We must ask better questions.

My husband often says, "Whoever asks the question controls the conversation." And as I've listened to him speak (he frequently gives public lectures/presentations) and engage in Q & A sessions, I can see how these questions guide the conversation and limit his responses. Even in simple, one on one conversations, I've noticed that the way a question is asked is important. For example, he often asks others, "What are you passionate about?" Very few people can respond to this question quickly - they usually say they need some time to process or even that they aren't quite sure.

In an attempt to aid those who feel overwhelmed by this question, I've found a way to reword it to help uncover an answer. I ask - "What do you lose track of time doing?" or " What do you enjoy doing so much that you lose track of time?" Most people can respond to this question quickly and with confidence. Perhaps, for some, the first question is too open ended - too full of possibility - and this freedom intimidates and confuses the respondent to a point where they doubt themselves and forget what they already know to be true. In Barry Schwartz's Ted Talk, The Paradox of Choice, he talks about how too many options hinders people from making any choice at all. In the absence of constraints, people grow uncertain and uncomfortable and are prohibited from making any progress at all.

In the article, "Breakthrough Thinking from Inside the Box", the Harvard Business Review argues that "most people are not very good at unstructured, abstract brainstorming." Questions set up a particular approach to a problem. They will determine whether you are able to discover anything new - in how broad or specific they are and in what they address. Unfortunately, learning to ask good questions is often overlooked. In my experience, it is easier to stick to the most familiar set of questions, that will lead to common answers, rather than try to come up with something new to ask.

CCA's Design Research class emphasized the importance of asking thoughtful questions in an attempt to discover what isn't being spoken - the "latent needs" as the article mentioned above calls it. How can we bring this method into internal, business strategy sessions? Perhaps the mindmap exercise that we've engaged in recently will help. I am not sure. It does encourage questioning how two seemingly unrelated things might work together in new and unexpected ways. For example, on our mindmap, we had "landscape restoration" and "golf". We then asked ourselves how golf might work with restoration - and came up with an idea for golfballs that contain seeds or soil improvement mixtures. I prefer this method over simply looking for ways to incrementally improve an existing idea - innovation is much harder to find in these situations.