It is important to me that reading this is a good use of your time and a means to a conversation (via comments). As I talked with friends, family, and former colleagues, there were more questions than answers about what this BLOG is and/or should be. So, this first post is about the goals for this blog and the skill of asking powerful questions.
Goals of this BLOG
- Share useful information for more success with less stress.
- Spur thinking, mine and yours.
- Keep it simple & have fun.
As I write my weekly posts I will focus on these goals. Your comments will help me calibrate. Sounds easy enough, we’ll see.
POWERFUL QUESTIONS
DISCOVER
Ideas, commitments, needs, challenges. Thoughtful inquiry of your customers, team, peers, and/or yourself will uncover information that will help you be more successful.
What is keeping you up at night? What is standing in the way of reaching your goals?
How do you want to spend your day? Think about this in the context of prioritizing and focusing your business or in living your values. I learned this powerful question at a great small business seminar – Vision in Action this past weekend taught by Diana Sterling
The ‘5-whys’ is a powerful problem solving approach used in six-sigma methodology: Ask “Why?” five times, each time digging deeper to find the true cause of the problem, avoiding the trap of a quick and easy solution. I like this analogy: Dropping your keys on a dark street and then looking for them under the street light because this is the easiest area to find them when in reality they are least likely to be there.
ENGAGE
Using a nonjudgmental and transparent approach, the right questions will pull people in and encourage participation and creative thinking. To be explict, avoid questioning that comes across as interrogation which will quickly shut down communication.
Are we questioning assumptions, the routine way of doing things? How would this company operate if you were the leader? What experiences should new managers have to help them become a leader? As your leader, how can I support you and help you be successful?
“An effective leader will…ask questions instead of giving direct orders.” – Dale Carnegie I would add, and be open to the the answers you hear, especially those where you disagree.
Chris Brogan blog post dated June 17, 2009: Make Presence Management Work for You: “I find that asking questions really helps me get people to engage. Instead of, “New blog post: I’m smarter than you,” I would tweet, “Are you smarter than me?” That one little change makes a big difference in response.”
DELIVER SOLUTIONS
As any good teacher or parent can tell you, you will learn a lot more with open-ended questions and a curious open-minded attitude. Using a very child-like or “beginner’s mind” approach will open up your world to a lot more solutions.
How would a small and entrepreneurial business do this? A big and bureaucratic business? If we were starting as a competitor to ourselves how would we do it? How can we challenge assumptions?
” The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.” – Albert Einstein.
LEAD TO MORE QUESTIONS
As your questioning skills expand you will find that powerful questions lead to even more questions. It is a wondeful gift to live in a curiosity filled world. The next time you are around a toddler take a moment to observe all the things they are discovering and how this skill can be applied to looking at your business processes in a new way or at your routines with a new perspective. My five and two-year old niece and nephew visited earlier this week and it was a joy to see their faces light up when they made a new discovery.
I like the line used many times in the movie Philadelphia, “Explain that to me like I’m a 4-year old” Of course, practicing good listenting skills is also key, that will be a future post.
Please comment: what are your favorite questions? How have you used powerful questions to be more successful?
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What exactly is a BLOG? (This is for my friends & family who had questions about this)
The word BLOG is a combination of WEB and LOG. Jorn Barger coined this term in December, 1997: “My intent for weblogs in 1997 was to make the web as a whole more transparent, via a sort of “mesh network,” where each weblog amplifies just those signals (or links) its author likes best.” Still here? Then I’ll tell you that my definition includes the fact that a BLOG includes comments from many sources (the more the merrier) versus a newsletter that is a one-way communication. Please comment!
Reference book recommended for more reading: Questions that Work – How to Ask Questions that Will Help You Succeed in Any Business Situation by Andrew Finlayson
Flickr creative common photo credits: Orange question mark – tj scenes , Why? – e-magic
My favorite question: What problem are we trying to solve?
It helps to maintain focus on the highest priority.
Great question Joanne, thanks for sharing! Too many times we skip by the important step of clarifying the problem statement and this causes trouble.
At what age did we stop asking “Why” five times for everything that peaked our interest? My seven year old daughter still does, and I answer every one of them.
My favorite questions are, “What do you do, and what made you decide to go into that career?”
But the question that has led to more successful contacts has been, “Who do you know, and will you introduce me to them?”
Thanks Walt, yes the curiosity of a child is a beautiful thing and not sure when we start losing it; maybe when all those hormones start in the teen years? It is possible to get some of it back with practice. Thanks for the networking question too; you are one of best networkers I know.
What’s keeping me up at night is often the vague sense of disorganization which prevents me from being effective. I love the common-sense clarity that you’ve woven into Powerful Questions. If I had prioritized days, I’d probably sleep all night! Great job, Paula!
Thanks Bonnie. I’m glad that this post got you thinking; hopefully you can take some actions to get better sleep!
Insightful read. thanks.