The message below is from one of my friends (a younger colleague) who is a couple of years out of undergrad. She works in a challenging environment where she often has to participate in meetings with people who are much older and more experienced at the corporate game than her. A few days ago, she asked me for some advice on how to do approach the task of asking good questions in meetings and during interviews of key stakeholders for her projects. I thought it was a really interesting question, so I thought through the request, developed a structured approach, and had a really fruitful conversation with her.

After the conversation with my friend, I thought her question might be one that might interest some of my readers, so I took my notes and used them to guide the video below. I hope some of you get some good tidbits of information out of it.

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MM wrote:

Hi Marquis,

If you have some spare time in the next few days, I was wondering if you could help me with a small favor. I want to improve my skills at asking questions and reacting to information from peers/team members, and was hoping you could offer some advice. This would be especially helpful given that my current activities involve a lot of questioning, challenging, and reacting to new ideas and information, and I want to make sure that I’m being as effective as possible at asking the right kind of questions.

If you’d be able to offer some pointers, please let me know so I can set up some time for us to speak.

Thanks!

MM

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My video response:

Pointers on asking questions from Marquis Parker on Vimeo.

Key points:
- Map out your primary and secondary goals for the conversation
–> List the items that you HAVE to get out of the conversation for it to be successful (List A)
–> List the items that would be NICE TO HAVE come out of the conversation (List B)

- Before the meeting, write out List A and List B at the top of a page and use as a tracking checklist for the conversation

- Start the conversation with questions focused on List A and mark off items in the list once you’re satisfied that you have enough of an understanding on them

- While talking through List A, look out for opportunities to touch on the items in List B

- At the end of the meeting
–> If you’ve covered all of the items in List A, thank the person and ask if it is alright to follow up via email with additional questions
–> If you haven’t covered all of the items in List A, ask if the person would be open to a follow-up call or meeting to dig into the untouched items on the list