Well, I have always believed that ; “Our understanding is limited by the perceptions that we build (within and around us) and at times these may resonate with the facts- that really are or at times the facts may seem to be what we seek them to be!” This piece is about that strange spooky place of being absolutely sure and yet getting lost in transit! This is about trying to understand, why Right questions are far more important and meaningful than always having the Right answer! So join me and let’s roll ahead!
As we grew up, we have always been asked to provide right answers to whatever questions we have been asked! Whether it was our teachers in schools, our parents, our friends, our colleagues or any other scenario that may come to your mind, It has always been about providing the right answer whenever people ask us something, whenever people wanted to get some detail or information from us, we have always been told that we are duty-bound to answer right and give the most accurate answer as possible! Well, this is perhaps yet another example of the conformity bias that modern societies live in and lead us like a big herd within! I won’t comment on this aspect further- because that’s not our focus for this piece! My focus rather starts at the other end of the question- yes, “How about teaching everyone around to start asking the right questions to begin with!” You know what once, you have asked the right question, you will always end up getting the right answer- almost always unless you working a diplomatic mission or are a high ranking official for your government! Let me simplify this for you!
Consider, our current global pandemic situation, what do you see? Well at the macro level, you will see few nations have fared better over the others, some of them have taken a more riskier route, perhaps more loss of lives than the economy, there would be others yet, who would have chosen to save lives over their economy- , few others would have walked the middle path and tried to strike a dynamic balance- between lives and economy, well nothing right and wrong here- just plain facts as you see them without any prejudice! So if you see different nations reacted to a common problem differently! Why would this happen? By logic, if you have same problem to be solved, there would be identical ways to address the same, if the end goal is the same (saving lives and livelihoods) isn’t it? So why the difference? Well the answer lies within this plain simple fact that, each of these nations asked a completely different question among their leadership teams, when the virus came visiting! There would be one set of nations who would have rushed to assess and manage the economic damage and decided to go ahead with a collateral damage in terms of human lives (liking it to a war like event) well, this is that group of nation, which would have possibly asked,“What do we save- we have to make a choice- Economy or Lives?” and the answer would have been displayed by the steps taken and the delays and timeliness of implementation of different aspects that go on with it! Likewise the nations that would have chosen Lives over their fragile economies would have acted accordingly! Next, there would have been yet a few other small group of nations, that would have asked, “How can I save most of Lives and Livelihoods both”? These nations would have landed up somewhere in the middle and stand a better chance of a rapid recovery from an economic sense compared to the other two! But these are the three basic and straightforward scenarios which work exceptionally well, especially when government’s don’t want to try too hard and experiment (which could end up being a full scale apocalypse and ends up bring the fall of their powers)! So if you see these nations asked the questions which were very normal, rational and practical- cool! Now see the real fun!
Yet, there are a few nations, which remained open for business as usual and even than the impact was not so severe to cause huge loss of either lives or businesses! So what is the question that these nations would have asked? Possibly their thinking would have moved ahead something like this! “What do I have to do, to ensure my nation remains on the growth/path that we have planned? What can be done so that irrespective of what’s unfolding, we can still be aligned to the national objectives of growth and wellness of the people?” The questions could also have been, “What is my nation, how likely are my citizens to be impacted because of who they are (age/ethnicity/ living standard/culture/access to healthcare systems/preparedness) and for how long and how bad?” There could be more such examples of refined thinking and questions which nations would have come up with, which in turn would have helped these set of nations to come up with radical strategies to meet the Virus challenge unlike the one-size-fits-all- Lock down model!
It is when questions asked by nations become more specific to the need of the nation and the societal requirements of the given nation, that countries have been able to devise and deploy a fail proof strategy which can work right form day 0 and ensure that even as the virus keeps coming in, the same event creates an exit path for the virus to be weeded out of the system with the same speed or more rapidly than it’s initial onset! What does this tell us, Well a simple fact, “The power of your questioning is more important and perhaps the only important thing that you ever require to ensure you get access to the most accurate solutions for the problems that you face! It is never about right answers, It is always and only about Right Questions! Always!
What works for nations, works for societies, city councils, offices, teams, and Individuals! The sharpness , wit and intelligence of the question to a perplexing problem will provide you a great answer/solution! If the quality of the questioning is average or mediocre, the resulting solutions too will reflect the same and as a result of it, you often find people, organizations and nations dealing with the same or similar problems again and again, the cosmetic aspected may change and alter/intensity may vary but the problem broadly remains the same and keep coming back with predictable accuracy! So how do we go about creating a sustainable difference? Well read on!
It all starts with changing the way we define a problem- the space where the problem is perceived- what is the problem – Is it the Virus or the Lack of immediate cure for it? Is it the large ageing population of your nation or is it the lack of trained healthcare professionals available to deal with the crisis?Likewise what is the business problem that you are facing? Is it that you have a great product for a wrong market or you are in a great market with a wrong product? Problem Definition in the truest essence is vital and fundamentally important to get ahead and reach some place to solve a crisis that’s fast coming your way! As your ability to develop accurate questioning picks up, you will find that answers that come your way are more simple, actionable and measurable in the context of time and value!
I will leave you here with your space so that you begin to start framing the right questions, which go on to provide you with even more meaningful and actionable solutions for a more wiser future!
Ciao for now and I will catch up soon with another article!
An Aura of Fleeting Thoughts 