Facilitation: Asking Non-Threatening Questions

Asking Non-threatening Questions

It can often be challenging to engage all the members of your team, or to get a strong participation flow for many reasons. The participants may be shy, uncomfortable, they may not agree fully with the topic of conversation, or may come with strong opposing positions, and that is ok! In the attempt to engage all of your participants it is important to ask questions that are non-threatening. Hackett and Martin identify 9 rules for asking nonthreatening questions.

• Rule 1: Initially ask each question to the entire team. Each question should be asked of the whole team to allow anyone who has a thought to respond before specifically calling on one member.

• Rule 2: Pause! Pause and allow time for each member to consider the question before responding. Do not fear the silence! Good questions require good thought.

• Rule 3: When a response is given, acknowledge it. Take a moment to explore it further before moving on or asking for more responses.

• Rule 4: Look for non-verbal cues that a member is interested in participating. If they are leaning forward, making eye contact, call on them.

• Rule 5: If a response is not given, and a reasonable amount of time has passed, read the room! Re-think your question, how can you phrase it differently? Consider if the question requires further clarification. Perhaps you can add a though, remember, you are also a part of this community.

• Rule 6: Avoid Bias. We all have biases, remember that not everyone is coming to the table with the same thoughts, opinions and experiences.

  • Example: In place of asking “do you feel quality in our programs is compromised due to hiring under qualified educators?” ask “what key factors do you feel are compromising quality in our programs?”

• Rule 7: Avoid close-ended questions that illicit “yes” “no” answers and limit collaboration.

• Rule 8: Avoid questions that may cause a defensive reaction. Generalize questions to the whole team, and do not target one person’s opposing opinion or performance.

• Rule 9: Do not pull members into the conversation to punish their inattention. This will cause resentment and their lack of involvement will increase. Allow members to contribute when they are ready to and remember that everyone attends differently. If a member is becoming insubordinate, a private conversation may be warranted, but not ever within the learning community.

Buckley, H., Steinert, Y., Regehr, G. & Nimmon, L. (2019). When I say... community of practice. ASME Publications, 53(8), 763-765. https://asmepublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/medu.13823