Disorder in the Questions: asking the ‘How?’ sooner

When we go for marketing calls to sell the service of DNA development for the businesses, I make a single statement to make our point i.e. ‘we help the companies to grow from one level to next level’.  As a response to this, often we get back a question ‘How do you do that? ‘.  Also we get other questions that are closely related to the disorderly question “how do you do that? “. Some of them are ‘How do you get from here to there?’, ‘Where has this worked?’, ‘What would this program cost and what is the return on investment?’. ’ How do we measure it?’ etc. We prefer to call this question disorderly, because it beats all the creative and productive purposes. The question creates a subtle aura of cynicism or contempt. It indicates something such as “ We have been doing it all these years, how can you be better than us” ,  “We know it all , let us see if you can tell us more than we know, which is impossible”,  etc.. It is also a defense against taking action, as it implies that let us know clearly that it will yield what we want then we shall act.

Thus the How? question is a defense for the stubbornness to act for change or even to think differently. It is an indirect expression of doubt, more on to them than on us.  The How? question also seem to be a habit.   Business owners who have strong habits of pursuing what is practical and doable, tend to ignore larger purpose and impacts. We are astonished to watch frequently that when some business owner’s initiatives do not work, they simply try harder. When they are trying to control a business and it is failing, then they doggedly do more of what is not working.

The How? question also promotes an illusion of speed such as the world is moving fast now a days  and there is no time for thinking and emotions; At any cost we must do all things fast. Of course, we need to do things fast what needs to be done. What need to be done: ‘the business’ is often forgotten.  Instead the organization mindlessly pursues to meet the mechanical objectives. This mindset, of going only behind what works, is the biggest hurdle to sustainable business growth. We attempt to break this mindset very early in our interactions and that puts us in the risk of being expelled from the premises. But that is the hazard of business facilitation job. We need to put up with it.

Each time business owners / managers try to get answers to the question How?, they get answers such as .. do Lean management, do six sigma, do 5S, do 360 degree feedback, do balance score card, do leadership training etc etc. All seem to have not yielded what was expected if not failed. Still organizations resort to such programs every now and then with a hope to solve their fundamental issues.  Often How?  question fails because it is not the right question and secondly the answer comes out of someone else’s experience. It is difficult for any business to live on the experiences of others regardless of the meticulousness with which the answer is accepted.

It is not that we propose a blanket ban on the How?, it is only that we persuade the business owners/ managers to save this question for a  latter period and that there are more important questions to be asked before the How?. Getting the questions right at first is the best step. We facilitate to make them ask right questions.

Contributed by Sasikanth Prabhu