Question asking in the workplace LO21781

W.M. Deijmann (winfried@universal.nl)
Mon, 31 May 1999 23:55:17 +0200

Replying to Andrew Finlayson in LO21736

>I am writing a book on the importance of asking the right questions in the
>workplace. I believe the most successful companies and successful managers
>ask and encourage others to actively ask questions.
>
>Do you agree that successful companies have a questioning culture?

Yes, absolutely

>What are the five most important questions a manager should constantly be
>asking his or her staff to help build a learning organization?

Hi Andrew,

I'd say that there are five area's that have to be questioned again and
again, instead of finding the five most important questions. The replies
from others on this list show that it is difficult to filter out the
'right questions' -- if possible at all! If we develop consciousness for
the five area's I am about to mention, than the way we formulate the
questions becomes less important. The question will articulate itself, it
depends on our attitude and our inner focussingskills. The area's that can
be distinguished are:

Facts (perceptions, what have I seen and heard)
Concepts (how we interpretate facts by our thinking)
Goals (Whatwas/is intended)
Means (how can it be done)

All human beings regardingless their colour, culture ore education have
five functions to his/her disposel to gain insight in and evaluate
situations, assess situations and make decisions. These human functions
are closely connected to the above mentioned fields:

seeing and hearing ( necessary to gather information and facts)
thinking (undispensible to understand why facts are (no) relevant
facts)
feeling (core of the case, helps to articulate the basic question)
willing (necessary to find the differences between intended goals
and achieved result)
doing (what means, plans, methods, tools, etc are (not) usefull).

It is possible to give our feelings and emotions a function, instead of
letting them freely flow around. Feelings can lead us to intuitively ask
the right question at the right time.
Asking questions is important, but it is even more important that managers
understand their own inner processes. Thus questioning themselves to start
with, before questioning him/her.

BTW: I am quite sure that with a little exercising you can score each
question from other listmembers proposed in their replies to you in one of
the four above mentioned fields. Scoring itself is not the main objective,
but getting the 'feel' for the sort of question, its quality and how the
question 'works'.

In the newly released Fitfth Discipline Fieldbook 'The Dance of Change'
<http://www.fieldbook.com> you will find a minor contribution from my hand
that is entirely based on the above addressed development of attitude and
focussing skills resulting in an: "act of irreversibillity".

A dutch sociologist Dr. Lex Bos has written a dissertation in 1974 on the
subject of assessment and decisionmaking. It has turned out to be a
succesfull attempt to understand and conduct our process of decisionmaking.
Already in 1974 he focusses on 'asking the right question'. On my website
you will find a paper from his hand that will certainly interest you. It is
in languagestyle a bit outdated, but the essentials are today still the
same as they were 25 years ago.

I invite you to read it , to give me your comments and ask me any question
you like. It will hopefully give you an extended view on the issue.

http://www.universal.nl/USERS/winfried/Dyn_Jud.html

greetings from summerly Holland,

Winfried Deijmann

Mr. Winfried M. Deijmann - Deijmann & Partners - Zutphen - The Netherlands
Artists, Consultants and Facilitators for Organizational Learning,
Leadership and Action Learning Events
Het Zwanevlot 37. NL 7206 CB Zutphen, The Netherlands
<winfried@universal.nl>
Phone: +31-(0)575-522076
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For information about our international workshops:
<http://www.universal.nl/users/winfried/workshopsuk.html>

"An educated mind is useless without a focussed will and dangerous without
a loving heart."

-- 

winfried@universal.nl (W.M. Deijmann)

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