Fly on the E-Commerce Cyberwall

Asking the Right Questions
If you're not getting the responses you're looking for in your business, maybe you're asking the wrong questions.

One of my daughters, Becca, is a statistical analyst in the Air Force. While she visited home this past week, she related one of the most frustrating aspects of her work. She said that a lot of higher ups who ask for analyses inadvertently get in the way of the answers they're looking for.

She used the example from everyday life to demonstrate how this happens. Let's say that a runner experiences sore feet while running. The runner's problem is sore feet. But instead of asking how to solve the soreness, the runner immediately assumes that they need to replace their shoes. So the runner addresses the problem of sore feet by asking what kind of shoes to buy.

Those shoes may be perfectly fine. The solution may be as simple—and as inexpensive—as a pair of arch supports. But by superimposing an assumed solution over the question, the runner effectively bypasses all simpler solutions and locks themselves into a more expensive one.

Becca says she sees this all the time. Higher ups request analyses with their assumed answer already built into the question, or with a question that doesn't directly address the problem. She has become quite adept at helping them dig down to the real question. But sometimes people are simply adamant about doing the analysis based on a faulty question that leads to either an ineffective answer or an inconclusive one.

How does this affect your small business online? All of us often do the same thing. We address a problem by assuming a solution instead of pursuing one. I'll share an example on Monday of how Becca pointed out an area where I was doing just that, and how she redirected me in a better direction.
Jeff