"If you ask the wrong question, of course, you get the wrong answer. We find in design it’s much more important and difficult to ask the right question. Once you do that, the right answer becomes obvious." — Amory Lovins

How can you ask better questions?   How can you ask more effectively?  If you improve the questions you ask, as well as who you ask, and how you ask, you can produce more effective results.

I find that asking intelligently at work helps me be more effective.  For example, if I know what to ask for and I know who to ask and I show a win-win, this helps me get support for a project or idea.  I know that if at first I don’t succeed … try, try again.  I also change my approach, if it’s not working.  It’s about persistence and tuning along the way.

In Unlimited Power : The New Science Of Personal Achievement, Anthony Robbins writes about asking intelligently and precisely to get the results you want.

5 Guidelines for Asking Intelligently and Precisely
According to Robins, the five guidelines for asking better questions are:

1. Ask specifically.
2. Ask someone who can help you.
3. Create value for the person you’re asking.
4. Ask with focused, congruent belief.
5. Ask until you get what you want.

Asking Specifically
You have to be specific about what you want.  Robbins writes:

You must describe what you want, both to yourself and someone else.  How high, how far, how much?  When, where, how, with whom?  If your business needs a loan, you’ll get it — if you know how much to ask.  You won’t get it if you say, "We need some more money to expand into a new product line.  Please lend us some."  You need to define precisely what you need, why you need it, and when you need it.  You need to be able to show what you’ll be able to produce with it. 

Asking Someone Who Can Help You
You have to ask the right person.  Robbins writes:

It’s not enough to ask specifically, you must ask specifically of someone who has the resources — the knowledge, the capital, the sensitivity, or the business experience.  … The trick is to find those people and figure out what they do right.  Many of us gravitate toward barroom wisdom.  We find a sympathetic ear and expect that to translate to results.  It won’t unless the sympathy is matched by expertise and knowledge.

Creating Value for the Person You’re Asking. 
Make it a win-win for the person you’re asking.  Robbins writes:

Don’t just ask and expect someone to give you something.  Figure out how you can help them first.  If you’ve had a business idea and need money to pull it off, one way to do it is to find someone who can both help and benefit.  Show them how your idea can make money for you and for them as well.  Creating value doesn’t always have to be that tangible.  The value you create may only be a feeling or a sensibility or a dream, but often that’s enough..

Asking with Focused, Congruent Belief.
Ask with conviction.  Robbins writes:

The surest way to ensure failure is to convey ambivalence.  If you aren’t convinced about what you’re asking for, how can anyone else be?  So when you ask, do it with absolute conviction.  Express that in your words and your physiology.  Be able to show that you’re sure of what you want, you’re sure you’ll succeed, and you’re sure you will create value, not just for you but for the person you’re asking as well.

Ask Until You Get What You Want.
It doesn’t mean keep asking the same person or the same way.  It does mean keep asking until you get what you want.  Robbins writes:

Sometimes people do all four perfectly.  They ask specifically.  They ask someone who can help them.  They create value for the person they’ve asking.  They ask congruently.  And even after that, they don’t get what they want.  The reason is they didn’t do the fifth thing.  They didn’t "ask until."   That’s the fifth and most important part of asking intelligently.

My Related Posts

• Precision Model for Language Pitfalls
• Choose "How" Questions Over "Why" Questions
• Outcome Questions
• Framing Compelling Arguments

Photo by Eleaf.