Any Questions? Why, Yes!

Any Questions?
Why, Yes!

by Britteny Cioni-Haywood

NTP—The Debater. This is my Myers-Briggs personality type. Debaters are driven to ask questions and play devil’s advocate. They are also contrarian by nature and must learn to develop empathy for others to advance professionally or, for that matter, maintain deep personal relationships. The Debater personality type can prove challenging for supervisors, colleagues, and direct reports. Fortunately, only a small portion of the population fits this descriptive mark.

I do love questions! I am driven by the universe they unveil and the challenge of pondering solutions.

I do love questions! I am driven by the universe they unveil and the challenge of pondering solutions. I write questions on my whiteboard. The current three are: “What if?” “What would have to be true?” “How might we?” These questions were generated from a couple of IDEO U courses I took recently. I keep them on the whiteboard so I remember to ask them as I go about my day.

Children, especially young children, are masters at asking questions, as any parent of a five-year-old will attest. However, we often lose or at least reign in that ability, that curiosity, as we grow older. Critical thinking starts with asking questions. Some days it feels like there are more problems than solutions. I naturally tend to go to questions when discussing issues with my colleagues, but the ability to ask questions, and the manner in which they are asked, can be honed. Developing and maintaining the ability to ask questions and find solutions is a crucial skill for any leader.

Question With Care

I am constantly posing questions to those around me, but this is not always well received. I have found it can be quite off-putting to some people. I have watched people squirm in their seats or wince as I pose questions. This is never my intention, but it happens. Questions can make people feel like they are on a hot seat. If they don’t have an immediate answer, it can trigger a stress response. It can also cause people to worry that they will look unintelligent or unprepared.

When I worked in the economic development space, I loved the startup business culture of embracing the notion of failing fast and often to create a better product quickly. We need to adopt this attitude more broadly.

Using questions frequently requires having a strong relationship with the person or team involved. Because of my personality type, I know that I am going to ask questions, so I have worked to build strong relationships. In building these relationships, I make sure to be a team player and take my turn addressing hard issues. I make sure to own my mistakes and communicate that to others involved in the situation. It is okay to fail, but we need to take responsibility for our errors. When I worked in the economic development space, I loved the startup business culture of embracing the notion of failing fast and often to create a better product quickly. We need to adopt this attitude more broadly. As leaders we need to create an environment where it is okay to be wrong and make mistakes and to foster the growth that comes from that failure. In this era of information at our fingerstips, the need for immediate answers and solutions has intensified. Complex problems require rounds of questions as well as thoughtful deliberations and diverse input.

Leaders Need Questions

While my need to debate has always fueled my desire to ask questions, this is an ability that I have nurtured as I have advanced in my career. Several years ago, I jumped unexpectedly and quickly into a leadership role. To establish a level of trust, I started asking questions and showed a genuine interest in learning about the organization. I did not dictate or suggest new initiatives until I had gained a better understanding of the organizational needs and issues. Accepting that you don’t know everything takes a level of vulnerability, especially when you are a newly appointed leader. I learned this lesson when I was teaching. It is difficult but perfectly acceptable to not always know the answer. My response is to promise to investigate the topic and get back to the person but always make sure that I follow through with that promised explanation.

There is a common idea that you shouldn’t bring problems to leadership. But is that how this should work? If there is a problem, a leader should provide support and guidance, and facilitate the process of getting to an answer.

It is difficult but perfectly acceptable to not always know the answer. My response is to promise to investigate the topic and get back to the person but always make sure that I follow through with that promised explanation.

Leadership roles, especially new roles, require you to assess the current culture but also work to develop a process to move the organization forward. All organizations are systems, and systems are designed to reinforce themselves, to maintain the status quo. One of my least favorite statements is “this is how we have always done things.” This is a stagnant position that assumes nothing has changed since the process was established, which is unlikely in today’s disruptive environment. As technology changes rapidly, we need to employ questions to innovate the current systems.

Questions Done Right

I have refined my use of questions as a leader. Questions allow you to peel back the layers of an issue. Issues or problems are often like an onion: there can be many layers before getting to the true cause. Asking questions allows you to distinguish between the true problem and superficial issues. Once the problem has been well defined, you can begin to generate a solution through a process like design thinking.

When it comes to questions, asking a lot of them is a good tactic. Have a group of people sit down for a timed period, say 15 minutes, and write out all the questions that they can come up with on sticky notes. Then group the questions by themes. This will help to start isolating the main themes to the issue. Go for quantity over trying to make sure that you are asking the perfect question or a smart question is a good tactic. The most pressing questions will become apparent.

Asking questions takes practice, the willingness to be vulnerable, to not only accept failure but to embrace it, and putting in the work of building strong relationships.

Questions take many forms. I prefer open-ended questions, but care must be taken to not ask leading questions. Be on the lookout for someone giving an answer because that is what they think you want to hear. If you suspect this is occurring, then ask some more questions! I try to form questions in the first person such as “I am trying to understand…” This puts the focus on yourself and off the person responding. It can lessen the being-under-a microscope feeling that questions can cause if not handled properly. Posing a hypothetical can help add context to the question, but again, make sure you aren’t leading the question to a desired response. Being open-minded is required for making optimal use of questions. You may not like the response, but you should be willing to accept it.

Inspiring Leaders Create Open Environments

Asking questions takes practice, putting in the work of building strong relationships, and the willingness to be vulnerable, to not only accept failure but embrace it. All in all, asking good questions takes effort, but it offers us the ability to do meaningful work and solve the complex problems that we are faced with today. Questions empower us to find common ground and solutions.

Britteny Cioni-Haywood is an economist and aspiring futurist. She is currently a senior administrator at the Alaska Division of Commercial Fisheries. Her eclectic career path includes financial analyst and qualitative research manager at a Fortune 500 company, assistant professor of economics, and former director of the Alaska Division of Economic Development. She holds a Master of Science in economics. She is a committed lifelong learner whose current study topics include strategic foresight and complexity theory.

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