If you are going to improve your feedback skills, you also need to work on your ability to ask thoughtful questions; questions that give us more information about the individual you are speaking with (whether it is an employee, colleague, or a supplier) and their work, thoughts, and feelings. To be successful in hosting a performance interview, the interviewer must have knowledge and skills in both being an effective listener and in asking the right questions in order to be effective.

As leaders, we should be spending a lot of our time asking questions and providing answers. When it comes to asking, however, we often aren’t aware of our technique. Open questions in particular often give us difficulty, which is unfortunate since they are the most important ones for us to become skilled at using. If you are having trouble with open questions, it can be helpful to get more comfortable with small talk and easing yourself into the conversation at hand.