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Asking questions

Most of the time, you will inevitably need to clarify elements of the instructions you have received and may have further questions as you progress through your tasks. Supervisors may forget that you haven’t worked on certain documents or processes in the past, or haven’t come across particular jargon, so it’s completely fine to admit when you don’t understand something or need more of a steer. 

Supervisors also often forget to give you context about the tasks they are delegating, including how those tasks fit into the bigger picture. However, without the context, you are more likely to misinterpret their instructions, make mistakes and/or miss something important. 

Curiosity is better than complacency, and if you get it wrong because you failed to ask questions, the fault will lie with you. Moreover, by asking about the bigger picture, including which steps will need to be taken next, you’ll be demonstrating that you are being proactive and trying to take as much off your supervisor’s plate as possible. To that end, some of the most positive feedback I received related to “asking the right questions”. This not only helped to ensure that I delivered work as expected, but also showed that I had an interest in the context of the work I was carrying out (and therefore a desire to learn and develop).

For these reasons, communication is key. Don’t be too hesitant about asking questions, as failing to ask questions will lead your supervisor to assume that you fully understand the tasks, which could be your downfall if you then end up producing work that is wrong or off-topic. If you waste two days having gone off on the wrong tangent, you may also end up causing your supervisor to miss an important deadline, and risk unnecessarily wasting your supervisor’s time (if they were banking on your work to help them complete their own work) and client’s money.

Moreover, supervisors will usually be able to tell from your reaction, body language and tone of voice if you don’t fully understand their instructions, so by pretending you do understand, you risk negatively affecting their trust and confidence in you (they’ll simply worry that you’re going to go off on an incorrect tangent). This is something I have heard many times from friends and colleagues who supervise trainees, so ask your initial questions at the time you’re receiving instructions. Saying that, once you’ve received the initial instructions and made a start on the task(s), it’s important to demonstrate that you’ve tried to figure stuff out on your own before asking follow-up questions. This shows initiative and reduces the risk of you coming across as lazy.

When to ask questions

Interrupting your supervisor every few minutes will be counter-productive. Think how you would feel if you were working on something complicated and had to stop every few minutes to answer questions on a different issue. You would lose your train of thought, work less efficiently and probably feel frustrated.

Where possible, note down your questions and accumulate a list. You can then ask your supervisor when they will have a few minutes to clarify certain elements of the task you were set. In more practical terms, you could draft an email as you progress through the task, with the intention of sending it to your supervisor once the first draft of the task is complete. This means you can keep adding in comments/questions as you go along, so that when you have finished the task, all your questions will have been noted down and the email will be ready to send. Of course, if you run into an issue that will prevent you from progressing the task, then ask your supervisor at an earlier stage. It is all about striking a balance between your productivity, your supervisor’s productivity and the risk of you going off on a wrong tangent and delivering an incorrect piece of work.

How to ask questions

Where possible, phrase questions to your supervisor in a way that allows for “Yes/No” answers, as opposed to just saying “I don’t understand xyz, please help”. Try to avoid simply presenting hurdles; be solutions-focused in your approach, as this is much more helpful and proactive.

Sometimes asking questions over the phone or face-to-face can be easier and quicker for a supervisor to deal with than sending a long list of questions in a dense email. If you do opt for face-to-face, knock confidently on their office door, then ask if it’s a good time (juniors have a tendency to hover nervously, which can be a little awkward). If you really don’t feel comfortable doing so, then you could take a less direct approach and email them first to identify a time that works for them. If you’re not sure which approach to take, check with your supervisor at the outset whether they have a particular preference for dealing with questions: an accumulated list every couple of hours; by email, phone or face-to-face etc. These are not generally considered to be stupid questions, as many people have different preferences and can be fairly stuck in their ways.

When approaching a supervisor to ask questions, you should start by giving an indication of how long you think your questions will take for them to answer. Two minutes? Ten minutes? One hour? This will help your supervisor judge whether this is the right time for them to take a break from their own work. Either way, make sure you’re clear on what you want to ask in advance, and have any potentially relevant background materials to hand if there’s a chance your supervisor will need to reference these when assessing your question. Finally, when asking questions, listen actively to the answer, perhaps summarising back any responses you receive to demonstrate that you are engaged. Don’t ask the same question twice!

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