need to develop to cope with this?
How can you improve the situation?
What will you do next?