THE ROLE OF QUESTIONS

The least impactful questions to ask are reasonable or obvious questions. They demand little in knowing how to answer them. Although we may not arrive at the answer immediately, how to answer these questions is obvious. "Why didn't the engine start?" "What is wrong with the accounting department?" "Who's fault is it that things went wrong?" "What shall we do about George?"

Generative questions are those that demand we go beyond accepted ways of thinking as we consider them. They require us to move toward the answers in ways that are not obvious. Notice how the following questions differ from the ones in the previous paragraph. "What don't we know, that if we knew, might open new possibilities?" "What do we all accept to be true that is merely an agreement?" "What might be limiting us in an area where we don't even know we're limited?" "What is hidden from us by our way of speaking about things?" "What do we not think to question because it's so taken for granted that we don't even mention it anymore?" "What new approach to innovation, strategy, marketing, and quality might we take that would give us a competitive edge in the marketplace?" "What is the structure of our industry that, if we altered, would attract a larger portion of the market to us?"

Aside from often being socially unacceptable, questions that have the power to generate ask us to challenge what has proven successful in the past. Because things have worked so well in the past, they are passed on unquestioned and become automatic. The language of business and organization has changed little throughout the century and, for most of that time business continued to flourish using that language. However, frustration is on the rise everywhere as well-seasoned managers find themselves incapable of impacting their organizations. They are finding themselves ineffectual in everything ranging from fully utilising the benefits of new technologies to continuing to win business and make profits. New managers setting foot for the first time onto the well-cultivated soil of management in large, established companies are learning the language by rote and at the same time grappling with their sense of personal ineffectiveness. What's interesting is that it's not dawning on anyone to question the language itself.

The signal that thinking and its related language is used up and no longer has the power to inform or direct effective action is that we expend more and more energy and get less and less in return. Working harder as a method of producing increasing results is a road to suffering and ultimate loss. Everyone knows the "working smarter" is the answer but few realise that involves changes in thinking and language and effort expended in cognitive engagement rather than mere energetic output.