The Art of Asking Questions

How good are you at asking questions? When was the last time you considered what questions you should ask YOURSELF before making a decision or taking an action? Why don’t most leaders consider the ability to ask questions when recruiting, promoting, assigning or training?

At Harvard Business Review, Ron Ashkenas emphasizes that asking questions effectively is a major underlying part of a manager’s job.

However … Mr. Ashkenas focuses primarily on asking others questions. Those aren’t the most important questions you must master.

The most important questions are the ones you ask yourself.

When asking yourself the right questions becomes an intrinsic, automatic part of how you do business, you expand and deepen your perspective —

→ You see opportunities and obstacles previously invisible. You see beyond the “facts.” You see beneath the noise. You look beyond your blinders. You hear what’s left unsaid.

→ You zoom to the very few ingredients that will massively leverage your time and effort.

→ You just don’t need as many answers from others. And you just don’t need to ask others as many questions.

The pace of business today demands this level of acuity and perceptiveness.

But very few leaders have woken up to this reality. As Mr. Ashkenas points out “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 education programs.”