Questioning is a key skill in mentoring. By understanding how to ask the right questions, you can unlock your mentee’s thinking and generate valuable insights.
Closed and open-ended questions
Use both closed and open-ended questions in your mentoring conversations.
1. Closed-ended questions:
Can be answered by a few words and provide information about facts. Use them when you need clarification or a specific answer. They usually begin with “Who,” “Where,” and “When,” and “How much?”.
Examples:
- “Who was part of the conversation?”
- “Where did you work previously?”
- “When did you join the company?”
- “How much was your quota?”
2. Open-ended questions:
Open-ended questions cannot be answered with one word, or a simple “Yes” or “No”. Typically, they require more thought and can lead to deeper thinking and insights. Open-ended questions often begin with “What”, “What if”,“How?” and “Why”.
Examples:
- “What motivates you?”
- “What accomplishments are you proud of?”
- “What if you had an unlimited budget for this project, how would you spend it?”
- “How will you go about motivating your team?”.
Tip: Asking questions can be stressful for some new mentors. Remember, it’s more important to actively listen than to think about what question to ask next. After fully listening, reflecting back and summarizing, the right question will come to you.
