The more questions I ask, the more certain the answers will be. Questions lead to research; research leads to risk reduction in both business and in my life.
My peer group followed a discipline that reinforced this for me early in my business career. Each of us could bring a key issue to share with the group to gain advice. Most of the things we brought were compelling, they were important since they related to our most difficult decisions.
The first step required of us was to write up a one-page review of the issue, answering questions in writing such as “why is the issue so compelling; what have you done so far to address the issue; how did it become an issue; what do you want from the group?”
The answers were sent to the other members before we convened so that they could consider them in advance. Once in our meeting, the member was required to verbally present what we wrote to assure we were all hearing the same thing.
After the presentation the group was only allowed to ask questions until all questions were exhausted. This was always the hard part since it is human nature to confuse questions and answers.
Our Chair had to work hard to avoid our suggesting an answer disguised as a question. The Chair also had to keep the issue presenter from answering a question with a solution.
The discipline required to keep us on track must have been rough. And yet by taking that time until all questions were absorbed and answered, every member in the group was far more prepared to provide good advice.
By the time we started proposing solutions to the issue, we had often spent an hour just on the questions.
This exercise led to the discipline I try to apply to every decision I make, both business and personal: Stay with the questions, dig deep for as long as possible, before coming to the answers/decisions.
A more intelligent but very readable dive into this process can be found in Daniel Kahneman’s “Thinking Fast and Slow” book. I recommend it highly for those who would like to better understand why we make the decisions we make, both good and bad.
According to Kahneman our brains have a “system 1”, (fast, intuitive) and a “system 2” (slow, analytical) process to follow. My natural tendency is the former, I’ve done better over time by learning to use the latter.
Most bad decisions I’ve made required fewer questions; the good ones took more time.
Peace,
Tim McCarthy
