Question Time

Why? What for? What problem are you trying to solve?

Questions that feel empowering when you ask them, but often irritating when you are on the receiving end.

When you are strong in your convictions, being asked to stop and think can feel like walking into a glass door you didn’t know was there.?

Synonyms of the verb question include interrogate, cross-examine, and probe.?No wonder we can get defensive if we are questioned.

But just like that glass door that is there to prompt a pause before proceeding, so to can these questions be the critical difference between success and failure in our work and personal endeavours.?

Why, why, why?

You were likely great at the art of asking why as a child.?Do you still ask why as an adult?

According to Harvard-based child psychologist Paul Harris, a child asks around 40,000 questions between the ages of two and five.?That’s almost 40 a day, every day, not counting the inevitable repeats.

I would argue there are some days adults don’t ask one.

And while asking why once is good, asking why multiple times to the same question is often exceedingly better.

Why??

I’m glad you asked, Andrew.

The response to a first question of why will provide a very likely (reasonable) reason, but rarely will it be at sufficient depth to uncover real motivation or reasoning for the thing being interrogated.

Let’s play this out with an example.

Why is the full-time working week based on a generally accepted 38 to 40 hours?

Ok, bad example.

But really, why?

Because that’s how everyone does it and how the fair pay for all role types is determined.

But why?

Because if you didn’t have that guiding principle there would be no way to manage work output and it would be too hard to figure out how much someone should be paid for one role versus another.

But why?

Because that’s how everyone does it.

As you can see, you’ll either get to the real root issue, motivation or driving factor, or you won’t.?It’s great if you don’t.

What’s it for?

In his most recent book, The Practice, Seth Godin reflects on the power of the why referenced at times in the past by Simon Sinek, and he also introduces the reset power of this question: what’s it for?

“Every time we spend (spend time, spend money, spend trust, spend attention) we do it in the hope of getting something in return. Along the way, we’ve gotten so good at spending that we do it out of instinct. We spend our time and our money and our trust on things because we always have. But the world changes, faster every day. What we seek is transformed. The external and internal pressures on us keep changing as well”.?

To avoid continuing down a path mindlessly in possibly the wrong direction, you can reset by asking “what’s it for?”

Seth uses the example of a traditional receptionist. What’s that role for? Welcoming guests to the office and stopping them going further than the front desk without permission? There’s security for that.

What’s it really for?

When you really think about it, a great receptionist can be a critical influence on marketing and growth outcomes for the company, as well as employee engagement.?And a poor one can be the opposite.?Great would be proactively having knowledge of each visitor before they arrive, sharing insights with your staff on arriving guests before meetings, creating posters of positive company news to have on hand at reception, and of course, free drinks and snacks.?Poor would be none of those things.

What’s your problem?

I have a vivid memory of doing algebra in year 8 and the first time I worked backwards to unveil “X”.?What a moment!

And while life and business are rarely as simple as an algebra problem, we can still try to get our problems into a form which maximises the probability of solutions addressing the real problem.

But whether it’s overconfidence, fear, impatience, or laziness (or a combination of) that stops a deeper analysis of a problem being completed before “solution mode”, too often we end up fixing one problem only to realise the real root cause isn’t fixed at all.

The beauty of an algebra equation is that it enables pre-defined steps and intellectual thinking to uncover a solution that is specific to the problem outlined in the equation.

Outside of the mathematical world, the key is to dedicate sufficient time upfront, with the right people, to document and agree a specific problem statement before any work on a solution commences.?Then move forward with confidence and commitment to solution mode.

Just don’t get muddled up fearing “solution mode” itself.?Once you do the work on the problem statement, you better make sure you’re in solution mode and not going around in circles discussing the problem again.

Question time

What’s one thing will you stop to question this week? ?

Be brave, ask it.