PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Dec. 30, 2020 - Lynn Bentley, President of Knobull.com announced, "It is important to ask the right questions, instead of being overly self reliant, to create success. Questions push people to figure out the answers on their own.
It is scientifically proven that we learn about life by asking questions. Children naturally start learning about the world by observing, testing and asking "why." Through questions, we have learned the cause-and-effect relationship."
Unfortunately, with age and responsibilities, the questioning stops and many settle for the few options that have been learned. The minute those options don't work, we get stuck. Facing obstacles, our brain goes to the fastest pattern it can find from our experiences similar to the current situation. This is why we sometimes have illogical reactions.
Questioning forms new patterns in the brain. The more patterns it forms, the more flexible it becomes. With flexibility, it can access more information already stored in our brain.
Bentley continued, "Aside from not speaking up enough, many students and professionals don't think about how different types of questions can lead to different outcomes. You should steer a conversation by asking the right kinds of questions, based on the problem you're trying to solve."
Clarifying questions help us better understand what has been said. In many conversations, people speak past one another. Asking clarifying questions can help uncover the real intent behind what is said.
Adjoining questions are used to explore related aspects of the problem that are ignored in the conversation. Questions such as, "How would this concept apply in a different context?" or "What are the related uses of this technology?" fall into this category.
Funneling questions are used to dive deeper. We ask these to understand how an answer was derived, to challenge assumptions, and to understand the root causes of problems. For example: "How did you do the analysis?"
Elevating questions raise broader issues and highlight the bigger picture. They help you zoom out. Being too immersed in an immediate problem makes it harder to see the overall context behind it. So you can ask, "Taking a step back, what are the larger issues?"
In today's "always on" world, there's a rush to answer. Voluminous access to data and volatile social demands are accelerating this sense of urgency.
Bentley concluded, "We encourage students to ask more questions, based on the goals they're trying to achieve, instead of having them rush to deliver answers. In order to make the right decisions, people need to start asking the questions that really matter and Knobull rapidly responds with answers to all academic questions asked on our Contact page!"
