Practice Note: Asking Better Questions

• Date: 01 August 2016
• Published date: 01 August 2016
• Author: Trip Barthel,Mary Fortson‐Harwell
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/crq.21170

C R Q, vol. 34, no. 1, Fall 2016 43

© 2016 Association for Confl ict Resolution and Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) • DOI: 10.1002/crq.21170

Practice Note: Asking Better Questions

Trip Barthel

Mary Fortson-Harwell

 is article examines ways that mediators can ask better questions by

developing a line of inquiry that facilitates insight through movement

within the stages of mediation. Well-designed questions can shift per-

spectives, promote understanding, off er opportunities, engage participa-

tion, and create possibilities. Better questions in mediation are asked

with curiosity and emotional detachment, trustworthy, emotionally

intelligent, balanced and open, asked with an awareness of learning

styles, creative, future focused, and unifying.

T he human brain is unique within nature for its ability to formulate

and posit questions. Questions fuel and drive our thinking, and are

the starting point of learning. In fact, “the more we learn, the more we can

increase parties’ understanding of the confl ict dynamics in which they fi nd

themselves” (Picard 2003 , 477–78). As the mediator ’ s primary role is one

of learning and the facilitation of learning in others, it is not surprising that

a basic and fundamental tool for mediators is the act of questioning.

Mediators assist parties in testing ideas and opinions to determine if

their positions are feasible and sustainable (Beer and Packard 2012 ), a form

of resolution-driven hypothesis testing. Mediation practitioners, similar to

researchers, guide parties through idea generation and testing, derived and

refi ned through asking key questions. Indeed, insight is particularly critical

within mediation and is gained through discovery (Picard 2002 ).  us, as

with most other helping professions, the most important tool that media-

tors brings to a conversation is themselves ( Johnson and Yanca 2007 ) and

their ability to foster productive dialogue through thoughtful questions.

Mediators must remain constantly curious, open, balanced, and insightful,

all while holding the self-determination of each party at the forefront of the

negotiation. With the knowledge that individual parties are the experts on