Resources for
Successful Adult Education

Asking and Answering Questions Effectively

Beyond technical information delivery

Giving the right answer to client calls may not be enough. Our educational objective is to empower the caller to feel responsible for what they have learned and put their new knowledge into action. When they do, we all win through better use of the Internet and community networks.

How do we empower people through our communications? A lot of it is in developing effective questioning techniques?. The rest is in your "sales" technique in answering questions.

Roles

Roles and their psychology are very important in communications. Your goal is to reduce the psychological distance between yourself and the customer in order to persuade. There are several stances from which you may speak.

1. Expert - From this stance you share information and correct misinformation. It requires the ability to synthesize enormous amounts of information and present it in concise form. You are expected to have all the answers. If carried off successfully, this stance creates respect and even awe. If done poorly, the stance creates distance and leads to a "know-it-all" perception. Experts are vulnerable to attack!

2. Novice - This stance is based on enthusiasm. You share recent discoveries while admitting your lack of a comprehensive background. The freshness of approach and vitality can awaken interest in the customer. It is a stance people often use when they are uncertain. It may turn off some customers who perceive a lack of credibility.

3. Facilitator - In this stance, you assume the role of colleague or fellow net surfer. You respect the other person's knowledge learned through their net surfing experience, and pool their knowledge with yours to work toward explanation. In the customer, this stance helps foster a feeling of responsibility for what was learned and creates more of an investment in putting the learning into action. You need not know it all. You can feel competent in knowing how to navigate through the question, seeking and perhaps solving the client's concern. If you give it a good try and don't find a solution, that's ok. The Internet is very complex. We aren't able to explain everything about it.

The facilitator can be a very comfortable and even fun stance from which to work. Naturally inquisitive facilitators may learn as much as the customer. It is well adapted to the extension philosophy of "helping people help themselves."

This section is adapted from the University of Missouri's Internet Master Program.

The Master Internet Volunteer Program was developed by the University of Minnesota Extension Service and was adapted for use in North Dakota with permission. Copyright  © 2001  North Dakota State University. All rights reserved.

North Dakota State University Extension Service