I often found myself in meetings where I do not feel comfortable speaking up or feel lost. I was often cut off and felt like I had to come up with solutions on the spot without much consideration. As an introvert, I blamed myself for feeling confused and not being able to catch up UNTIL I acknowledged that our meetings were designed to be survival for the loudest. We are so bogged down in getting answers that we don’t even acknowledge that loud voices may not always be right.
In a culture that praises making decisions and giving answers for the sake of efficiency and getting things done, there is no room for questioning. Where there is no room for stepping back and inquiries, we end up creating a prescribed solution in an attempt to fill the void of uncertainty.
The Right Question Institute that specializes in teaching students to tackle problems by generating questions, not solutions uses the “question-storming” method, generating as many questions rather than solutions. They generate at least 50 questions about the problem that’s being ‘stormed.’ As those questions are written down for everyone to see, other members are paying attention and thinking of a better question.
I like this method because it brings the mindset of being curious and focusing on just that. The team works together, builds on each other without a pressure to be correct all the time. It sets up the starting point to amplify voices of those who we usually don’t hear from.
From focusing on answering to ‘What should we do’?, ‘How many screens do we need?’, ‘Where can we cut corners?’, we should question more of ‘Why?’ ‘What if?’ and ‘How?’. When we ask practical and interrogative questions, it incentivizes people to give answers and misses the opportunity to not only hear from others but to ask better questions that get to the core of the problem.
Comments