A Powerful Thing You Can Do Anytime, Any Place

"The important thing is not to stop questioning." - Albert Einstei

The quality of our results depends on the questions that we ask.

Yet many people don’t ask enough questions in the first place. It could be that you were told not to ask questions of your elders, when you were at school, or it is not considered to be part of the culture in your family or in your organization. Another reason why many people feel afraid of asking a question is because they are afraid of looking stupid.

But... is there such a thing as a stupid question?

What anyone thinks as “stupid” is only relative to where they are at in their thinking. The person who has asked the question may be less experienced, or they may have seen a perspective that someone else just hasn't seen as yet.

For example, many of those who had Ted Turner (the founder of CNN) ask them in pre-cable TV days if they thought cable TV was a good idea may have thought Turner’s question to be a stupid one. In fact, most people didn’t think cable would work. Yet today, Turner is a media mogul.

Consider also the story of a dog food company. At the end of their annual convention, it was time for the Chief Executive's speech. They had heard great reports over the last few days – from extraordinary targets for the coming year to great marketing and sales plans – and the CEO had just one question, “If everything is going so great, why aren’t we selling any dog food?” A lone voice came from the back of the room, “Because the dogs hate it”.

The seemingly stupid question may well be the question that is needed. It is often the simple and obvious things that get overlooked.

Questions such as:nn* What is the purpose of our doing this?
* For what reason do we do this this particular way?
* What can be done to make this better, more streamlined?

Great questions make you stop and think, and how you phrase the question also makes a difference. For example:

Question 1: What went wrong?
Question 2: What can we learn from this?

Question 1 focuses on the problem, Question 2 focuses the mind on seeking different solutions. Perhaps both questions do need to be asked in order to get the mind going, but consider how you might phrase a question so that you get more powerful answers.

I recently read about a CEO in conversation with a consultant. The CEO asked why he should employ the consultant, seeing as they had achieved growth in excess of 20% with no signs of a slow-down... to which the consultant asked, “How do you know that it shouldn’t have been 34%?”

Questions focus your thinking. This is what coaches do with their clients, and what great leaders who coach do with their people. Great teachers and parents do the same too. They ask great questions – questions that make people think, learn, grow and make changes.

That's also why you want to ask great questions of yourself. Here are a few to start you off.nn* What would you like to be different this year?
* What will you stand for that will give you a sense of purpose and provide a guiding principle against which to make decisions?
* What will you do differently so that you get more done in less time?
* What is truly important to you in your life, and how much time do you spend doing that?

The questions you ask determines the quality of your thinking, which leads on to the quality of your decisions and actions, and ultimately your results.

What are the questions that you haven’t yet asked, that if you did, would make a significant difference for you?