Questions are great – sit down with people, discuss a problem, get some feedback from them, perhaps some questions on points you might have skipped over that need to be better elaborated on – they can help.  Here the question serves not only as a commitment to helping you grow but a guide to where to go next.

Questions are useless when they are delivered in a manner that seeks to break someone, bring them down, push all their effort to the side and punish them for what they have not done vs what they have done.  Hitting someone with a barrage of questions only seeks to pump up the Questioner – “I know all this stuff, I know they don’t know the answers, let’s get it on” – when they could be used to educate and guide.

I recently did one of those Escape Rooms where you go into a room for an hour (or so) and to go through all the clues to break out.  I love it, so much fun, had a great time working as a team with these other people and trying to figure our way out.  Part way through though (maybe as our time was expiring) the Room Monitor started to come on and ask us if had tried this, done that, gone here, done this.

It totally ruined the experience, up until then it was the greatest thing since sliced bread.  Now we under this pressured barrage to get something done when the real value was in figuring it out.

If you are going to ask Questions, ask them, push people, but commit to the answer, make them useful, don’t do it for you, do it for them.

Want more? Check out my book Code Your Way Up – available as an eBook or Paperback on Amazon (CAN and US).  I’m also the co-host of the Remotely Prepared podcast.

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