Better Questions = Better Outcomes

Shelley Baber, Eaton CorporationColumns, Safety Corner, Spring 2025 Columns

For great leaders, safety is typically not their number one priority; it is an unwavering core value. Priorities change, while values remain constant in all situations. Great leaders also typically want to have success….operational success, individual success, and especially safety success.  

SAFETY SUCCESS

How do you define safety success? Have you achieved safety success if you have zero recordable injuries? Maybe…but often not. It may have just been luck. 

Safety success is not the absence of injuries, it is the completion of a job or task without injury due to the presence of controls and the capacity for the task to fail safely if a mistake occurs. Overall safety success also displays a culture of true caring for employees and a psychologically safe environment where they feel comfortable to speak up, express concerns, or stop work. Where there is true safety success, you would see leaders in the field where the work takes place more often, which can have significant influence on culture and outcomes. 

One of the best ways to improve the output of these field visits — and any conversation we have with our teammates — is by improving how we ask questions and listen  in order to learn. 

ASK BETTER QUESTIONS, GET BETTER OUTCOMES

Great results begin with great questions. Leaders often avoid asking tough questions because they may not want the real answers or because it is uncomfortable. However, if we truly want better outcomes and to know what is real, we need to build and flex our question-asking muscles as often as possible. Most individuals think they are great at asking questions, but most of the time, we ask “not so great” questions! Even though it is such a critical skill, the art of asking better questions is not something we typically learn in school, so for most of us, it does not come naturally.  

THE FRONTLINE – WE HAVE TO ASK IF WE WANT THE TRUTH

Frontline workers possess unique operational knowledge. Too often, we fail to find out what they really think, feel, and know. This can cause leaders to waste time solving problems they do not really have, while still not understanding the real truth of how work really gets done. Tapping into their critical insights can not only improve relationships, but also allow for true learning and connection. To discover what employees think and feel, we not only have to be present where the work takes place as often as we can, but we also have to ask the right questions in the right ways. 

Too often, leaders think frontline employees will readily share their thoughts and feelings without being asked, but this is typically not the case. As a leader, what do you want to know that people are least likely to tell you? It is often things such as:

  • Their struggles, and how you can help. 
  • Their opinions, thoughts, and where they get their perspectives.
  • Their honest feedback and suggestions for improvement.
  • Their most innovative or outside of the box ideas, which they may not want to share because they think it sounds crazy. 

HUMBLE INQUIRY

Do you spend more time asking or telling? Supervisors and managers often spend most of their time telling others how to get a job done, rather than asking for their input. 

The notion of humble inquiry was originally developed and explained by Edgar Schein. He defines humble inquiry as:

“…asking questions to which you do not already know the answer; building a relationship based on curiosity and interest in the other person.”

Unless you are willing to ask questions out of genuine care for the employee, it is extremely difficult to build trust. With trust, engaged employees feel more confident and psychologically safe to speak up, stop work, and ultimately perform work safely. Conversations that are motivated by care and that use humble inquiry often lead to increased learning and improvement. 

Enhanced curiosity within organizations fosters richer information exchange, greater creativity, and reduced conflict. Organizations that excel at learning from their members are more adept at adapting to uncertain environments, a crucial skill in a world marked by rapid technological advancements, cultural shifts, and environmental instability.

Ways to Cultivate Humble Inquiry
  • Take your time and give the other person your full attention
  • Ask from a place of genuine curiosity
  • Resist the temptation to make assumptions or jump to conclusions
  • Ask open questions and for examples to draw out more information.
  • Aim for joint decision making and planning of next steps instead of making decisions for other people. 

THE ASK APPROACHTM

In his book, “Ask: Tap Into the Hidden Wisdom of People Around You,” Dr. Jeff Wetzler discusses The Ask ApproachTM, which is a research-backed method for learning from people around you, with five key steps:

  1. Choose curiosity, so you are genuinely interested in what others think, feel, and know.
  2. Make it safe, so it’s more comfortable and appealing for others to tell you the truth.
  3. Pose quality questions, which uncover what’s most important to people.
  4. Listen to learn, so you are truly hearing what matters most to them.
  5. Reflect and reconnect, to translate what you hear into the right insights and actions.
Be Cautious About Asking Clumsy, Sneaky, or Attack Questions

Wetzler says:

Clumsy questions may be well-intentioned, but their wording immediately closes down the inquiry, preventing learning. These include closed-ended questions, rhetorical questions, and questions that get lost because they’re buried inside statements. 

Sneaky questions are not designed to learn anything. Instead, they’re designed to influence, convince, or maneuver the other person with questions that lead the witness, such as, “Wouldn’t you agree that…?” 

Attack questions are weapons used to pounce on others. Examples include:

  • “Why would you ever think that’s a good idea?”
  • “How could you possibly believe that?”
  • “Why can’t you be more considerate?”

High-Quality questions have five attributes:

  1. They signal true curiosity, reflecting a genuine intent to learn from and understand the other person — not to prove a point or influence or fix them.
  2. They are clear and direct, with no hidden, layered, or confusing meanings, so it’s self-evident what the asker wants to know.
  3. They invite honesty by making it as easy as possible for the other person to share openly, regardless of how the asker feels about their answer.
  4. They tap into the other person’s full story — to surface the underlying meanings, reasons, emotions, and experiences.
  5. They create mutual benefit by contributing to a meaningful, two-way dialogue in which everyone learns from each other 

HELPFUL TIPS FOR BETTER QUESTION ASKING

  • Ask questions to make it easier for people to tell you everything they are thinking or ideas they have.
  • Move from judgement to curiosity.
  • Reduce use of the word “Why” and try to use “What” or “How” to ask the same question. Asking “Why” typically causes individuals to feel defensive. 
  • If you get a short answer, ask them “Tell me more about that…” or “What else?”
  • Use TEDS
    • Tell Me
    • Explain to Me
    • Describe for me
    • Show Me
Question Asking Examples

Instead of: “Why can’t they do anything right?”

Consider: “How can I/we assist them to improve?“ 

  • “What did we do or not do that could have led to this?”

Instead of: “Why did you do it that way?”

Consider: “How’s it going?” or “What are you into today?”

  • “Can you show me or walk me through how you set up for the job  today?” or “I noticed that… can you tell me more about that?”

Instead of: “Why didn’t you recognize that hazard?“

Consider: “What could keep you from going home?” or “What would you say is your greatest exposure out here?  

  • Follow up with questions to discuss controls for their answers.

During management decision-making discussions, ask exposure-based questions:

Consider: “Will this decision increase employee exposure, decrease it, or will it stay the same?”

SUMMARY

If we truly want to achieve safety success, we must build trust, stay curious, learn, and continuously improve! Sounds simple, right? If we do these things, employees can feel comfortable implementing controls, speaking up, and stopping work when needed. We must be present in the field, asking great questions, and learning from normal work so that we understand the real truth.  

When engaged in conversation, it is important to do more asking than telling, and more listening than talking. Try to avoid asking “Why,” and begin questions more often with “What” or “How.”

By using humble inquiry, we show that we care, we are curious, and we desire to learn. We also become vulnerable and show we are willing to invest a part of us to develop the relationship. Trust is essential for collaboration and commitment. 

The Ask ApproachTM  can help us learn more from people around us by using the five key steps.  

Great question asking is something that must be practiced to perfect. As an ingredient in the simple recipe for overall safety success, asking better questions will help to improve overall learning for leaders who truly hold safety as a value. 

REFERENCES

Wetzler, Jeff. Ask: Tap Into the Hidden Wisdom of People Around You. Balance, 2024.

Shein, Edgar H. Humble Inquiry. The Gentle Art of Asking Instead of Telling. Berrett-Koehler, 2013.

Shelley Baber has been the EHS Director for the Electrical Engineering Services and Systems (EESS) Division of Eaton Corporation since 2023. She previously spent 20 years in various safety leadership roles in the utility industry with FirstEnergy. Baber is a Certified Safety Professional with an MS in safety management from West Virginia University.