Over this past year of presenting the concepts of Reality Based Leadership at conferences nationwide, I often hear unconscious leaders routinely spouting off clichés that not only remain untested but are absolutely false and worse yet, are encouraging huge waste of scarce team resources. 

A favorite cliché of mine to bust right in front of their eyes is, “There are no stupid questions.”  So I have chosen this as cliché #2 in my cliché busting blog series. 

There are no stupid questions!?  Seriously, that statement might have been true for a short while when you were five and the teacher was a scary big person and your confidence a little low.  We used this statement because we wanted to get you over that hump and encourage you to participate in class.  Now it is just a workplace cliché.  You are now forty five and it is a core expectation that you participate and select your questions more wisely. 

 In fact, to ask to ask any question, uncensored, can even be irresponsible.  With the wave of a single question, one employee can cost the company thousands of dollars when they do not even have signature authority to spend ten dollars on behalf of the company.  A single stupid question can commission resources in the form of meetings, research, analysis, and discussions which are a total waste of time, talent and focus.  Key resources are wasted seeking an answer that doesn’t exist, doesn’t matter, or re-enforces the erroneous belief that others are the source of our problems. 

How does the cliché, “There are no stupid questions,” live on?  Well, too many leaders repeat this cliché in a measly attempt to get their employees feeling “comfortable” and to encourage employees to ask any question any time.  These same leaders lament that their people focus on the wrong things, that there is too much conflict and drama in their workplaces and that they are not getting the results required.  They don’t even realize that the source of their pain is their own encouragement of questions of any type.  They go on to complain that they are pulled away from their main roles of developing people and driving the team for results by constant interruptions – usually from employees asking, “Do you have a minute?” followed by a really stupid question such as “Why do things keep changing?” or “Why doesn’t anyone tell me anything?” or “Who thought of this?”   

Really Stupid questions, in my opinion – here’s why:

·         There is no answer to these questions – really.

·         Even if you could speculate an answer – it adds no value to the situation.

·         They all imply blame.

·         They fly in the face of personal accountability as a concept, let alone a core expectation.

·         They are focused on other people, who last I checked are outside of the control of the employee. 

To spend a single second of thought or action on such questions is a complete waste of resources, period. 

How to know a stupid question when you hear it? A question which begins with “Why”, “Who” or “When” is pretty suspect, especially if it concerns human behaviors.  The words “Why”, “Who” or “When” are only valuable when beginning questions that seek information on a process or logistical detail of a plan.  Human behavior is simply not rational, although it can be very predictable. 

When you hear yourself or someone else asking one of these stupid questions, for the love of resources, move quickly to help steer their efforts into asking smarter questions which have actual answers, that if found lead to actions that truly deliver results.  Help to re-write stupid questions.

Here’s How: 

1.        Change every “Why,” Who” or “When” to either a “How” or “What.”

2.        Follow with the words “can I”

3.        End the smarter question with some action word such as “do” or “help.” 

Let’s practice on the aforementioned stupid questions:

·         “Why do things keep changing?” becomes “What can I do to get so great at change that I am un-phased by it?” or “How can I help drive the change?” or even “How can I quickly align with the change?”

·         “Why doesn’t anyone tell me anything?”  transforms into “What can I do to get the information I need?” 

·         “Who thought of this?”  will become “How can I best support this?” or the even more proactive, “How can I provide better information to my decision makers?” 

Now these are amazing questions filled personal accountability!  These smarter questions have a ton of potential answers, all of which will move the team forward towards results.  To answer these questions is too focus efforts on what matters. 

With a smart question in hand, work with the employee to specifically create a list of possible answers.  Write them down – presto – you now have a list of simple instructions of what the employee can use their time and talent on that will truly help drive forward, create results in spite of the circumstances and add major value.  Looking for a development plan for your employee?  You just created one. 

Now you know, we lied to you to help you when you were little – about there being no stupid questions, a little man in your chimney over the holidays and a certain rabbit in the spring. Help us correct the situation and stop spreading lies in the workplace and spread the truth instead - there really are very stupid questions.

Remember,

You rock and Cy rocks! 

Lead on my friend