Ask Two Great Questions to Minimize Misunderstanding
Sunday, April 2nd, 2006In my last posting I wrote about misunderstanding and a few things we can do to avoid it. One of the best practical actions is to ask questions — adopt a stance of inquiry while others are speaking. While you can't go wrong following Rudyard Kipling's advice,
"These six honest serving men taught me all I knew: who, what, where, when, why and how are their names."
That little diddy doesn't go far enough. Here are two more revealing questions.
- Why do you say that?
- What possibilities are opened (or closed) for me (us)?
The first question is an invitation for the speaker to say more about his/her statements/opinions. The answer to the question reveals how the person sees the world. The question is encouragement for the speaker to continue speaking. Be careful…adopt a stance of curiosity when asking the question. Otherwise, the speaker may interpret your questioning as an inquisition.
The second question starts an investigation about how our futures might be better or worse based on the statements the speaker is making. It is a serious question. Adopt a stance of speculation when asking the question. You can't know for sure how the future might be better or worse. You can only surmise what it might be. Inevitably, the answers to the question will lead you to new action.
These questions are a start — a good start — for a speaking-listening relationship that minimizes misunderstanding. Try it.
Related Posts
- Explaining Misunderstanding I'm doing quite a bit of reading and research as I'm writing my book. Over the weekend I was reading about philosophi...
- CPM: Fool Me Again Task durations vary. Experienced project managers will tell you the critical path moves on a project. Why? Tasks do...
- Lean Projects Are Lean Projects Mary Poppendieck has published two new articles: Breaking the Quality–Speed Compromise and Managing the Pipeline. Mar...
- Mistake-Proof Your Projects IW reports, "The report "Mistake-Proofing Six Sigma demonstrates how to eliminate the ambiguity (or 'fuzziness') invol...
- ASK NASA for Help with Your Projects Will NASA really answer your questions? Not likely. But ASK Magazine is a great resource for project managers. The a...
