Sometimes we business managers can be our own worst enemy. When the company needs us to be at our best and most inventive, we get stuck and find ourselves unable to answer important questions facing us – questions that we think need answering.

No matter how we try, the answer doesn’t seem to really address the issue. There has, you think, to be a better answer.

At times like these, it is often worth considering if the question is what limits us – that it doesn’t actually give us scope to find a good answer. What we need is not a better answer but a better question.

A better question is one that opens up the area of the problem to allow more scope for developing solutions. Rather than focusing in on the problem, a better question views the whole system.

It is like going up in a helicopter and looking down on the problem area. You gain perspective and are able to see the pattern of cause and effect more easily. It allows for the possibility that what you are seeing is not the cause but the effect. For example, your sales team are not closing enough business.

It would be easy to suppose that the sales team are at fault, but what if your marketing messages are attracting the wrong prospects or you are spending time trying to sell products that are no longer competitive?

By asking a better question, one that opens up the possibility of other causes, the business will benefit and so will you. It will be one less headache to contend with.

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By Brian Chernett  on   Jul 29,2008

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Keywords

management    problem solving    leadership    sales   

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