Are You Asking the Right Questions?
Over the past two years, leading a team, a company, or simply managing your day-to-day life, we have each been challenged with making decisions in highly ambiguous situations. Whether hosting an event, unsure if anyone will be allowed to attend; planning a building project unsure of final material prices; or managing a new product launch uncertain of delivery schedules, we have all lived with the need to make decisions with a high level of ambiguity. Additionally, many have had to make decisions very quickly with delays only compounding the uncertainty or eliminating an already short supply of options.
Are You Asking the Right Questions?
Dealing with ambiguity and making decisions with imperfect information is not something most people do comfortably. Like it or not, it appears some level of ambiguity is going to be with us for the foreseeable future. Having the right tools available to enable well-thought-out decisions is key. The best tool at your disposal? The questions you ask. The challenge I pose in many coaching sessions is, “Are you asking the right questions?”
Two of the biggest traps that can happen in thinking through a problem are first, asking questions early on in a process that offer binary options and second, asking questions truly designed to support a decision you already have landed on, but perhaps haven’t admitted to yourself – or your team. Each of these approaches grossly limit creative thinking. Further, if you are leading a team and truly desire creative problem solving, these approaches create a culture that is intent on getting the “right” answer versus a culture that sees problem solving as an opportunity for expanded thinking, testing new ideas, and learning from challenges.
Building the Right Toolbox for Decision Making
One of the traps that can limit creative thinking in decision making is relying too heavily on questions that only seek knowledge versus those that seek insight.
Knowledge questions are data based. What are the facts you are dealing with? Where have you seen this before? What has worked in the past? What are the challenges to this approach now? There is no doubt that asking these will lead to a solution based on the facts. In the toolbox of decision making, these questions can be as reliable as a screwdriver or hammer. They are the tools designed for a specific function and they will perform that function as expected.
On the other hand, insight questions can be the tool that offers previously unimagined possibilities. They can be the Swiss Army knife that enables you to open a bottle in one moment, slice an apple in another and fix the screw on your eyeglasses in the next. Insight questions can take problem solving in an entirely new direction leading to possibilities previously unimagined.
Questions That Can Provide Insight
Next time you sit down to analyze a problem – try to create deeper insight into the challenge itself which in turn can break down walls that are unknowingly limiting your thinking. Questions to ask yourself:
“What makes this decision uncomfortable for me?”
“What would you do if there were no possibility you would fail?”
“What should be the least important consideration in making this decision?
“What possibilities does letting go of that consideration offer?”
These are just examples of questions that can provide insight rather than knowledge. Dig deep for the answers and then take the time to sit back and understand what you have learned. Sometimes the biggest challenge in making decisions is removing the limitations our own thinking creates.
Do you need help coming up with a great list of questions to ask yourself or your team? Let’s book some time to talk!
