Apr
30
Ask questions until you get clarity
Filed Under Learning, lessons learned
I am working with Napier University on a very exciting project - more of which soon - and I met with fellow associates of the Edinburgh HR Academy based there to discuss some of the details. When the worlds of academia and business come together it is my experience that there as some language difficulties. When I was studying at this same university and holding down a full time day job too I remember having to switch from one to the other - but I am a bit out of practice now.
Napier stongly supports knowledge transfer and the associates who are ( in the main) not involved in the academic world can be useful “questioners for clarity”. I found myself asking a couple of questions today which I sense were useful for everyone and I was sharing this with a friend as we had coffee later.
She related a story of how recently she had asked a question - not understood the answer - so asked another - still not clear …and so went on until she got clarity. This went against her instincts but she realised the benefit.
We laughed when we agreed that in another life and time we might have started the question with something like ” I am being stupid here…” because it is our shared experience that often people don’t ask the question for clarity because the are afraid of looking stupid.
If that is you - then I urge you to give it a go. Next time you don’t really understand something resist the temptation just to nod and go about your business and ask the question(s) for clarity……
Just remember MZM Rule #85:
One never looks nearly as stupid at the beginning, if they ask, as they will at the end, if they don’t!
Very wise words Bob - thanks for that!
Must say, I like Bob’s rule above. As much as I liked this post.
Questions ARE wisdom. Questions can be a gift to others to make them think. Questions open new worlds to us. And of course questions can stop us SCREWING UP!
I sometimes meet people who don’t want to answer questions - they dodge, or act busy, or get aggressive - and it just makes me wonder what they’re hiding…
Good post.
Thanks for your kind comments, Pete. I had not thought about the other side of the coin ie the question dodgers - but I have encountered some of them in my time. Food for thought!
Whenever people ask me how I got where I am in my career, the first thing I always say is that I learned how to ask questions - meaning, I threw all fear of being considered foolish to the wind, and would tell bosses and colleauges, “I don’t understand this, would you mind walking me through it again…” or “I heard this, and I think it means this, am I on track?” What I found was that my boss and supervisors from othe departments were delighted to answer my questions - they were glad I cared enough to ask (everyone likes someone who takes an interest in their work). And - more often than not - they would share even more info than I had asked for and I learned all kinds of cool things that I didn’t even know I should be asking about…which led to me having more questions…
I always wonder why people don’t ask questions? Are they afraid of the answers they get.
Peggy - thank you so much for sharing your personal story. I have a friend who asks questions instinctively and well and is underestimating how valuable that is to employers - I will share your story with her
Dave- being afraid of the answers and maybe that they might have to do something with the new knowledge??…and so it goes on . For some people the answers to questions open up exciting new opportunities - for others they might just add to the pressure. Depends where you are at the time I guess. That’s probably a topic for a whole other post. Thansk - as always