THE POWER OF QUESTIONING

With Alan’s post and reference to the research by Professor Dolores Albarracin, he began a line of thought about the difference between two semantic environments: “I will (be able to solve the task).” And “Will I (be able to solve the task)?” The study by Albarracin demonstrated the effectiveness of a question over a statement: “The question group outperformed the affirmation group by over 85%.” (Psychological Science journal).

Now, among a lot of people that is revolutionary— it is incredible— it is mind-blowing. It goes against the cultural intuitions that views statements (declarations, assertions) are more powerful than questions. Yet for those of us in NLP, Neuro-Semantics, and Meta-Coaching, we know that the opposite is actually the truth. Questioning is much more powerful as an influence process than making declarative statements. Yes, declaring and stating makes you feel powerful. But what’s most powerful for the other person, for the client, is asking questions. And this happens to be the very foundation of NLP’s Meta-Model and why we coach and train with questions. We know that questions are incredibly powerful! We know that we can do all kinds of things— wonderful things— by questioning. Do you know that?