I have a question
Can you improve your listening skills by asking the right questions?
Just like listening being the conscious activity that needs attention to get the message understood, there are many questions that can improve the effectiveness of our message in the art of communication. It is like finding the right key to open the right door, but it surely requires time to develop.
When we exchange information with other people, we can consciously chose proper questions to keep the communication on the right track, we can chose:
open-ended questions (draw out feelings and encourage elaboration on needs/wants) that help others discover things for themselves
closed-ended questions ("one word answer questions" to get specific facts, gain someone's commitment or reinforce positive statements)
clarifying questions (interpret what the speaker said and ensure understanding, invite speaker to clarify mentioned idea, uncover hidden agendas underlying the thoughts and feelings of a speaker).
There are also questions that it's best to avoid, such as:
*WHY (Why do you have a problem?)
*WHO (Whose fault is that?)
*LOADED QUESTIONS that put the other person on the spot (After all you've heard, do you still believe you are right?)