Answers in the Form of Questions

Using "beginner questions" to negotiate and resolve disputes.

Photo by Dex Ezekiel on Unsplash

“ . . . [T]he best negotiators . . . ask questions, test for understanding, summarize discussions, and listen, listen, listen.”

— G. Richard Shell, Bargaining for Advantage

“There is no such thing as a dumb question,” as conventional wisdom goes.

You’ve surely heard this before, probably many times. Teachers, professors, and lecturers of many varieties like to use this phrase, I’ve found, to encourage discussion. They often want their audience to feel comfortable to voice any misunderstandings, uncertainties, or doubts and encourage them — particularly in group settings — by preemptively indicating that nothing they ask will be viewed as too silly, inconsequential or, well . . . dumb.

Look, I like the sentiment here. I think it’s important to create learning environments in which questions are encouraged and not stifled. In doing so, yes, it can be helpful to assure would-be questioners that they can ask whatever they’d like without fear of judgment from t…