The power of asking good questions

Got a million words I could write on this topic, but I realize no one would ever read that, so … let’s keep it a bit tighter, no?

I was just reading this article on the power of harnessing employee ideas; here’s the final paragraph of it:

Think about this deep thought for a second:

Most of first-world society is about answers and having answers.

That’s what people mostly want/seek. You want to partially understand how Google became a multi-billion dollar company? There are hundreds of reasons, but at core you might say this: They made it easier than anything in history for people to get answers. There’s value in that, yes?

Think about it in these terms, too:

• When we present ideas to other people, we’re always telling. What if presentations were actually about asking?
• By some estimates, only 30 percent of salespeople are actually prepared for the questions that a buyer has
• We put so much of a focus on answers that many people don’t even know how to ask questions

In an answer-driven culture, then, maybe we pushed down the value of the question side.

This is bad, because questions are super important. Our brains are pretty finite, lazy things — even if they’re overall amazing machines. We can’t possibly know everything in the world — although many people think they do — and even if you’re really good at the aforementioned Google, you can’t possibly access everything in the world either.

To get at what’s really going on in most situations, you need to ask questions. I write about this a lot recently, but if you line up a genius and an idiot, the genius will ask more questions. That’s the way to get smarter.

The problem here is that most articles/sources of advice about asking questions are total BS; here’s one from 2009 from Harvard Business Review. I guarantee you in 2009, most business leaders were chasing “What nickels can I find in the couch cushion of my industry to get us past the 2008 recession?” and not chasing “I need to ask better questions of my employees!,” but the article goes into basic things like:

• Ask the right kinds of questions
• Create a culture of questions

That’s all complete garbage. Senior leaders don’t think along these lines. No one is actively trying to “create a culture of questions.” People are trying to create a culture of fat-ass bonuses for the top dogs, you know? There’s not enough of a line between “fat-ass bonuses” and “a culture of questions” for anyone to actually care about questions.

I don’t have any amazingly specific advice on asking better questions, either … but I would say this. Everything comes from clarity. And the easiest way to establish clarity? Be specific in terms of what you’re discussing.

Final concept here, referenced in one of the links above: oftentimes, people approach questions as accusatory. It’s all about “Well, WHY did THAT happen?” Questions, to be effective, need to be forward-thinking with a dose of the past. When it’s accusatory, people are back on their heels. They’re not giving answers that advance the discussion; they’re giving answers to cover their own ass or make themselves look better. No one is winning.

If you’re talking to an employee about “engagement” issues and you want it to be effective, here’s what I’d consider:

• What specific things have been good in the last six months?
• What’s been bad?
• What ideas do you want to see us pursue?
• How would you like to be involved?
• What makes you the happiest here?
• What makes you the saddest here?
• What are you hearing from others? (No names)
• How do you understand our business model?
• How could you see it evolve?
• What would you like to see me do better?
• What about other managers?

This is just a small list, but I feel like it’s a good start. These are actual questions that could lead to insight. Isn’t that the goal?