The right questions
Are you asking questions? More importantly, are you asking the right questions?
Recent research shows that asking questions is extremely effective for relaying information and changing behaviour, both at an individual and project level. In fact, question asking can make people more emotionally intelligent, potentially leading to us make improved decisions for the communities we serve.
Boosting your project’s success
Here’s a reminder about why question asking of your stakeholders, whether your internal team or a powerful external community group, can boost your personal and project’s success.
Social scientists have observed how asking questions is powerful enough to affect the individual question asker, the person being asked, and those who are listening to the question and response.
In addition, by asking questions, you are expressing a clear interest in a business, project or individual, which can strengthen relationships and increase the chance of a successful outcome.
Achieving effective stakeholder results
Senior Research Scientist, Natalie Telis, suggests that question asking is associated with confidence, and becomes a two-way lever that potentially leads to us answering more complex queries. When working with stakeholders, this is a valuable method of enquiry to ascertain what their core requirements are, and thus how to achieve the most effective results.
Asking better questions
To make your outcome even more favourable, journalist and author Warren Berger argues in his book, A More Beautiful Question, that asking better questions is key. Challenging assumptions and biases can lead to problem-solving, creative thinking, improved decision-making, enhanced relationships, and stronger leadership.
Berger also brings up the issue of “wishful thinking”, or desirability bias, which can interfere with vital critical thinking. When we study and follow research, there is the potential to interpret results and measures using our own bias, unintentionally skewing the material to what we wish the outcome to be.
However, by asking questions we can avoid this bias through opening ourselves up to debate and unexpected outcomes, both of which assist growth and understanding. When done at a project level, this will strengthen the design and outcome of your project.
Increasing emotional intelligence
Interestingly, Harvard Business School Associate Professor Alison Wood Brooks, shares that from her research that there are “very few evidence-based prescriptions or interventions that can make people more emotionally intelligent, but question asking can”.
Deeper questions, which invite a considered response, can lead to increased knowledge, adaptability, and a wider understanding (including empathy in some scenarios) of the subject, business or group being analysed.
If you have difficulties asking questions, Alyssa Croft, an assistant social psychology professor at the University of Arizona, says you are not alone.
“I feel those worries and fears around question asking and that internal voice that says, Don’t say that out loud, people will think you don’t belong here’ It’s completely imposter syndrome.”
Brooks’ findings offer a solution to this: “All you need to do is go into a conversation thinking, ‘I need to ask more questions,’ and you will”.
The research is mounting up – asking better questions is the way forward; there’s no question about it.
Resources:
- Berger, W. (2016). A more beautiful question: The power of inquiry to spark breakthrough ideas. New York, NY: Bloomsbury.
- Brooks, A. W., & John, L. K. (2018). How to Ask Great Questions. Harvard Business Review.
- https://behavioralscientist.org/who-asks-questions-and-what-it-tells-us/
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