Are You Asking the Right Questions?

Is poor communication a problem in your workplace?

Do you sometime wonder, how did we get into this mess of misunderstanding?

Are we actually speaking the same language?

When we sit down and talk about current problems in the workplace with CEO’s, HR professionals, Managers and Leaders, one of the biggest issues that continually comes up is the need to improve communication in the workplace. But really what does this mean? 

The reality is that we all communicate all of the time. Even when we are not talking we are still communicating. Human’s have an incredible innate ability to pick up on body language and subtle changes in behaviours and interpret the meaning behind these. The problem comes when there is a gap between what is ‘said’ (or unsaid) by Person A and what is understood by Person B.  

One of the key ways that we can all improve communication is to ask the right questions. 

Let me share a story...
 

As part of our training for the Gold Coast Marathon, Darren and I recently went on a run through a beautiful National Park on a fairly well established road. After a quick pitstop at a local picnic area I came out only to find Darren had gone. Waiting a few minutes to make sure he wasn’t hiding behind a tree, I then continued on what I thought was the right road, and the way home (you can probably guess that I had missed the turn and was indeed heading in totally the wrong direction!). 

After about an hour and a half of running up some steep hills I hailed down a car and asked if he could point me in the right direction. He told me that he’d seen my husband who was looking for me back along the track. Assuming that he was probably only a km or two back I declined the offer of a lift and headed back to meet him. 

If only I had asked ‘where did you see him?’ I would have saved myself another hour of running and Darren another hour of worry. In a rush to get going I forgot to stop and find out more about what the other person knew. 

There are often times in our communication that we don’t know what we don’t know. In order to improve our understanding we need to realise when we are filling the gap with our own assumptions, step back and ask the right questions. Become like the curious scientist who has an insatiable desire to find out more information and to understand better. 

So, what questions are the right questions? 

Any question that furthers your understanding of a situation is the right one. 

Maybe instead of asking, ‘how are you this morning?’, ask ‘what’s working well for you this morning?’ of even, ‘what is going on for you today?’.

Today stop and take the time to enquiry further. We would love to hear what are some of the best questions you’ve asked or been asked by others?
 

Warm wishes, 

Darren

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THE GIFT: The Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki
 

Guy Kawasaki is CEO of garage.com, a Silicon Vally based firm that assists high-Technology startups find startup capital using the internet.  Prior to this position, Kawasaki was an Apple Fellow at Apple Computer, Inc.  A noted columnist (Forbes), speaker, and founder of various personal computer companies, Kawasaki was one of the individuals responsible for the success of the Macintosh computer.
In this weeks gift, Guy gives us a top-ten list of the most important things an entrepreneur must accomplish.