HomeUncategorizedAm I good at asking questions?

Am I good at asking questions?

“From my experience, most managers don’t think about this issue,” says Ron Ashkenas in a blog post for Forbes. Ashkenas, a management consultant, says assessing their question-asking skill set would be a good habit for managers to form. “You don’t usually find ‘the ability to ask questions’ on any list of managerial competencies; nor is it an explicit part of the curriculum of business schools or executive educations programs. But asking questions effectively is a major underlying part of a manager’s job.

Because they don’t know how to probe the thought process of their subordinates, colleagues and bosses, many managers make assumptions about the basis of their actions, Ashkenas says. When those assumptions are wrong, all sorts of dysfunctional patterns can be created. He relays
a story of a financial services firm that suffered through a months-long delay of a major product upgrade because the product and IT managers had different assumptions about what was to be delivered by when. They kept blaming each other for delays. When a third party finally helped them ask the right questions, they were able to come up with a plan that satisfied both, and quickly produced incremental revenue for the product.

Ashkenas suggests three areas where improved questioning can strengthen managerial effectiveness:

Asking questions about yourself
Good managers are always asking themselves and others about what they could do better or differently. Finding the right time and approach for asking these questions in a way that invites constructive and candid responses is critical.

Asking questions about plans and projects
The challenge with questioning projects is to do so in a way that not only advances the work, but also builds relationships and helps the people involved learn and develop. Your questions can be tough and direct, but the probing needs to be in the spirit of accelerating progress, illuminating unconscious assumptions and solving problems. You’re not out to prove that you are the smartest one in the room or make someone squirm.

Asking questions about the organization
In order to fulfill your obligation to help the organization function more effectively, you need to ask questions about practices, processes and structures. Why do we do things this way? Is there a better approach? Asking these questions in a way that does not trigger defensiveness and that is seen as constructive is an important skill for managers.

Most of us never think about how to frame our questions. Giving this process some explicit thought however might not only make you a better manager; it might also help others improve their inquiry skills as well.  

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Paul Nolan
Paul Nolanhttps://salesandmarketing.com
Paul Nolan is the editor of Sales & Marketing Management.

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