The Art of the Question

“There are no right answers to wrong questions” – Ursula K. Le Guin

I wrote an article recently about asking questions when the answer is readily available. I did this with the hope that people might pause and think a bit more about how they could help themselves. Posting it starting some conversations about why people ask questions and it led to some great discussions. It also primed another question: What qualifies as a good question and when is it a good time to ask?

Before we get too far into it, I want to hear from you. Post your selections in the comments below.

How would you describe your “dumb” question tolerance?

1. High - "I’ll take anything people throw at me. It is physically impossible to annoy me."
2. Moderate - "I’ll take a “dumb” question or two but if it becomes a pattern, we’ll have to have a talk."
3. Low - "I have no problem answering questions but only if they are well thought out."
4. None - "I’m pretty much the grumpiest person in my office and I can’t stand when people talk to me – ever."

And:

How would you describe your tolerance for being approached with questions?

1. High - "Come one, come all! I freaking love helping people and my door is always open!"
2. Moderate - "I get peeved if I have to go over the same thing for the same person too many times."
3. Low – "I’m only OK with it if I’ve never answered it before."
4. None - "This is what I pay you for. Figure it out!"

I really liked some of the points brought up in this article from LifeHacker called How to be Amazingly Good at Asking Questions that you may also find useful. TLDR: Basically, it advises that questions be specific and polite. 

Drawing on my own experience as a manager and director, I’m always – I mean always – impressed when someone presents a question that they have clearly thought a lot about before coming to me. Double points for presenting me with some possible solutions. Multiplier increase if they can state which solution they are leaning toward.

I also respect when people come to me with several questions all at once – even if they haven’t had the time to fully flush out all the details. It’s more of a guide than a rule, but I like to keep sticky notes with questions for specific people on them. When I have more than say, three or four(?!) questions for someone, I take that as a sign that it’s probably worth a phone call or visit to this person’s desk. Of course, I would never let this push for quantity get in the way of addressing something that is urgent. For the urgent stuff, I try to employ my first tactic.

No one is going to get it right all the time. I often have to remind myself to take a chill pill (…do people still say that?) and remember that everyone is busy and sometimes these ideal conditions simply can’t be met. I guess that would be another article: The Art of the Answer.