Questioning techniques
Questions gather facts, check understanding and build rapport. Use open questions to explore, closed questions to confirm, probing to go deeper; avoid leading questions.
Types of questions
| Type | Purpose | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Open | To explore, get views and detail | “How do customers react to the new price?” |
| Closed | To get or confirm a specific fact | “Did the lorry leave before 8.00 a.m.?” |
| Probing | To dig deeper into an answer | “What exactly went wrong with the delivery?” |
| Reflective (mirror) | To show listening and invite more | “You feel the targets are too high?” |
| Hypothetical | To test thinking in a situation | “What would you do if a customer shouted at you?” |
| Clarifying / summarising | To check understanding | “So you need 200 cartons by Friday, is that right?” |
| Leading (avoid) | Suggests the expected answer | “You agree this plan is best, don't you?” |
| Multiple (avoid) | Several questions at once; confusing | “Why were you late, who knew, and will it happen again?” |
The funnel technique
Start wide, then narrow. Used in interviews, customer complaints and investigations.
Guidelines for good questioning
- Know your purpose: what do you need to find out?
- Ask one question at a time, in simple words.
- Pause and wait for the answer; silence gives the person time to think.
- Listen to the answer fully before asking the next question.
- Follow up with probing questions instead of moving on too fast.
- Use a calm, friendly tone; a ‘why’ question can sound like an accusation, so try ‘What led to…?’ instead.
- Avoid leading, multiple and loaded questions.
- Summarise at the end to confirm understanding.
Example: handling a customer complaint with the funnel
Tharushi Wickramasinghe, Customer Service Officer at Nelum Packaging (Pvt) Ltd (a fictional company), takes a call from an angry customer about a damaged delivery. Use the funnel technique.
- Open: “Could you tell me what happened with your delivery?” (The customer explains that boxes were wet.)
- Probe: “Which order was it?” → order no. 3381. “How many boxes were affected?” → 40 of the 200 delivered.
- Probe: “Were the boxes wet when they arrived, or after they were stored?” → wet on arrival; it rained during unloading.
- Closed: “So 40 of the 200 boxes, that is 20%, arrived wet on order 3381, is that correct?” → “Yes.”
- Summary and action: “I will arrange 40 replacement boxes by Thursday and email you a confirmation today.”
Open → probe → closed → summary: the officer gets the full story, the exact facts (40 ÷ 200 = 20% of the order), confirms them, and agrees an action, while the customer feels heard.
A bank loan officer in Sri Lanka uses open questions to understand a small business (“Tell me how your sales change between seasons”) and closed questions to confirm facts (“Is the shop registered in your name?”). The mix gives both the story and the proof.
Structured question: “Explain open, closed and probing questions with examples.” Define each, give a business example of each, and say when each is useful; end with the funnel technique.
Short answer: “What is a leading question?” A question that suggests the answer the asker wants, e.g. “You agree, don't you?” It should be avoided.
Essay: “Explain the questioning techniques a manager should use in one-to-one communication.” Purposes of questions, types with examples, the funnel technique, questions to avoid, and guidelines, with a short workplace dialogue.
Open to explore, probe to dig, close to confirm, summarise to agree: the funnel. Never lead, never stack three questions in one.