“The Art of Asking Smarter Questions,” by Arnaud Chevallier et al.

Friday 26 April 2024

Ask Smarter Strategic Questions

With organizations facing increased urgency and unpredictability, being able to ask smart questions has become a key leadership skill—especially when setting strategy. Here are five types of questions to ask that can boost strategic decision-making.

(1) Investigative: What’s Known? 

When facing a problem or opportunity, the best decision-makers start by clarifying their purpose, asking themselves what they want to achieve and what they need to learn to do so.

(2) Speculative: What If?

 These questions help you consider the situation at hand more broadly, reframing the problem and exploring outside-the-box solutions.

(3) Productive: Now What?

 Assessing the availability of talent, capabilities, time, and other resources ultimately helps you determine a course of action. 

(4) Interpretive: So, What? 

This natural follow-up can push you to continually redefine the core issue—to go beneath the surface and draw out the implications of an observation or idea.

(5) Subjective: What’s Unsaid? This final question deals with the personal reservations, frustrations, tensions, and hidden agendas that can push decision-making off course.

This tip is adapted from “The Art of Asking Smarter Questions,” by Arnaud Chevallier et al.