Supervisory Leadership

Sometimes, when you're talking with a subordinate about behavior, you want to keep the conversation rolling. Other times you want to end the conversation quickly.

Questions can be your tool to accomplish either objective. They key is in knowing what kinds of questions to use and when.

Use close-ended questions to slow things down or bring conversation to an end. Close-ended questions have a limited number of possible answers. Here are some examples.

"Would you rather work overtime on Thursday or Friday?
"Which of these layouts looks best to you?"
"Was your last job awful, OK, or wonderful?"

Open-ended questions, on the other hand, are great for keeping conversation moving. Open-ended questions can be answered in a variety of ways, with unlimited options. Here are some examples.

"When do you prefer to work overtime?"
"What do you like about these layouts?"
"What did you like best about your last job?"

There are two other tools you can use to keep conversation moving. I call one of them, "Oh, really?"

To use this technique, simply ask the question, "Oh, really?" after your subordinate completes a statement. This tends to encourage him or her to elaborate further. Here's an example.

"I'm really excited about our new marketing plan."
"Oh, really?"

Or

"I really like the way this layout draws your eye to the key message."
"Oh, really?"

"Oh, really?" is only one of the phrases that get this result. So are "How come?" and "Is that right?" and other phrases that are natural to you.

One variation on this is to repeat back the last few words you hear, making them sound like a question. Here are the same two situations as examples.

"I'm really excited about our new marketing plan."
"Our new marketing plan?"

Or

"I really like the way this layout draws your eye to the key message."
"The key message?"

The art of managing conversation lies in knowing when you should be directing things and when you should let the conversation take its natural course. Close-ended questions help you take control and close down. Open-ended questions in all their variations will help you keep the conversation flowing.

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