Discover the Power of Asking the RIGHT questions. | 1 Simple Lesson. | Debra Langley

16 April 2023 Creativity and Innovation, Ideas, Thinking Out of the Box, Tools for Creativity

The Power of asking the right questions

Are you feeling stuck in your business process? Do challenges seem to be spinning out of control with no clear resolution in sight? You are not alone – many entrepreneurs and business owners find themselves struggling to make progress, unable to identify the root cause of obstacles that frequently appear. The good news is there’s an easy solution for breaking through these roadblocks: asking the right questions.

I’ve always been a firm believer in the power of asking the right questions. Asking questions can unlock new ideas, spark deeper conversations, and provide valuable insight that wouldn’t have otherwise surfaced. Knowing which questions to ask can help get you on the path to discovering what you want and need to know.

In the Reader’s Digest, David Owen recounts a lesson learned from one of his favourite teachers Mr. Whitson. Mr. Whitson was a 6th grade science teacher, he started off the very first day of term with a gripping class about a creature called the cattywampus, a nocturnal animal that was wiped out during the ice ages.

To make the class more exciting he passed around a skull that he had managed to source, and all the students could touch, feel and hold the artifact. The class was enthralled hanging on to his every word as they eagerly made notes and tried to remember everything, he was telling them. Soon after he handed out a quiz to kick off the evaluation process. David was sure he had nailed this quiz, but when Mr. Whitson handed back his paper, he was devastated to find a big red “F” staring back at him. In fact, Mr. Whitson had drawn red “X’s” through all of his answers, he had failed the test.

Looking up, he soon realised that he wasn’t alone, they had all failed.

What had happened?

Mr. Whitson then explained that the solution was rather a simple one, the cattywampus did not exist, it was a mere figment of his imagination. As there had never been such a creature the notes they had taken and the answers they provided were incorrect and he could not give them any marks for incorrect answers.

I am married to a headmaster so I can only imagine the outrage and the disgust amongst the pupils and their parents as Mr. Whitson proceeded to record the grades in his grade book.

What kind of a teacher was this? The test was completely unfair, or was it?

Mr. Whitson then proceeded to say that the class should have figured it out if they had asked the right questions. Had he not continuously said that no traces of the animal existed as he passed around the skull (which in actual fact was that of a cat), he had given it a ridiculous name, described its excellent night vision and even the colour of its fur and not a single student had questioned anything.

The lesson that day was a simple one, no teacher or textbook is infallible, in fact no one is. If you ever doubt the validity of anything you must speak up and question it. Don’t believe everything you are told even if it comes from someone in a position of authority, question everything!

Asking the RIGHT Questions

I’m a software fanatic and if there is a program or app that can speed things up or make tasks easier or more productive then I probably have it or at least have tried it. So, I signed up for a suite of design software apps on a month-to-month basis. I loved the apps but a few months later my circumstances changed, and I needed to tighten my belt a bit and saving R1100 a month was a good place to start.

I logged into my laptop opened the program and headed over to the accounts tab to cancel the subscription, pressing the cancel my subscription button, up popped this message: “You will be billed at penalty of $304 which is 50% of the annual amount still due should you proceed with the cancellation. If you would still like to cancel enter now.”

I only had six months of the so-called contract left and it didn’t make sense to pay the penalty and have no access to the software, so I decided to keep on using it until the term was up, I left everything in place and made a note to follow up and cancel a few months later.

Fast forward to the end of the term, I logged into the system again and repeated the process, the same message popped up. Completely irate, I opened the chat box and started unleashing all my frustration out at the poor employee on the receiving end. He proceeded to tell me that a renewal e-mail had been sent a month before the subscription ended and if I had wanted to cancel the contract, I should have clicked the link in the e-mail.

“I didn’t get the e-mail,” I said. “I sent through an e-mail last year saying I wanted to end the contract surely that is all the notice I require?” “Unfortunately not! You only have 14 days to request a refund or cancel the subscription.”

So, there I was blood boiling, writhing in frustration at having been cornered into yet another 12 months of payments. The only thing he could do to help me was cut the payments in half; I would end up only paying 50% of the subscription amount. All I had to do was type “I accept” into the chat box and he would facilitate the rest. I did not.

Instead, I took a step back, breathed deeply and proceeded to enjoy my breakfast and I then I asked myself this question, “What else could I possibly do to end this contract without having to pay the penalty or wait for the next cancellation e-mail?”

I went over everything the consultant had said and looked at the information he had provided. You only have 14 days in which to request a refund or cancel your subscription! What would happen if I upgraded my subscription? They wouldn’t have a problem with that, then I would have 14 days in which to request a refund and cancel the subscription. Which is exactly what I did, I upgraded and then cancelled the subscription 5 minutes later. It worked and I now have R1100 more in my bank account each month.

The power of a single question. It can change everything. You just need to ask the right one.

Every night around our dinner table, I would ask my daughters, “What questions did you ask today?” as I sat by intently waiting to hear their answers. This was a tactic I developed to try grow inquiring minds.

They quickly learnt that if they hadn’t asked any questions that day, mom would start nagging and highlighting the importance of why they should be doing this, and so they did.

I firmly believe that the only reason why both children and adults alike fail to ask questions, is that they don’t want to appear stupid. In fact, it’s quite the opposite, exactly as Mr. Whitson illustrated in his 6th grade science class many years ago. Asking a simple question would have meant an easy “A”.

Let this simple lesson remind you about the power of asking the right questions each day in both your business and personal lives.

Cultivate a Culture of Innovation & Creativity

Author of Ideas Like Shoes

1 thought on “Discover the Power of Asking the RIGHT questions. | 1 Simple Lesson. | Debra Langley”

  1. A well written presentation Debbie, sometimes the question is the answer. If only more people would ask What, Why, Who, When Where and How, especialy in sales, there would be more understanding and less confusion.
    You Know my love for humour, so here’s one for you. An Irishman was asked, ‘Why do you Irish people always answer a question with a question?’ His answer? ‘Well why not?”
    In my years of sales and marketing I have discovered, usualy, the one asking questions is the one in control.
    Please forgive, once I get started! A kid at Sundayschool asked the teacher, ‘How did Jonau manage to stay alive for 3 days in the Whale, When I get to heaven I will ask him, said the teacher. What happens if he went to hell? Then you can ask him, said the teacher Keep well and regards to Gavin.

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