Too many folks in the media are only asking negative and disempowering "what if" questions. During these economic crazy times, more than ever, business owners need to ask better questions. To a very large extent, you regulate your mindset and confidence based on the questions you ask yourself. Simply put, the quality of your life and business very often comes down to the quality of questions you habitually ask yourself and your team.
As prior business coaching blogs have addressed, you can't control everything ... the economy, the stock market, the media's obsession with negative news, etc. However, you do have the power to control the type of questions that enter your brain. And make no mistake, once a question is asked, the brain can not ignore it and must answer it.
The brain will also answer your questions in similar kind and degree. If you ask a negative question, it will do its very best to come up with a negative answer to support the question. If you ask a positive question, your brain will search for a positive answer. Therefore, be extremely careful with the type of questions you routinely ask yourself and your employees.
Are you generally asking questions that tear you down or build you up? Questions that are negative or positive? Questions revolving around fears or opportunities? About the past or the future? Questions about why things go wrong or about how things can go right? To keep things simple, questions come down to one of two types, either empowering or disempowering. Empowering questions help you and move you toward your goals; disempowering questions hurt you and move you away from your goals.
An example of a disempowering question would be, "Why does the economy have to be so bad?" That is a negative question that doesn't help you and doesn't advance you toward your goals. It simply fills you up with fear, doubts and self-pity. A more empowering question would be, "During these challenging times, how can we better evaluate our business, customers, employees, and processes so we can improve our performance now and into the future?" Notice the dramatic difference? Answers to the later empowering question will help advance you and your business.
Another example of a disempowering question would be, "How can we survive or achieve a 5% revenue growth over the next 12 months? That is a small, weak and self-limiting question. A more empowering question would be, "How can we thrive and double our revenue in the next 12 months?" The later question is bigger and bolder. While it may appear to be over the top, it will nonetheless force you and your team to be more creative, radical and to dig deeper. It will cause you to think beyond ordinary limits and expand your thinking and potential solutions. Instead of incremental change, such a question could result in breakthrough revenue improvement. Even if you fall well short of the 100% growth, odds are you will be much better off than merely shooting for survival or 5% growth.
Again, during these challenging times, learn to ask better questions.
Daniel M. Murphy
The Growth Coach
Business Coaching Franchise System