How The Most Successful People Ask
Questions
The most intelligent and successful people ask a lot of questions.
Here's how to use what you don't know to your advantage.
Asking the right
questions can mean the difference between success and failure. Unfortunately,
asking questions can also feel uncomfortable.
"It can be embarrassing to admit that you didn't understand
what someone said, or that you don't get it," says Heidi Grant Halvorson, associate director of Columbia Business
School’s Motivation Science Center and author of No One Understands You and What to Do
About It. "You might fear
it will make you look incompetent, but that’s not true. Research has found that
people who are inquisitive are generally judged to be more intelligent and
engaged."
There are no stupid questions, says Dian Griesel, author of FUNDaMentals: The Corporate Guide to Cultivating Mindshare.
"When you’re learning a new task that is completely foreign to you, when
someone’s safety is at risk, when investing your money, or when it comes to
your health—ask away," she says.
The key is to approach questions with the mind-set that they will
give you information that will help improve your job performance, says Jon Acuff, author of Do Over: Rescue Monday, Reinvent Your
Work, and Never Get Stuck. He suggests going into meetings prepared to ask good questions.
"Asking questions not only keeps you engaged, it allows you to contribute
to the conversation and learn something new," he says.
Some questions have the potential to catalyze breakthroughs and
inspire transformations, while others lead to stagnation and demoralization.
The difference lies in whether you ask "learner questions" or
"judger questions," says Marilee Adams, president and founder of the Inquiry Institute
and author of Change Your
Questions, Change Your Life: 10 Powerful Tools for Life and Work.
"Learner questions
are open-minded, curious, and creative," she says. "They promote
progress and possibilities, and typically lead to discoveries, understanding,
and solutions."
A learner question, for
example, might be, "What are my goals?" "What am I responsible
for?" "How can I help?" and "What do our customers
want?"
By contrast, judger
questions are more closed-minded, certain, and critical, says Adams. "They
focus on problems rather than solutions and often lead to defensive reactions,
negativity, and inertia," she says. For example, "Who is to
blame?" or "Why aren’t we winning?"
Learner questions
facilitate progress by expanding options, while judger questions impede
progress by limiting perspectives.
"It’s natural for
individuals and teams to ask both learner and judger questions, but without
learner questions, results suffer," says Adams.
Questions can also
clarify expectations and make sure everyone is on the same page. Even if you
think you understood your colleague or manager, there is a good chance you
didn't, says Grant Halvorson; the problem arises from something psychologists
call the "illusion of transparency."
"Because we know
what we are thinking and feeling, and what our intentions are, we assume that
it's obvious to other people, too," she says. "People think they've
said more than they did, so there is a good chance you are missing something
that may have gone unsaid."
Resolve this problem by
repeating back to the person what you think they said, suggests Grant
Halvorson. "Something like, ‘Okay, just to be sure I've got the important
details . . . ’ This clears up any misunderstandings that may have
arisen," she says.
Most companies hold brainstorming sessions that identify
solutions, but Hal Gregersen, executive director of the MIT Leadership
Center and coauthor of The Innovator's DNA:
Mastering the Five Skills of Disruptive Innovators, suggests holding "question-storming"
sessions that think of nothing but questions about a problem for a given period
of time.
"When people care
about the issue, when they have thought a lot about the issue but they are
stuck, that's the point at which it's perfect to step back and say: ‘Okay,
question storming time,’" he says.
Have your team generate
at least 50 questions about the problem. At about question 25, Gregersen says
it will stall. "I have watched this a hundred times around the
world," he says. "People say: 'I don't have any more questions, I am
stuck.' Keep going, because it's that pass forward that can sometimes give you
some of the greatest questions."
Question storming a long
series of questions gets you closer to the right questions that will give you
the right answer, says Gregersen. "And that's where question storming
complements traditional brainstorming," he says.
STEPHANIE VOZZA
http://www.fastcompany.com/3056318/hit-the-ground-running/how-the-most-successful-people-ask-questions?utm_source=mailchimp&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=fast-company-weekly-newsletter&position=1&partner=newsletter&campaign_date=02122016
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