Title: The Power of Questions
Headings: The Power of Questions
To help keep this site going, please allow adverts or donate
The Power of Questions
Control
Information
Listening
Bonding
Persuading
See also

Content: Gathering information is much like doing a jigsaw puzzle. You get bits of information and put them together to build the bigger picture. Probing questions are particularly useful for digging out the information you need. Listening
Questions also good when you want to listen more than talk, as you can prompt the other person to talk about subjects where you can listen more. Open questions are particularly useful here, as a short question leads to a longer question. Active listening also helps -- nodding and saying things like 'mmm' encourages the other person to keep talking. Bonding
Questions that reveal personal details about the other person and things about which they are interested also gives you the opportunity of getting closer to to them, for example by subsequently showing how you are similar to them. Just asking questions and paying attention to their answers shows you are interested in them and prompts an exchange where they will then become interested in you. Persuading
As well as the above benefits, questioning can be used to persuade in many other ways, for example by using rhetorical questions that need no answers but cause the person to consider what you are saying. Likewise, Socratic questioning is designed to make the other person think rather than elicit information for you.