"Questions focus our thinking. Ask empowering questions like: What's good about this? What's not perfect about it yet? What am I going to do next time? How can I do this and have fun doing it?"
-Charles Connolly
"The Answer to the Great Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything is 42.”
-Douglas Adams
"A question that sometimes drives me hazy: am I or are the others crazy?"
-Albert Einstein
"The job is to ask questions-it always was-and to ask them as inexorably as I can. And to face the absence of precise answers with a certain humility."
-Arthur Miller
September 2005 - Questions
Hello,
As managers, we are much more focused on answers than on questions. We like the certainty of answers, and we like our answers neat and plain. Having an answer tends to stop further questions. And, questions are bothersome sources of complication and discomfort. But questions are also where we test, build discernment and deepen understanding. Questions open the door to new thinking, new ideas or even (gasp!) more powerful questions.
This month we focus on the question and its place in leadership. In addition to our main article, I have included a link to a Fast Company interview with Peter Koestenbaum a past master at big questions. And this month, we review The Thin Book of Appreciative Inquiry, a book about using questions to reinforce what works well in a company or team.
If you have ever wanted to know what a coaching conversation can sound like, do not miss this month's Coaching Cases where we share a conversation between the owner of a $120 million business and his coach about the not-so-mundane subject of sales reporting.
As always, your comments, ideas and responses are welcomed at info@entelechypartners.com.
Cordially,
I. Barry Goldberg
Entelechy Partners
The Power of Questions
I. Barry Goldberg
Entelechy Partners
We
love answers. Answers stop debate and put us into action.
As managers we are taught that action is good and we like the feeling of making progress. So, our focus is on getting
answers. But, what about questions? It is through questions
that we refine thinking, fully explore our challenges and ensure that
the action we undertake will get us the outcome we are looking for.
Questions create a mess, lead to arguments and almost always make a
disaster of our plans. Thank goodness!
Do You Have the Will To Lead?
Philosopher
Peter Koestenbaum poses the truly big questions: How do we act when
risks seem overwhelming? What does it mean to be a successful human
being? This interview published in Fast Company in 2000 shows us very
clearly the power of questions. Koestenbaum advises some of the worlds
leading organizations on the very real business impact of dealing with hard
questions.
The Thin Book of Appreciative Inquiry
Sue Annis Hammond
Forget the peace-light-and-love connotations that the title may evoke. This is a terrific introduction and primer to a methodology pioneered in the mid 70's at Case Reserve, one of the foremost organizational development schools in the country. Whether you are a practitioner wanting to understand the framework or an executive who simply wants to leverage the power of positive questions- this is a great primer to a discipline that has proven itself in a wide range of business settings. And, as an overview, this book is much more accessible than the more scholarly research published on the subject.
Coaching Cases: Getting to the Real Issue
Ever
wonder what a coaching session is like? This month, we share the
conversation between the owner of a $120 million business and his coach
about what should be a simple issue of sales reporting. True to the
theme of the month, one question leads to another and another until the real
issues are surfaced.
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