Practicing Opening Questions

We have found one of the best ways to start a meeting is with an opening question.
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The simple act of asking a question at the beginning of a meeting builds a stronger, more effective team. It’s a great way to ensure that people who need to work together get to know each other better. Here’s how:

• It creates connections. Asking a thoughtful question can build relationships between people in the meeting; it can also emphasize the meeting’s purpose.
  
  
• It offers an equal opportunity for all to talk. A good question opens the door to participation and invites dialogue to start as quickly as possible. It warms up voices.
  
  
• It establishes psychological safety. Asking everyone to answer the same question can help members see that they are valued, that all voices are welcomed and heard.

 
Choose your opening question with purpose, but don’t be paralyzed by finding the perfect question. Success comes from the act of posing and answering a question; the content is secondary.
That said, here are some qualities that you should think about when forming your question:
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• Be inclusive. Don’t just ask about a recently read book; give people a chance to talk about a favorite podcast, movie, or TV series.
  
  
• Ask open-ended questions. Or at least encourage a short explanation, e.g., yes, because … Be careful, however, because you need to get to your agenda, so you don’t want to invite long stories. If the meeting has a lot of people, you can break into small groups to answer the opening question. This works well in both in-person and virtual meetings.
  
  
• Model the length of the answer. The person who asks the questions should model the length of the answer. If you know the person sitting next to you can be long-winded, go around the circle the other way.

 
Opening a meeting with a question is useful for all teams, including those whose members already know each other well.

We’ve had the best success with questions that have something to do with our meeting agendas. For example: At a meeting about recruiting workforce, the opening question was what lessons did you learn from your first job? At a planning meeting for YWCA’s Women of the Year, an opening question was posed: what woman empowers you and why?

If you can’t come up with a question that connects to the project or meeting agenda, it’s okay to try some other topics. What is new and exciting? What are you looking forward to? What season are you in?

For example, over the holidays we’ve asked: what holiday tradition do you enjoy? Ask team members whether they’re Team Winter or Team Summer and why. Or, go ahead and be silly and ask what kind of toothpaste everyone uses.

Remember, the real value of the question is in getting people warmed up for the purpose of your meeting. Anything you can do to get people thinking and talking is beneficial.

– Anita