The way your company asks questions determines the level of your management

In the past 20 years of management, every time my subordinates come to me to communicate their problems, I want them to come to me with questions and with thoughts.

I often ask them some questions to guide them to think deeply, fine answers and s, and solve the problems by themselves.

In my opinion, the most important thing about being a manager is not to be the person who gives direct answers, but you must be a good questioner and you must learn to let the team find the answers themselves.

A good question is often more important than the answer. The way you ask questions determines the level of your management.

Why is that? In today's article, let's talk about this topic.

Why is good questioning more important than answers?

Let me start by telling you a story.

During World War II, the British Army kept a tradition that they serviced the pilots' seats.

The seats were made of cowhide, so how were they to be maintained?

By scrubbing them with camel dung.

To be honest, camel dung smelled very bad and was difficult to find. But that was the rule, that was the standard procedure, and it made sense to everyone, and no one questioned it.

Until one person came forward and asked why camel dung was used for scrubbing.

After some research, we found out that in the early years when the British army was fighting in the North African desert, there were a lot of supplies that needed to be transported by camels, but the leather harnesses used to drive the camels were made of cowhide, and when the camels smelt of that, they would stick around.

So, someone thought of a way to use camel dung to rub the cowhide seat, cover the strange smell of cowhide, and the camel immediately obeyed.

Later, the British Army developed a tradition of scrubbing the hides with camel dung, and it was carried over to aircraft.

Now that we know, there is no need to use camel dung.

You see, very often, the prerequisite for solving a problem is to ask a good question.

A good question is not just a simple question, but a way of thinking that gets to the heart of the matter focuses on a specific and correct direction, and guides the person being asked to the answer.

Why are good questions more important than answers?

Firstly, good questions break down the walls of stereotypes.

Many people are used to inertia, past experiences, and ways of solving problems.

However, the old map can not find the new world, superstitious experiences, afraid to change, will not be able to do great things.

So, you might as well ask a few more good questions.

For example, "Why should we take the current option?" "Are there other options available?" ......

Good questions inspire thinking and break down the high walls of stereotypes of thinking.

The second, good questions, remove barriers and lead in new directions.

Good questions, which have a catalytic effect, can help the person being asked to make a quick choice and find an answer.

In the 1980s, Intel was losing a lot of money in the memory business and was faced with the dilemma of giving up or sticking with it.

Company president Andy Grove asked founder Gordon Moore a good question: "If we stepped down and elected another vice president, what action do you think he would take?"

Moore replied, "He would give up the memory business."

This question led to Grove finally deciding to give up the storage chip business, which he had been doing for almost 10 years, and move into the microprocessor business, thus bringing Intel back to life.

Management is all about making decisions, and by asking good questions, you help yourself or your subordinates to make decisions quickly, understand what is important, and know what to do.

The third, good questions, can think deeply about the problem, through the phenomenon to see the essence.

For many junior managers, it is easy to suffer from "superficial syndrome", a lack of deep thinking, only shallow to do management.

So, what to do? Ask more good questions and think more deeply about the problem.

When managing a team, Microsoft CEO Nadella has his team ask these three questions.

How can I use what the company has already achieved to improve my personal or team productivity?

What have I done myself and what value have I created?

What have I done to help others or my team?

These three questions can help managers to think better about their work.

As you can see, as a manager, you must be good at asking good questions.

Good questions are not only for asking others but also for asking yourself, leading you to think deeply and then manage your work well.