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More questions than answers

Recently I have been spending time online on LinkedIn, since I discovered that it had a Questions section (though it is perversely called “Answers”.)  I was very interested and impressed by the contributions, so I found myself being drawn into the ‘game’.  However. the aspect that has struck me is the difference in what happens when you ask a question as opposed to answer one.  Come up with a clever answer and maybe you’ll maybe get an accolade for “Best Answer” or a reply from the questioner.  However, ask a stimulating question and you may get 20-30 people all talking to, and engaging with, you. 

In my work as a coach and facilitator I often note that the thing that clients gain most value from is my questions.  This is strange when you consider that we live in a culture that so values ‘the expert’*.  The media is full of ‘experts’ pronouncing, and displaying their erudition, like little bantam cocks, and yet, when it comes to our lives and our businesses, who knows more about it that you do?  If you want to help someone, rather than telling them what to do, try asking a question rather than offering an opinion and see what happens.  Really good managers have know this for years, but it feels that this style of leadership is seldom represented in movies or books in praise of leaders.

I’d love to gather some examples of good questions and the impact they that they have had on you, or equally valid, the effect your good questions have had on others.

* Definitions of expert:

  • Someone who knows one thing more than you do
  • The word “expert” is formed from the conjunction of two roots which phonetically can be represented as “x” and “spurt”. Everyone knows that “X” is an unknown quantity.  A “spurt” is what one gets from squeezing a drop of water. Therefore, an expert is an unknown drip under pressure.
  • ex means “has been” .. or once was or past … pert means “lively, sprightly, in good health .. bold, forward .. skilled” … so that an expert is one who has lost the innate intelligence of their childhood.

 

“You can tell whether a man is clever by his answers. You can tell whether a man is wise by his questions.”   Naguib Mahfouz

“To be on a quest is nothing more or less than to become an asker of questions.”  Sam Leak

 

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This entry was posted on Saturday, January 9th, 2010 at 10:23 and is filed under Business Change, General, Hints, Tips & Techniques, Leadership. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

5 Responses to “More questions than answers”

  1. Cornelis de Maijer says:
    9 January , 2010 at 12:43

    Nice blog!!!

    The best questions asked me by others: (while talking developing the business)
    1) Where will the company be within 5 years?
    2) What benefits do your guests get from it and what benefits do you get from it?
    3) Are you able to hand it over for the day-to-day management to someone else?

    Those were about business; however what I discoverd was, they are actually about self acutalisation and the right next step forwards in “life progress” In other words Do you know your passion and does everything contribute to it and are you able to developed it such an way that it becomes a manageable system so that other can benefit from it without spending hunderds of hours on it?

  2. richardderwentcooke says:
    9 January , 2010 at 15:59

    Knowing where you are going and how to judge if you are on track is key in life as well as business Cornelis, I agree

  3. Ron Davidson says:
    9 January , 2010 at 21:53

    Peter Block asks these questions or at least he’d like people who plan events to ask of him:

    1) How are you going to engage the audience?
    2) What kind of room would be appropriate for your purpose?
    3) How are you going to assess how it is going?

    Good questions for facilitators of change to be asked don’t you think?

  4. richardderwentcooke says:
    9 January , 2010 at 21:58

    Thank you Ron [nice to see you back :)]

    These are important questions that I consider when I run any event, although I have to admit, that I tend to feel you should be in tune enough to know how it is going

  5. Ron Davidson says:
    9 January , 2010 at 22:29

    I’m sure you consider these questions, put by Peter, given your care and experience in change facilitation, however it is our clients who might usefully ask these questions. Or at least we could help them appreciate why such questions are important.

    I’ve had interesting discussions about the “power of place.”

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