When Questions Are More Important Than Answers

We are all taught that answers are the most important thing in solving problems. It starts from our earliest communications with our parents and continues all through our schooling. The reality is that asking good questions is the key to powerful leadership and effective communications.

It is impossible to be an effective manager if your goal is to supply the people around you with the answer, it is this behavior that sinks most great individual performers who fail to become effective at managing others. As with everything else in my life, I did not really learn this until I failed to land a major promotion because I was “indispensable” in the position I was in and could not be promoted to the next level as a manager of supervisors. It was then that I realized that by having all the answers I was blocking others progress as well as my own.

This was over 40 years ago and it was the start of a journey that continues today to challenge others and myself to think of questions that will bring about greater performance and greater creativity. By doing this I empower others and myself. It is not an easy process, I have to constantly interrupt my first impulse to solve every problem presented to me and instead challenge the people directly involved in the work and ask them what they think needs to be done. This has to be done at every level even at the senior management level. Too little is gained if I learn the answers; a great deal is gained if the people responsible for the ongoing performance of the work learn the answers.

Even harder for me to learn was how to really listen, without real listening there are no great questions. To get good at this I had to take workshops and come to grips with my shortcomings in this area. This was not fun, but it has been extremely rewarding. One of the greatest benefits of listening is real learning and real relationships.