Table of Contents
Asking questions is always great. Some questions may be fantastic. Some are tough. But … all are useful in one way or the other.
Do you ask questions? Do you look forward to opportunities of asking questions? Do you encourage others to ask questions? If yes, then you are one of few who do so. If not, then you are with the majority.
It is well documented that teaching is a great way to learn. However, how this learning happens isn’t discussed much. Questions play a big part in this learning. To be asked questions by the students, preempting questions and being prepared with their answers, and also framing appropriate questions for the students. That is a big contributor to learning by teaching.
Asking Questions
Asking questions is a skill that is in every child but gets suppressed by the environment. In school, being laughed at or mocked for asking questions is a common fear. At home the parents may not have the patience to answer the never-ending flow of questions, so shout back on being asked. Have you heard parents saying to everyone, “(The child’s) questions are never-ending. I get frustrated!”
Questions in your mind mean you are thinking and eager to learn. That’s all that’s needed to learn.
Encouraging Questions
I have addresses students, their parents, and teachers in many schools. Urban schools and rural schools. A very common pattern is the hesitance to ask questions. Even teachers usually don’t. This changes somewhat when the school offers higher quality of education. In fact, the eagerness of students to ask questions when given the opportunity can be a benchmark of the quality of education. If the school has created such an environment and made students curious, then half the job of education is done.
Questions at Workplace
What applies to schools and students also applies to workplaces. “Employees come to the workplace to work, not to learn” may be a though that many managers would have. The fact is that learning never stops. When learning stops, the mind starts degenerating.
At workplace questions are even more important, as they also lead to improvement. There are the questions that challenge the status quo. Better ways of doing things usually are born from questions.
“Why is this …?”
“How about doing it this way?”
“Aren’t we wasting resources by …?”
“Can we save time by …?”
Some questions may be suggestions looking for validation, while others may point out flaws. Organizations with the motto of constant improvement only survive in the long run. Stagnant organizations degenerate just like minds.
Yes-men Don’t Ask
Men or women, encouraging no questions is just as bad as the low-quality school education. If yes-people get incentivized and those asking questions penalized, it’s a recipe for killing the culture of asking question. Soon you will have no questions being asked and then wonder why you are the only one who has to come up with all ideas. Why employees have the same skills they had a decade ago. Why your products or services are not in demand anymore.
Questions need not only be tolerated or accepted. They need to be encouraged, even if they hurt. If any group that you are responsible for doesn’t not ask questions, whether students or employees, then you should be worried and take immediate steps to change the environment. Questions are steroids for the brain.
Creativity comes from an active brain, and it is an essential skill for being a leader and developing future leaders. Leaders bring progress, not followers.
Additional Reading: Power of Questioning the Status Quo
Add your comments below or write to us by filling this form.
