The Power of the Question May 2008
”Individuals and organizations move in the direction of that which they most profoundly and seriously question.” This statement by David Cooperrider, Ph.D. offers a powerful insight into why some people and organizations succeed and thrive where others stagnate or fail. Although historical and evolutionary reasons may push us in one direction, crafting what we question has powerful implications for what we can achieve.
Think about what we question most often. Usually we wonder why something went wrong, taking time to evaluate so we can make it better. This “deficit” theory of change works, but only to a certain extent. Examining what went wrong may make it better the next time, but we still only learn what went wrong. Even asking the banal question, “what could we do better?” implies that something is missing. What is missing becomes our focus.
Organizations that study lack of morale or performance will learn a lot about the reasons for poor morale and performance. Will anything be learned about employees who are engaged and productive? Not really. Individuals who focus on why they can’t achieve something like weight loss, for example, will eventually discover everything keeping them from weight loss. Will they discover the success factors behind whenever they were able to maintain healthy weight? Not really.
More alarming is Cooperrider’s claim that we “move in the direction” of what we study and question. Studying bad performance tends to yield more bad performance. We move in that direction. Think about it. When we continuously remind ourselves through analysis of the reasons we can’t do something, or why we are so bad at it, is there any wonder that we don’t have significant improvement?
Evolutionary psychology reveals that much of our negative focus derives from our need to survive. We needed to look at threats and weakness because failing to do so could be fatal. However, focusing on the negative produces only two possible responses: fight or flight. These two responses restrict our options for growth and development because they simply react to the issue or problem.
So, how can we employ Cooperrider’s insight to achieve our full potential?
First, we have to be aware of how we frame our inquiries about self, work, relationships, and organizations. Instead of analyzing what we did wrong, we might try changing the question to learn from our successes. Two strategies for doing this are known as, “flipping” and “reframing.”
Flipping involves first identifying the negative we wish to study, then identifying its opposite and basing the inquiry on the positive. Flipping an investigation about bad morale to an inquiry about engaged employees would substantively change the information received and thus shift our strategy for achieving what we desire.
Reframing is a similar strategy, but not quite as dramatic as flipping. Reframing is basically asking a question in a different way to focus the inquiry on a slightly modified goal. An example could be reframing the question “what could we do better?” to “what did we do well and how could we repeat it?” Reframing makes it possible to gather different information because the focus of the inquiry is redirected
We tend to believe that we improve by focusing on our weaknesses. That is true, but only to a small extent. To be great, we have to be aware of our questions and then flip or reframe them so our inquiry leads us to where we truly want to be. If we move in the direction of what we most profoundly question, then what question are you asking?
The Greatness ProjectTM is researched and written by:
Scott Asalone & Jan Sparrow
Copyright © ASGMC, Inc. 2008