Successful safety leaders ask effective questions to gather the information needed to analyze the process and occupational safety components, develop valid conclusions and make meaningful recommendations that drive performance improvements. Examples of components examined are management systems, safe work practices, process hazard and job safety analyses, incident investigations, contractors' safety, and audits and assessments. Some of these leaders will unapologetically admit to not having all the answers, frequently ask questions and encourage others to do the same.
Unfortunately, many safety leaders have not developed good skills for asking effective questions, which makes their jobs harder, affecting their ability to prevent injuries, illnesses and catastrophic incidents. Bad questions, or approaches to asking questions, can hurt relationships with stakeholders and become career-limiting or career-ending experiences.
Why
Common barriers that limit safety leaders' abilities to ask effective questions include:
- Belief that they are supposed to have answers and not ask questions.
- Expectation that they must quickly identify and resolve problems. This encourages quick analyses, discourages deep-dive reviews, and promotes conclusions and recommendations based on assumptions or experience.
- Perception that asking questions signals lack of knowledge or inability to resolve issues independently.
- Not comfortable asking questions.
- A culture that labels individuals who ask questions as troublemakers.
Excellent communication skills are often listed in job descriptions and postings and are occasionally considered during performance appraisals. This does not specifically refer to the competency to ask effective questions. Asking effective questions is not implicitly addressed in academic program curriculums, professional and executive development programs, and employers' training programs. Most leaders develop this skill on their own or by observing successful leaders or mentors asking effective questions.
What
Safety leaders first need to learn what questions to ask. The best questions are open-ended questions that require deep reflection and thinking before they are answered. They generally result in "telling a story," providing lots of information requiring the leader to extract vital data from other, non-pertinent information.
"Why," "what" and "how" are used for these types of questions. An example is: "How can we improve the implementation of the lockout/tagout procedure for this boiler?"
Close-ended questions typically start with "what," "where" or "when" and may be needed to obtain clear-cut answers. Examples include: "Is there an isolation and lockout/ lockout survey available for this vessel?" and "Are we documenting the annual logout/ tagout program review?" Leading questions that guide the answer in a pre-determined direction should be avoided and only used to paraphrase and confirm your understanding of the information heard.
How
The following approaches can help safety leaders develop skills to ask effective questions:
- Lead by example. Demonstrate a learning attitude by asking effective questions, and avoid providing the answers.
- Timing of the questions is important. If a person must interrupt an important task to respond, the answers may be incomplete.
- Break the ice with a short conversation. Explain what you want to talk about.
- Ask an open-ended question. Additional open-ended questions may be needed to get all relevant facts. Ask one question at a time. Remember, it is not an interrogation but an interaction. The goal is to obtain information, not to win arguments.
- Slow down. Practice focused listening. Do not interrupt.
- Ask additional questions for clarification purposes, if needed.
- Thank the person for the answers and interaction.
Leaders who ask effective questions can help create a question-friendly organization where asking questions is as natural as walking. They improve their companies' safety performances and communication processes while gaining credibility and influence.