I am a journalist by training, and so I like to ask a lot of questions. My clients benefit from that, because they really have to allow me to dig deeper and to find out what really is the issue they want to treat in an innovation project, and I am not so easily satisfied with superficial answers, which leads to richer discussions and therefore to better understanding on both sides.
Asking questions is vital to any great project. Only if the flow of information is maintained into all directions and if anyone can ask anyone else any question about the project can we be sure that the project can be successful. Asking questions is important, but being available to answer them is also crucial. This does not necessarily mean being present in person, but just available, open and even eager to answer questions that come up during the process.
In my last post on my company blog I wrote about pull systems and how they are better at innovation than push systems. The same is true for cultures that allow for questions and discussions and where people are trained in asking good questions.
Often, in structures that come from push/command-and-control and are transitioning into something more agile or pull-based, this shift is very difficult. In push cultures people are used to second-guessing, assuming and "filling in the blanks" for the people who assigned them a task. There is not much flow going on during the project and thus vital information is not shared. Even worse, by taking assumptions people often proceed into completely undesired areas and produce poor results.
What is very important is that asking questions is not about getting instructions or approval. It is about maintaining the relational flow between all people involved in a project, be it clients, stakeholders, managers or team members.
Even for me, the journalist, it is sometimes hard in a project to ask questions. It seems much easier to assume because it will at first glance produce less friction or hassle for me. Long term, though, it creates waste and products that cannot be delivered.
We have it down in our code of conduct that "If I do not understand something I will ask", and "if the team cannot find the information, they will ask people outside of the team" as well as "I will not say yes to something I do not understand".
But to be honest, we have still a very long way to go from the written words to the lived culture, and so do many of our customers.
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