Tips
Reflective
Practice
Asking impactful questions
Use this tip sheet to consider the types of questions you might ask to help you reveal new
insights and deepen understanding.
05
Open questions AWE questions
Examples Add your own examples:
» What is the most important thing for us to talk about?
» What are you enjoying about your current ways of working?
» Where would you be most comfortable to discuss this?
» How can we work together to resolve this issue?
» How do you best relate to others?
» When will be a good time to continue the conversation?
» Open questions usually start with words like
‘what, how, where, and when’.
» They encourage thoughtful and extended
responses. They give control of the direction
of the conversation to the person being
questioned. This can create safety and build
rapport.
» Be cautious of using ‘why’ questions, as this
may trigger a defensive emotional response.
Use them with discretion.
» “And what else?”
» The first answer to a question is rarely the best
(or only) answer. This question is powerful in
uncovering more answers.
Tips
Reflective
Practice
Asking impactful questions (cont.)
Use this tip sheet to consider the types of questions you might ask to help you reveal new
insights and deepen understanding.
05
Clarifying questions TED questions
Clarifying question examples
TED questions examples
Add your own examples:
Add your own examples:
» What do you mean by X?
» What was the thinking behind that?
» How exactly would you like this done?
» Tell me more about that.
» Tell me about the impact that had on you.
» Explain the situation to me.
» Explain to me what that was like for you.
» Describe that to me.
» Clarifying questions support clear
communication and minimises the risk of
misunderstanding.
» TED stands for ‘Tell, Explain, Describe’.
» TED questions can be an invitation to provide
lots of information.
» Potentially they can provide a ‘key’ piece of
information using just one question that may
take several other types of questions to find.
