Main Idea
How many questions per hour can your kids ask you when they are growing up? How many questions per hour can you ask your teenagers? Why do all of these questions pop into our heads? How do they help?
Expansion of Idea
What is the value of asking questions? When something or someone is important to you, you want to know more. It is very easy to ask questions and then follow up on the questions and then follow up with more questions. One time when my kids were about 5 years old, my wife was taking them by car from my office to the library which is almost next door. She stopped counting the questions at 20. They were very curious about something and the questions just flowed. At that age it is really neat to see their personal growth and development.
Questions are a key piece of this growth. Why is it that this curiosity suddenly vanishes when we grow up? The proper use of questions can really build relationships, fix customer service, help with personal development and gain wisdom. This only works if you care about the answers. However, if you ask a question about something and then have the follow up question, and continue drilling down, you will hit the core answers after 5 or 6 questions. This is where the real important information resides. If we settle on surface answers, we get surface solutions which are not really solutions. Curious George does have it right when he is trying to see what is under the yellow hat. We need to stay focused and keep looking for answers.
Questions to ask yourself
What do I need to know more about?
What problems do I have at work that could be avoided by asking more questions?
How can I raise sales or customer service by getting to know my customers in a deeper way?
How can I learn more about my coworkers and how to more effectively work as a team?
Make a list of your own questions.