There are many ways to find out more about a person. This is an old exercise that takes a unique approach.
It invites a person to write five questions you can ask them to find out more about them. The person then hands over the questions and you can proceed to ask the questions. You can also add any other questions you wish to ask.
This seems a simple exercise but it can reveal a lot about a person. It is one that can be used when interviewing a person for a role or in many other situations. You can also adapt it how you wish. Here are the instructions.
Step One
You invite the person to write down five questions you can ask them to find out about them. The person writes these questions on a piece of paper.
Step Two
The person gives you the piece of paper with the questions. You then interview them by asking the questions they have written. If appropriate, you can invite them to expand on their answers.
Different people do, of course, write different questions. Once when I did this exercise the first question that one person wrote was:
“What is your deepest problem?”
This said a lot about the person. They were mainly focused on what they saw as the barriers to their growth.
Other people write other questions that you can ask them. Here are some of the ones that individuals write.
“What is important to you in life? What do you enjoy doing? What do you feel passionate about?
“What do you believe in? What are the principles you want to follow in your life? What are your personal and professional goals?
“What are your strengths? What are the kinds of work you find most satisfying? How do you want to use your strengths to help other people?”
This is a tough but interesting exercise. Bearing this in mind, it can be useful to give a person at least ten minutes to write the questions.
Some people write personal questions – such as about their family and passions. Some write professional questions – such as about their strengths and career goals. Some write philosophical questions – such as about their purpose, principles and personal goals.
As mentioned earlier, you can use this exercise in many situations. It can reveal a lot about a person, their drives and their goals. It can also be useful to test the approach on yourself.
Imagine that somebody asked you to do this exercise. What would be the five questions you would write that a person could ask to find out more about you?
If you wish, try tackling the exercise on this theme. This invites you to complete the following sentences.
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