What you need to formulate powerful questions is curiosity, one of the keys to success, as Albert Einstein said: that's why it's important to never stop questioning.
Since this activity elicits a wide variety of passionate responses, the questions are:
- Fundamental in the formal and informal learning process.
- A source of inspiration for innovation and creativity, and a fundamental tool for building evidence.
- Vitamins to stimulate fresh thinking
- The only threat to paradigms
- They show us the way to build the future
Our brain has been trained to "recite" the answers, even knowing that humanity's greatest achievements have been based on "asking the right question".
What you need to formulate powerful questions.
Humanity has begun to become aware of this; for example, in Chile there is an experimental school that evaluates students based on the quality of their questions, not the quality of their answers.
Let's begin by asking ourselves: What is a powerful question? Let's consider some examples:
- What time is it?
- How do you create an omnichannel marketing campaign?
- What is the meaning of "human being" at this point in history?
The previous questions differ in terms and magnitude of power; now, how might we describe that difference? And what is the art of constructing a powerful question?
A powerful question asks the following:
- It stimulates reflective thinking.
- It challenges the fact and the custom of assuming.
- It's provocative.
- It generates energy and a line to explore.
- Check channels, promise a vision.
- It is broad and enduring.
- It touches on the deepest meaning.
- Call for more questions.
Returning to the analysis of how to construct a powerful question, we can observe that beyond its meaning, what is important is the structure of the question.
We observed that sales executives prefer open-ended questions to closed-ended ones, as these stimulate more dialogue, for example:
- Are you having problems with your computer? (yes)
- What problems are you experiencing when using your computer? (blah, blah, blah)
There are exceptions to every rule; for example, the second question asked invites reflective thinking, looking for needs and concerns.
When the context changes, and you are closing the sale, a closed-ended question is better, such as "Shall we issue the purchase order for the new computer now?"
The distinction between “open” and “closed” questions is evident when the words Who, Where, When, Why, How, What, Which are arranged in the following pyramid of high and low power.
With this theory, all questions can be turned into powerful questions; observe the following example:
- Where does it hurt?
- How are you feeling overall?
- Why do you think you are not feeling well?
As you move from [YES/NO] answer questions to Why? questions, you may observe that you are moving to questions that encourage reflective thinking and are, in general, more powerful.
There are further possibilities for refinement of this linguistic architecture; for example, if you use the future tense instead of the present tense, you can expand the scopeof the question and make it seem as if there are more options in the answer:
- What can we do?
- What could we do?
One dimension for defining a powerful question is definitely linguistic architecture, but study groups agree that there are 3 dimensions:
Scope questions:
- How could we manage our sales force?
- How could we manage the planet?
Scope questions suggest more people, more volume, more time, more items, and therefore tend to be more powerful.
Questions combining meaning and context:
This is the dimension that can attribute the most power to questions, since it has the ability to challenge paradigms, generates more energy and shows a line of exploration, in addition, it touches a deeper meaning.
- How can wecompetewith the Japanese?
- How can wecollaboratewith the Japanese?
A question of meaning or context can alter its meaning and become a true line of exploration.
A powerful question can have one or the following four impacts on a paradigm:
Crear – Reforzar – Alterar – Destruir
The question is always related to the audience to whom it is addressed.
The questions can be mapped onto the 3-dimensional scheme.
Asking powerful questions is a skill that is acquired with practice.
For what reasons would you like to strengthen your ability to ask powerful questions?
Or would you prefer to simply learn how to ask powerful questions?
What you need to formulate powerful questions is part of the toolkit that will help you validate the digital strategy for your company.
