Questions Are More Important Than Answers

Sunday thoughts: are you asking the right questions?

We often focus on working hard to find the right answers, but sometimes the questions are more important.

Ai is teaching us this.

Technology is now able to find all the right answers for us. So, asking the right questions has become key to solving complex problems. Think of ChatGPT. Its answers are just as good as your prompts.

Harvard Business Review suggests we ask five types of questions to improve our problem-solving and leadership skills.

1. Investigative questions: Why?
   Ask a series of “why” and “how” questions. Something like the infamous Toyota “Five Whys”.
   A vehicle is broken. Why? How?
   The battery is dad. Why?
   The alternator doesn’t work. Why? and so on..
2. Speculative questions: What if? What else?
   During the 2017 America's Cup, Team New Zealand decided to pedal stationary bikes to generate power for the vessel's hydraulics, instead of the traditional method of turning handles.
   What if we used leg power instead of arm power?
   We generate more power, but we can’t move around the boat.
   So, what else could a pedal system allow?
   It frees up crew’s hands, which can be used for other tasks.
   Teammates could operate the hydraulics by hand while pedaling simultaneously.
   This unusual innovation led the team to win the cup.
3. Productive questions: Now what?
   Once the problem has been deeply understood, now what?
4. Interpretive questions: So, What…?
   So, what happens if this trend continues? So, what opportunities does that idea open up?
   This set of questions is particularly useful when the problem or opportunity is clear, but the context remains uncertain. It broadens the scope of our investigation and can reveal previously overlooked aspects.
5. Subjective questions: What’s unsaid?
   This is arguably the most important question of all.
   What is between the lines? What is that we still can’t see?
   In 1997, British Airways sought to modernise its image by replacing the traditional British colours on its planes' tail fins with ethnic designs created by artists from around the world.
   What was unsaid?
   Business customers, the airline's most profitable segment, strongly valued the national branding and disliked the change so much that many switched to other carriers.
   Even Richard Branson weighed in on the change, announcing that his Virgin planes would proudly “fly the flag.”
   BA’s new designs were withdrawn two years later.

And you, are you taking the time to ask questions and listen, or you rush to find answers?