From the course: How to Ask Productive Questions

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How does listening improve questions?

How does listening improve questions?

From the course: How to Ask Productive Questions

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How does listening improve questions?

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- How does listening improve questions? I like to think of conversations as a game of tennis. Without some back and forth, it just isn't interesting. If you're going to serve the ball by asking someone a question, you'll want to give them an opportunity to return that serve by waiting for their answer. Yet, we're often in too much of a rush, either to continue asking more questions or to get to the good part where we can start dispensing our wisdom to them. If you do this, there's a high likelihood you're going to miss important details, and you're going to force what you think is the right answer, rather than helping the person productively explore. My friend, Michael Bungay Stanier is the author of the excellent book "The Coaching Habit." I love this quote from him. "Slow down on the advice giving "and stay curious just a little bit longer." It's a brilliant word, curious. Make curiosity a part of your questions…

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