over ten years later i’m still using the principles you taught me and my team. as a servant leader and leadership trainer/executive coach, i’ve learned how to effectively handle the most sensitive conversations. it can be especially helpful early on in the working relationship when first building trust and rapport. when you begin with several closed-ended questions, it is likely to cause the person to answer in short phrases and fall into a passive role waiting for you to ask for information. and avoid asking several questions at a time or the person will feel like he/she is being interrogated. these statements demonstrate that you understand and appreciate at least part of what the person is dealing with and supports them as a person.
listening is about being quiet and actively listening to the person, and then responding with a statement that reflects the essence of what the person said, or what you think they meant. in other words, you form a guess about what the person means. at my “master of motivation & influence” workshops, attendees are always surprised at how difficult the role play practice exercises prove to be. if you have ideas you feel like sharing that might be helpful to readers, share them in the comments section below. so, when you ask “what can i do for you” it puts the associate on the spot and seems a bit lazy on the managers part. i feel the word what is harsh and somewhat closes an opportunity to be more open and honest. i am just trying to help people break barriers and become more “open door” friendly.
in the past couple of articles, i have mentioned how open-ended questions demonstrate listening and encourage participation in the classroom, but i wanted to take a moment to better explain the difference between open-ended and closed questions, outline the benefits of using open-ended questions, and provide prompts to help you better implement these types of questions in future conversations. open-ended questions are questions that allow for the continuation of the conversation and are used to solicit additional information. asking closed questions will limit the listener’s answer because they will provide no more information than is needed or required — the response you will receive to a closed question will be just what you asked. as you can gather from this conversational exchange, when closed questions were used, there was little conversational interaction between the stylist and the customer. a closed question limits the possibility for a sense of connection to develop between you and the person with whom you are speaking.
when asking open-ended questions, you are “bouncing the ball back” to the speaker. when the speaker is asked open-ended questions, they are being provided the opportunity to talk in more detail about their interests and needs, allowing for further discussion and elaboration about the topic or for follow-up questions to be asked. news reporters are very good at asking open-ended questions because their job is to get the other person to talk about what they saw, think, feel, etc. “why” questions cause people to make up a rational reason, even if they do not have one, to provide a response. here are a few open-ended question prompts to help get you started. special education consultant, international speaker, and best-selling author advocating for neurodiversity on campus and in the workplace.
an open question is one that doesn’t invite one-word responses but rather encourages the person to take control of the direction of conversation, which can help there are two types of questions that can be asked and answered: open-ended and closed. open-ended questions are questions that allow for the continuation open-ended questions are a great means for gathering detailed information. they usually begin with words like ‘how’, ‘why’, ‘what’ and ‘describe’., .
one sure way to start the conversation is with an open-ended question. unlike questions that give people limited options for response, open- open ended questioning is an easy to use communication skill you can use to encourage dialogue and discussion, and to enhance understanding. the good news is that open-ended questions help the person asking a question and the person trying to reply. they cannot be replied to with just, . what is an open-ended communication? what is close ended communication? what is an open-ended question in communication? what is an example of an open-ended?
When you try to get related information on open ended communication, you may look for related areas. .