Ask it why

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Rule 1: Ask Why You are entitled to know why you are doing something. First, a history lesson. A short one, I promise. Asking Why, But Why? How: By having a big, vibrant, and engaged group of OutSystems developers who can deliver great digital experiences at speed of light. What: We want to deliver an OutSystems app with a great UX and UI to our community, an app that makes it possible for members of our developer community to do three things.

Ask for help when in trouble Forums , reuse components that others have developed, and share ideas that help shape the future of the product Ideas. The Power of Culture Asking why is how you know you are working on the right things. More Reading on The Culture Book. Read Now. When you visit any website, it may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies.

This information might be about you, your preferences or your device and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to. The information does not usually directly identify you, but it can give you a more personalized web experience. I want you to know all about the lessons I learn on my own adventure so that they might help you start your own. Every time I write an article, send a tweet, or answer an interview question, I ask myself why you should care about it.

Some things I do just for me, but most things I do for both me and you. That applies to anyone doing something interesting. Use it cautiously.

Leadership for introverts. And when interviewees focus on selling themselves, they are likely to forget to ask questions—about the interviewer, the organization, the work—that would make the interviewer feel more engaged and more apt to view the candidate favorably and could help the candidate predict whether the job would provide satisfying work. The first step in becoming a better questioner is simply to ask more questions. Of course, the sheer number of questions is not the only factor that influences the quality of a conversation: The type, tone, sequence, and framing also matter.

In our teaching at Harvard Business School, we run an exercise in which we instruct pairs of students to have a conversation.

Some students are told to ask as few questions as possible, and some are instructed to ask as many as possible. Among the low-low pairs both students ask a minimum of questions , participants generally report that the experience is a bit like children engaging in parallel play: They exchange statements but struggle to initiate an interactive, enjoyable, or productive dialogue. The high-high pairs find that too many questions can also create a stilted dynamic. Sometimes the question asker learns a lot about her partner, the answerer feels heard, and both come away feeling profoundly closer.

Other times, one of the participants may feel uncomfortable in his role or unsure about how much to share, and the conversation can feel like an interrogation. Our research suggests several approaches that can enhance the power and efficacy of queries. The best approach for a given situation depends on the goals of the conversationalists—specifically, whether the discussion is cooperative for example, the duo is trying to build a relationship or accomplish a task together or competitive the parties seek to uncover sensitive information from each other or serve their own interests , or some combination of both.

Consider the following tactics. Conversations fall along a continuum from purely competitive to purely cooperative. Here are some challenges that commonly arise when asking and answering questions and tactics for handling them. Not all questions are created equal. How are you? Although each type is abundant in natural conversation, follow-up questions seem to have special power.

They signal to your conversation partner that you are listening, care, and want to know more. People interacting with a partner who asks lots of follow-up questions tend to feel respected and heard. No one likes to feel interrogated—and some types of questions can force answerers into a yes-or-no corner. Open-ended questions can counteract that effect and thus can be particularly useful in uncovering information or learning something new. Indeed, they are wellsprings of innovation—which is often the result of finding the hidden, unexpected answer that no one has thought of before.

For example, if you are in a tense negotiation or are dealing with people who tend to keep their cards close to their chest, open-ended questions can leave too much wiggle room, inviting them to dodge or lie by omission. In such situations, closed questions work better, especially if they are framed correctly. In these situations, a survey tactic can aid discovery. Although this tactic may sometimes prove useful at an organizational level—we can imagine that managers might administer a survey rather than ask workers directly about sensitive information such as salary expectations—we counsel restraint in using it.

The optimal order of your questions depends on the circumstances. During tense encounters, asking tough questions first, even if it feels socially awkward to do so, can make your conversational partner more willing to open up. Leslie and her coauthors found that people are more willing to reveal sensitive information when questions are asked in a decreasing order of intrusiveness. Of course, if the first question is too sensitive, you run the risk of offending your counterpart.

There are few business settings in which asking questions is more important than sales. A recent study of more than , business-to-business sales conversations—over the phone and via online platforms—by tech company Gong. Consistent with past research, the data shows a strong connection between the number of questions a salesperson asks and his or her sales conversion rate in terms of both securing the next meeting and eventually closing the deal.