Good questions

Good Answers 

There is no doubt, in my mind anyway, that any consultant who proclaim themselves to be good at what they do, should have as their number one priority the issue of good questions.

Assisting clients to formulate the right question or questions, is the most valuable service one can provide to any venture or project.

Any actions taken, based on the answer to a poor question, will result in a waste of time and be futile.  Don't take my word for this, read any newspaper any day of the week and you are likely to find yet another government or business disaster.

Did these people set out to create the disasters?  I think not.

When one examines these projects, as I have done on numerous occasions, the disasters always start with the wrong questions, followed by the wrong assumptions and from there it is all downhill.

Now I can hear you say " No, we are different" and you might be right, as some people do end up asking the right questions, unfortunately they are in the minority.

My contribution to eradicating this problem is to suggest we all practice formulating better questions and maybe do that by answering two questions, every week for the next month.

Q 1 What have I learnt this week that has ( or will ) make a difference?

Q 2 Write your own newspaper headline, to highlight your achievement or disaster for the week.

Go on, try it, you might surprise yourself.