Glenn's blog

I enjoy asking questions. Questions are a way of breaking through accepted knowledge, of moving past the status quo.

The usefulness of the knowledge we acquire and the effectiveness of the actions we take depend on the quality of the questions we ask. Questions open the door to dialogue and discovery. They are an invitation to creativity and breakthrough thinking. Questions can lead to movement and action on key issues; by generating creative insights, they can ignite change.

[From "The Art of Powerful Questions"]

Taking time to not only ask questions, but to think about the right questions to ask, is an incredibly valuable (yet hugely underrated) use of time.

I find that sometimes co-workers come to me with projects, and asking a lot of questions helps to clarify the work and even evaluate the value of doing that work. Asking the right question can help us decide if this is even the most effective project to work on. Perhaps we should go back to the client and suggest that we go in a different direction. That can reflect well on us and do a better job for them.

More from "The Art of Powerful Questions":

If asking good questions is so critical, why don’t most of us spend more of our time and energy on discovering and framing them? One reason may be that much of Western culture, and North American society in particular, focuses on having the “right answer” rather than discovering the “right question.”

How can we build a culture (largely speaking and in our own organizations) where asking questions is valued, even encouraged and taught?

I've been thinking about a series of small dialogue events focused around animal rights issues, and questions are central to these events. "What would the world look like if animals had rights?" "How can we create that world?" "How can we measure success?" "How can we awaken compassion for animals in the general public?"

These are just some questions that have been bouncing around in my head. It would be fun to do an event focused around coming up with questions that would form the core of this series of exploratory events. Generally speaking, more of our everyday lives should be focused around questions. There is of course the time when we need to get the work done, but our creative time could be more focused around finding the right questions to ask that will transform our work into magic, or art.

I'll close with one last quote from "The Art of Powerful Questions":

It is quite easy to learn the basics of crafting powerful questions. However, once you understand the importance of inquiry, it’s hard to turn back. As your questions become broader and deeper than before, so does your experience of life.There is no telling where a powerful question might lead you.