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Inside the program: Effective questions

HCPro's Weekly Update on the ANCC Magnet Recognition Program®*, March 1, 2010

Effective questions can be very helpful in achieving accountability when dealing with the c-suite. Effective questions focus on what is working and how effective activities and outcomes can be replicated. These questions generate positive energy and possibilities. They require one to understand another’s position.

Effective questions are a valuable tool to use in a group setting, such as a meeting. In a meeting, you want participants to process information in a useful way that adds value. However, all of the people in the room are asking themselves a question and continually answering it. By setting that question for them, you can make the meeting much more productive.

Here’s how it works. You are describing a proposed plan for senior executives rounding in the hospital. As you are speaking, the three questions in people’s mind are:

• What is wrong with this proposal?
• Why won’t this work?
• Should I support this?

These questions will likely produce negative, highly critical responses. They take the energy out of the room. The response back could be defensive.

To create a more productive response, before you speak give the audience the effective questions you want them to address (framing) as they listen to the proposal for senior executive rounding in the hospital.

Source: Accountability in Nursing: Six Strategies to Build and Maintain a Culture of Commitment

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