Questioning Skills

Good questioning skills are needed at all stages of the appraisal meeting.
Use them to identify the issues that are important to the person being appraised,
to help the appraisee explore the relevant issues, and to clarify their feelings and
attitudes and to support the setting of SMART objectives to move those issues
forward.

It is not just what you ask that is important but HOW you ask.
RESPECT the person you are appraising in the way you ask your questions.

Questions fall into two categories:

• Recall questions require the person being appraised to recall factual

information from the recent or more distant past:

‘Tell me about…’ ‘What happened when….’

• Process questions involve the person being appraised in expressing

attitudes, giving opinions, evaluating, interpreting and making
judgements:

‘What do you think of …?’ ‘How do you feel about…?’

Questioning Styles

1. Open ended questions help the other person identify the issue and to
explore it. They provide information about an issue, the other person’s thoughts
and possibly their feelings behind it.

Tell me about… How……? When…..? Who….? What….? etc.

2. Closed questions can be used to check facts, or as a summary, but they

should be used sparingly as they encourage simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answers. If not
used carefully, the appraiser could end up doing too much of the talking.

Did you like…? Have you told……?

‘What I think I’m hearing is… is that right?’

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3. Reflecting questions enable the appraiser to clarify what has been said and
to get the appraisee to talk freely and in depth. Reflecting questions call for the
appraiser to engage in ‘active listening’. Using their own words you encourage
further information. Reflecting questions often begin:

‘You said that…’ ’ You sound as if ….’ I get the feeling that ….’

4. Extending questions are used to invite further explanation and to prompt a

further answer:

‘How else could…?’ ‘ Could you tell me more about..?’

5. Comparative questions are useful where the appraiser may need to

compare a situation on a before and after basis:

‘What has it been like since…?’ ‘What difference has …..’

6. Hypothetical questions may allow the appraisee to explore issues and

feelings in a relatively safe theoretical environment:

‘How would you feel if…?’

‘If you were faced with the same situation again would you do
anything differently?’

7. Rephrasing or paraphrasing may be used when the appraiser is not clear

what the appraisee means or feels. This allows yo to play back what has been
said:

Are you saying that…?’ ‘Let me see if I understand the problem

completely…’

8. Linking questions are useful for picking up clues but depend on active
listening. The question is formed by picking up an earlier response from the
appraisee:

You mentioned earlier that… how would you…?

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9. Summarising playing back what has been said and/or decided upon during
the discussion to ensure that both people agree what has been discussed.

10. Dealing with questions from the person being appraised

It is important to avoid taking ‘ownership’ of decisions away from the staff being
appraised, allowing them to become passive. Appraisal is about helping the
individual member of staff to help themselves by taking responsibility (and
control so far as is possible/appropriate) for their own area of work and personal
professional development. Depending on the question they ask, sometimes the
best way to answer is by reflecting back to them:

Member of staff being appraised: What do you think I should do?

Appraiser: What would you like to do?

or What would you like me to suggest?

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