Agile Survey Tools (4): Focusing questions help you bring critical issues to light. Anne M. Schüller discusses how these questions reveal what’s truly on employees’ minds. Find out more here.
Focusing questions are the quickest way to get to the bottom of an individual’s true motives without offending them. There is a wide range of variants for a variety of purposes. This article is the last in a series by Anne M. Schüller on quick, open, agile survey tools.
Focus means concentrating on the most important things instead of getting bogged down in the thicket of trivialities. A focusing question might go something like this:
What are the three things you most want from your manager?
If this question is asked orally, a longer pause for reflection is necessary. So don’t rush it. And be open to everything. It is not uncommon for the respondent to sense underlying expectations, which he then serves in the desired way. After all, it is ultimately the boss who decides who is allowed to get their hands on the honey pots – and who is not.
Focusing questions: many variants
To ensure that employees are deployed according to their talents, the following focusing questions are useful:
If there is one thing you really wanted to do in the company, what would that be for you?
If there is one thing that seems particularly useless to you in terms of your work, that really doesn’t help anyone, what would that be for you?
If there is one thing we should definitely change in the interest of customers, what would be the most important thing from your point of view?
This way, you will (hopefully) finally receive important information about poor workplace conditions, operational constraints, redundancies and time wasters, communication, interface and customer problems – and thus about your own company blindness, the unfortunate consequences of which you had underestimated or not even seen. Another advantage: you can quickly make a difference. To do this, ask:
What exactly can I do right now to help? … Okay, thank you. And what else?
Following up is important because often the true requirements, concerns and wishes are only revealed in the second attempt.
Exploring the pain points and love points
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In particular, the extremely dangerous critical incidents can be well identified with focusing questions. A critical incident is a moment in the employee relationship that was accompanied by strong emotions and has therefore become deeply ingrained in episodic memory. Such events are retold over and over again. You need to know these to avert damage to the employer brand and corporate reputation. So ask like this:
Tell us about an event in the company that you don’t like to remember at all.
Also, look for particularly gratifying events that you can then use as success stories in internal and external media. That’s the first effect. And the second? There’s hardly anything better for engagement than an employee who hears himself say how great it is to work with you. And since they’ve already said it, they’ll probably do it more often in the future – offline and online. This is how they become an ambassador and corporate influencer. The question goes like this:
Tell me about an event in the company that you particularly like to remember.
The tell-me-about-it question is magical because employees are most likely to reveal their emotions in a conversational tone. Knowing and engaging with such emotions is very helpful because the interviewee then feels accepted. And don’t forget: honest and courageous employees deserve a big thank you. In addition, they always want to know in the end what they were able to achieve with their information.
Focusing questions from the top boss
The management can also ask focusing questions. These sound like this, for example:
Just suppose you were in my place (or: … had management responsibility in our company), what would you improve first?
With such a question, the management team quickly gets to the bottom of serious weaknesses. Otherwise, they usually don’t even hear the unpleasant truths. In hierarchies, career advancement can only succeed if you send success messages and keep failures to yourself.
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Even good ideas often don’t make it to the top because they are filtered out by middle management for whatever reason. As a result, top decision-makers are the least well-informed people in the company. The information they are provided with is filtered and often manipulated based on vested interests. This threatening filter bubble is called “executive isolation”.
By contrast, a direct approach to employees and the use of focusing questions can quickly and accurately identify specific areas where action is needed. This not only solves the individual’s issues, but also guards against the dissatisfaction of many. The result: the potential for retention is strengthened, fluctuation is reduced and the attractiveness of the employer increases.
Consult employees in a targeted manner
Once the bosses have recognized the advantages of such an approach, they can consult with employees in a regular ritual of walking the floor. To do this, they should consider in advance which questions are appropriate. For example:
I am interested in your personal opinion on the following topic… Interesting. What might that look like in detail?
I have the following thoughts on the topic… I would like to discuss/share them with you…
Assuming you were the decision-maker on this question, what would you do? … Interesting, and what considerations do you have regarding this decision?
How would you approach the topic if it were your money? … And what would you never do?
Let’s say we were to implement this tomorrow. What would happen then? … What else would we have to consider?
How do your colleagues – without mentioning names – see the situation? And what would they advise me to do?
If there is one thing that could potentially cause this project to fail, what would be the most critical point from your point of view?
What would be a move that the competitors would never expect? How would you catch the competition off guard?
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Answers may be hesitant at the beginning. Even if the superiors appear relaxed and approachable, they are still respected figures from the point of view of the staff. You can mitigate this by not conducting an interview in form and style, but a conversation. If necessary, you can encourage people with friendly nods like this: “Go on!” And: “Tell me more!” Or: “That sounds exciting.” Or: “Yes, that makes sense to me.”
But be careful: asking questions is always a sign of power. Because the one who asks the questions leads. The how of a question is therefore crucial. Questions must not come across as harassing – and must never degenerate into an interrogation. On the other hand, asking good and right questions will continuously generate new good ideas. Employees feel how valuable they are for the company. Problems can be addressed and corrected immediately. Good work can be praised. The decisions that are ultimately made are on a better basis, and wrong decisions are avoided.
Please also read the following articles from the series by Anne M. Schüller:
Anne M. Schüller is a management thinker, keynote speaker, award-winning bestselling author and business coach. The business graduate is considered a leading expert in touchpoint management and customer-focused corporate management. She gives keynote speeches on these topics at conferences, trade conventions and online events. In 2015, she was inducted into the German Speakers Association Hall of Fame for her life's work. She was named Top Voice 2017 and 2018 by the business network Linkedin. Xing named her Top Writer 2018 and Top Mind 2020. Her Touchpoint Institute trains certified Touchpoint Managers and certified Orbit Organizational Developers.
