Questionating: Making power decisions with Questions
A question is a powerful thing. It guides us to find the relevant answers. And knowing what questions to ask is a skill that can earn you a lot of money as a consultant.
A new batch of ChangeThis presentations have been released and one of these is "Questionating" by Corinne Miller.
Questionating is a process to develop, use and improve QuestionBanks. QuestionBanks are organized collections of thought-provoking questions, conveying expert—as well as diverse—thinking on a particular topic to inspire innovative solutions. QuestionBanks can be used anywhere decisions need to be made: new products and services, leadership, meeting and event planning, sales and marketing, strategic planning, etc.
Building a Questionbank is a 4 step proces:
- Identify question sources: Where can I find questions relevant to my goal
- Collect questions: For example; write to 30 project managers and ask them what to ask before you start your project.
- Sort
- Refine: When you have used your questions a couple of times, then cut out the non-effective questions, to get to the core selection of important questions.
I really like this approach. I reminds me of the zen-idea of starting with a beginners mind. I will try this out soon.
- Jens Poder
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Jens, Great post. Questioning is a powerful tool for analysis.
One of my favorite questioning tools is the "5 Why's". It's been around for awhile -- but most recently called out in Liker's 'The Toyota Way'.
The power is in it's simplicity -- faced with a vexing problem? Ask (and answer) Why 5 times and you'll get to the root of the issue.
The first few 'why' answers are easy --but it's the last 4-5 that really challenge your brain and force to to come to a real understanding of the problem you're trying to solve.