The secret to good questions

Consideration, consistency and curveballs.

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Questions are crucial in every organisation. They sharpen thinking and extract information when things go wrong.

Questions are crucial in every organisation. They sharpen thinking and extract information when things go wrong.

PHOTO: PIXABAY

The Economist

Some professions are defined by questions. Detectives ask them, and suspects have the right not to answer them. A phrase like “I’m the one asking the questions” sounds appropriate when coming from a journalist, and pretty weird from the lips of a plumber.

But questions are crucial in every organisation. They sharpen thinking and extract information when things go wrong. They are central to forging relationships: According to research by Karen Huang of Georgetown University and her co-authors, people who ask more questions tend to be better liked.

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