Open Ended Questions

An open-ended question is a great way to start any conversation. What is an open-ended question? It’s a question that allows you to answer using your thoughts and opinions. Often, these types of questions will be prevalent when someone wants to learn from you. You’ll see them in the workplace, most commonly.

Questions for work

—Great questions to ask the people you work with.

• Who in the organization would you like to learn more from?
• What initiatives would you like to participate in more deeply or work on?
• What professional objectives do you want to achieve in the upcoming six to twelve months, and how will you achieve them?
• What would you love to do but haven’t got the time or money to do yet?
• What additional positions do you think might be interesting at your company? What talents would you wish to develop that are needed for those positions?
• What are your future professional goals? How can I make the trip for you?
• What is the most brilliant concept or idea that your team has recently come up with?
• What should we cease doing in particular?
• Do you meet one-on-one with others? If not, why not?
• Who are the top team members? What do they excel at?
• To whom would you suggest being promoted if you had to fill [role x], and why?
• What can we do to boost the team’s performance in this area?
• What is on everyone’s mind that our group needs to discuss?
• How would you manage the team differently if you were in charge?
• Who is leading the squad in performance? Why did they do that?
• Is there anything I should convey to our staff again that would be beneficial?
• Am I explaining our course to the team with adequate clarity?
• What about our team meetings needs to change?
• Do you have any questions concerning any of the team’s roles?
• What issue may I need to be made aware of as a team?
• What can your organization do to enhance cross-functional cooperation?
• Where do you want me to be more or less involved in your daily life?
• Is it simple for you to talk to me? What’s causing you to feel that way?
• What features of my management approach do you like? What are you not fond of?
• What areas should I pay more attention to?
• Are there any aspects of my profession that you should be aware of?
• What one thing may I do differently this month?
• What is it that everyone around me is not sharing with me?
• What one ability would you like me to work on between now and the next meeting?
• Where did our communication break down? Can you give me an illustration?
• How can I handle you more efficiently?
• How do you and your group feel about the most recent adjustments?
• What modifications to [change x] would you make to benefit you and your team?
• What [change y] issues are causing you & your team the most concern?
• How long would it require me to privately ask your team for input before making [change z]?
• What can I change right away to make things easier for you?
• Do you have any inquiries concerning the projects that the other team members are completing?
• Which do you require? What could ease your daily life?
• What position would you fill with your next recruit if you were our team’s hiring manager?
• Anything you’d like to share but is a bit stressful to bring up in person?
• How do you anticipate the coming week?
• Do you have any concerns that, if addressed, would be helpful to you daily?
• What aspects of our corporate strategy and objectives are you least sure about?
• What, if anything, are you anxious about?
• What would you alter first if you were the CEO?
• What accomplished thing this past week made you proud?
• Who in our team should be recognized for their efforts, and why?
• What actions of previous supervisors have encouraged and inspired you?
• What action or inaction by a previous manager particularly irked you?
• What does a successful, ideal workday entail for you? Tell me how to do it.
• How content are you at work, on a scale of 1 to 10?
• What aspect of your typical workday do you find the least enjoyable?
• What do we do to change the culture at work?
• Do you feel your workplace is productive? Is there anything stopping you from working efficiently?
• What do you think about striking a balance between management and your work?
• How well do you think you balance work and life? What, if anything, would you change?
• Are there any objectives we have as a business, a team, or an individual that you feel are completely unachievable? Why, if so?
• What do you like most about working here?

Questions for friends

—Open-ended questions for friends

• Which human action or habit do you think future research will reveal to be harmful?
• What difficulties do today’s kids face that weren’t present when we were kids?
• What would you alter, and why, if you could travel back in time?
• What universal ideal, if held by everybody, might transform the world?
• What do you believe to be a universal human mistake?
• Why do males with mental health issues keep their suffering to themselves?
• What do you think is the most significant cause of homelessness?
• In the centuries to come, will humankind be able to leave the solar system?
• What measures could international governments take to stop global warming?
• How can neighborhood shops in our towns and communities compete with big-box internet retailers?
• Do you believe Facebook’s capacity to link people globally has a net good or destructive impact?
• How would you describe morality to a robot?
• Which animal encounter has been the scariest for you so far?
• Which person would you dread sharing an elevator with the most?
• How have your ideas of beauty evolved throughout your life?
• Why don’t individuals make investments for their later years when they are younger?
• How has your professional career influenced you personally?
• What mental image always appears to give you comfort and peace?
• Do you believe that lab-grown meat will eventually replace traditional meat production?
• If specific individuals had magical abilities, how would they affect the world?
• What invention would you wish to make if money were no object?
• Do you believe a world devoid of nuclear weapons is conceivable?
• What kind of planet would it be if there were aliens among us?
• Why do people keep making the same mistakes?
• What’s the funniest time you had in school?
• How do you feel about gene therapy?
• What constitutes a good life?
• What important lessons can we draw from history?
• What different values and views do you have from other people?
• Who serves as your life’s inspiration?
• Which Netflix shows did you binge-watch?
• Do you prefer exercising outside in the fresh air or at a gym?
• What would your job description say if you could create it yourself?
• Which conspiracy theory do you most firmly believe in?
• At work, who inspires you the most?
• What customs have been a part of your family forever?
• What helps you unwind?
• Why are people unable to coexist peacefully on this planet?
• What do you consider to be a success?
• How do you get ready for work every morning?
• How would you prepare for the end of the world?
• What are you sorry you didn’t do this year?
• What makes individuals like playing video games?
• How do you envision the design of automobiles in the future?
• What do you think of adopting a diet that is more plant-based?
• What do you predict will be the following significant medical advancement?
• What can we do to ensure that money is distributed more evenly across all nations?
• What else may we be able to do to advance gender equality?
• What superpower, and why, would you want it?
• What could we do to eliminate the plastic garbage that is now in the oceans?
• Which movie or television show had the finest climax?
• Why have humans lost touch with nature so much?
• What does art mean to you, exactly?
• What is your earliest recollection from childhood?
• What coping mechanisms do you employ to deal with stress?
• What do you think of flying cars?
• How would you choose the name of a brand-new animal if you were allowed to do so?
• What would you do to pass the time if you had enough money to stop working altogether?
• What about yourself would you change?

Questions for couples

—Open-ended questions for couples:

• What would be the perfect trip for you?
• Do you consider yourself to be self-assured? If not, why not?
• What about you do you take the most pride in?
• What would your ideal self look like?
• What life events did you miss out on?
• When do you feel most like you?
• Which musical instrument do you aspire to master?
• What is the most flattering praise you’ve ever heard?
• How did you lose the friendship of people who were formerly close to you?
• When has a recurring event or happenstance significantly altered your life’s course?
• Where would you go if you could spend a month traveling worldwide?
• What is your best recollection of a person who is no longer a part of your life?
• What has a consistent theme been in your life?
• Do you believe that there is an afterlife?
• What are your top five guiding principles?
• What do you like best about our house?
• What book or film do you long to see again for the first time?
• What would you like to say to them but are unable to?
• What little pleasures do you most relish?
• Who do you know annoys you the most?
• What misstep have you made the most thus far?
• What have you battled with all of your life?
• What would you wish to alter about your life most significantly?
• What do you hope to achieve in life?
• What soothes you the most?
• What sort of things do you find disgusting?
• What would your ideal existence entail?
• What is your most humiliating medical story?
• Which of your friends have you not thought about recently?
• What kind of decorations would you choose for our home if money were no object and I had no say in the matter?
• Are you optimistic about the future with me?
• What phases of your life were the happiest and the unhappiest?
• What has caused you the most emotional or mental suffering?
• What do you enjoy most about our current home?
• What causes you concern?
• Where have you ever experienced the most fright or creepiness?
• Do you believe that the world is growing better or worse? Why?
• What do individuals take pride in the least?
• What has been your biggest betrayal to date?
• What present would you consider to be the best?
• What is the most depressing and encouraging epiphany you have experienced?
• What area of your personality still requires a lot of improvement?
• Are you a forgiving person?
• Talk to me about a moment when you nearly died.
• Are there any prior actions that you regret? What was it, if you feel safe mentioning it?
• Do you favor residing in a small town, a rural area, or a major city? Why?
• What are some of the feelings that you find most enjoyable?
• Do you like your job or wish you had gone in a different direction?
• What is the most unethical habit you have?
• What is trickier than it seems?
• What was your most significant financial blunder?
• When you consider it, what makes you lose faith in people?
• What did you hear that hurt the most?
• What struggles do you keep hidden from others?
• What would be regarded as immoral and savage in a century that is currently normal?
• Regardless of how gorgeous they appear on the outside, what can someone do to turn you off instantly?
• What falsehood did you hold onto for a very long time?
• What three events in your life made the most waves?
• Which animal terrorizes you the most?
• What scandal occurred in your community or next-door neighbor when you were growing up?
• Which of your past social encounters was the most uncomfortable?
• What terrifies you regularly, and what is it?

Questions for kids

—Open-ended questions for kids:

• Describe your day to me.
• What did you do today at school?
• Tell me more about your preferred plaything.
• What is the reason behind your preference for a particular film?
• What about your pals do you enjoy best?
• Which academic topic is your favorite, and why?
• What have you learned today that you weren’t aware of yesterday?
• What brings you joy?
• What was the worst meal you ever had?
• What did the book teach you, exactly?
• Why did you select that book?
• What makes it your favorite music, and which one is it?
• What inspired you to create this image?
• Why did you choose this particular game?
• Accomplish you believe there is another way to do it?
• What do you believe your family’s reaction to your incarceration will be?
• Why do you believe it acted in that manner?
• What else might you do to improve it?
• Describe how you achieved that.
• What distinguishes this from what you previously had?
• What aggravates you?
• Which memory brings you the most joy?
• What comes to mind first when you wake up each morning?
• How can you demonstrate your concern for your friends?
• How do you assist your mother at home?
• What would you want if a fairy gave you three wishes?
• What scares you the most?
• What are your advantages and disadvantages?
• What one thing about yourself would you alter if you could?
• What one law would you implement if you were the world’s ruler?
• Tell me about the goals you have for yourself.
• Do you believe being admirable and brave is more important than having money and fame?
• Where would you go on an adventure if you could, and why?
• What task did you find most challenging today?
• What shade of sky would you make the sky if you could, and why?
• What would you grab as quickly as possible if your house caught fire?
• What is one activity you eagerly anticipate?
• What would you do with a wallet if you found one on the ground?
• What do you consider to be the finest aspect of growing up?
• What about your preferred holiday do you like?
• Who would you contact first if you were in difficulty, and why?
• What do you consider the ideal getaway?
• When you’re older, how do you envision the world will look?
• What can we do to improve your mood?
• What do you consider to be unique about your family?