As a Leader, Is the Quality of Your Questions, or the Quality of Your Answers More Important?

By our nature, we are questioning beings. Remember, as young children we asked “why?“ until some adult said “enough,” out of annoyance or lack of knowledgeable answers. Then later in life, we realize there is no such thing as a stupid question. Rather than saying “what questions do you have?”, as adults we may have heard, “don’t ask questions that will make the rest of us look bad, or you will open yourself to criticism.” “Don’t question authority.” Think about when the boss says, “Do you understand?” Not many people will have the confidence to say no and ask questions. As a result, questioning has become a lost art in its own right to gain information.

Think back to a social occasion when you were involved in a conversation. The individuals who were considered the best conversationalists were those who asked questions and listened intently. One of the additional benefits of asking questions is that you are able to direct the conversation. In leadership, we ask questions to verify understanding, to gain a better understanding of a process, to give recognition for a job well done by asking how it was accomplished. We also use questions to create synergy, to explore new avenues and for idea generation, to name a few. Questions are a mentoring tool to build experience.

Quality questions will help to challenge authority, ideology, principles, values, methodologies, and accepted theories. Questioning helps to break down barriers about what people take for granted or hold to be true, and put an end to the social conditioning that discourages questioning. So ask questions.

I’ll see you in the front row of success.