Why You Should Never Ask….. Why?
I am telling you never ask Why….. then Why I am starting the sentence with the Question Why?
If you were to ask the question
“Why are you driving this way?”
There are a few things that happen…..
Two of them are….
1. The person becomes defensive
2. They person provides an Excuse.
If you are a business person, which I’m assuming you are……
Because you are reading this ……..
There are a few things you never want to do
1. Put people in a position where they become defensive,
because they will start to move further and further away from you
(Recall people buy from those they Know, Like and Trust).
2. You don’t want to deal with excuses because they are never ending.
this may be a signal that this person is NOT someone you want to do business with.
Another tip I got from my mentor is simply this.
If you have a problem to solve……
Say you’re trying to figure out the best way to increase output on a production line.
If you dare start asking Why questions…..
You will never be able to answer them in the future tense.
Why questions when asked in a problem solving mode almost always answer in the past.
For those of you who are action oriented – you know that you life in the present and future.
It’s not about what we did that didn’t work.
But more what are we going to do to make it better.
If you constantly focus on what didn’t happen, you’re never going to be able to focus on what COULD happen!!!!
I never realized that I followed this method with my clients, until I went to one of my coaches.
Who got this method from his coach.
It goes something like this……
Who
What
What
How
When
It’s a very simple formula that every engineer is probably going to agree with me on this!
Who’s problem is it?
What didn’t work?
What might you do differently?
How might this method work for you?
When will you provide feedback on the progress?
If you take this and adapt it to your business or a problem you are dealing with as an entrepreneur
You will find yourself working through many problems.
And not only working through problems
You will be coming up with solutions.
Here’s WHY!
If you ask a WHAT question – What is going to be the result?
As you are answering this question that I just asked you
Do you realize that you are creating the answer?
What questions in general trigger you to create LISTS.
If I asked you How are you going to gather the data you need to ………?
Instantly this puts you into an action mode.
If instead I asked
Why not think of what the result can look like?
or
Why do you want to gather information?
Does it propel you to DO anything?
In other words
WHY questions become very Ineffective when it comes to your business and moving FORWARD in your business.
I’m not saying take Why completely out of your vocabulary.
There are times when asking Why may actually work to your advantage.
But if you’re trying to solve a problem…..
If you’re trying to improve a process ….
If you’re trying to make a decision on an investment
Then WHY is NOT the question you want to ask.
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I’m Hilary De Freitas
Online Marketer, Operational Nerd and Mom
P.S
Marketing online is a journey, a journey that I invite you to share with me.
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P.P.S
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