Embracing 'Stupid' Questions: Building a Culture of Clarity and Collaboration
What is your reaction to “Can I ask a stupid question?”
My answer is always an emphatic YES!
And that’s because in my career I’ve had to clean up a lot of messes that could have been averted if someone had asked what they thought was a “stupid question”.
No question is a stupid question in my book. These simple questions if asked could have provided clarification, ensuring understanding or it could have been an opportunity to see how the instruction was unclear or possibly wrong and potential issues addressed upfront.
And when someone asks specifically if they can ask a “stupid question”, I thank them for speaking up for exactly those reasons.
Three reason to welcome “stupid” questions:
1) Left out data/context. Often you are so close to something, you forget to cover the basics and dive straight into details.
2) Minimize Distraction. Often that “stupid” question that can distract people because they are missing something fundamental and miss out on the important parts of the message.
3) Positive Culture. When people feel comfortable asking their question without being judged, it builds positive culture. People want an open-door policy where their teams speak up and bring ideas. Those team members need to not fear judgement to bring forth new bold, different, controversial, or the proverbial “dumb” idea.
Today I encourage you to speak up and ask a question that where you doubted it’s validity and make a pack with your colleagues and teams about how best to ensure all questions are addressed in a timely manner.
What do I do if I get asked “stupid questions” all the time?
The top two things this indicates is
1) Someone is missing data or context and/or
2) the method of communicating the information is not adequate (an illustration or graphic needed, a phone call rather than an email… you get the picture).
Questions are a signal that how and what information is shared needs to be evaluated and related to that is if it is being communicated at all. Questions are data. When the same question is asked over and over again, it indicates there is an opportunity. And as it’s likely that the question isn’t being asked every time it arises, there is a larger population that needs this information.
Assess your organization to see where the best place is and when it is best for people to receive this information. You may benefit from looking at how your group is organized to see if it is better for others to field simpler questions or ask those individuals what ARE the questions they are asked most frequently to identify opportunities for improvement.
In some cases, you have someone in a role that is happy to field questions and when they move on, the next person is bombarded or has a different style of communication. Changes within organizations can create communication shifts. When you look at questions as data and get curious rather than judging the asker, they can tell you something about the organization.
