WELL-FORMED QUESTIONS*

During the training of Trainers (NSTT) this year, I came up with a criteria list for asking good questions. The reason for that is that by the time a person has studied the basic and advanced levels of NLP and various Neuro-Semantics trainings, a person should know how to ask good questions. Yet many do not. In past years, I have often had to spend significant time helping a trainer-to-be formulate his or her question. Sometimes I have pointed out the kind of question that one is asking and then asked, “Is that really what you want to ask?” “If your question is just to confirm your understanding, then ask your team and team leader. They are there for that purpose.”

[* Note: This is not well-formed outcome questions.]

In NSTT we use the asking of questions as an additional Speaking Activity. To facilitate that we say— when you have a question, stand up, go to the microphone stand, and present your question as cleanly, succinctly, and effectively as you can. We then offered the following criteria for what a truly excellent question would be like.