One of the mistakes that happen, sometimes, in workplace, research and in life is asking the wrong question and spending time to solve it. What does that mean? Read the following examples:
- The solution of a certain problem is not known. Then someone suggests a model that is very difficult to solve. Then researchers spend years trying to suggest a solution to that model. But we forget to find another model that can be easily solved
- Someone suggests an IT system then the IT people of the company are busy trying to decide how to build the system and whether it should be built in-house or outsourced. But the important question “do we really need this system?” is not asked
- A manager is happy with the results of his subordinates but he never asks if he was using the right measures or performance
- A quality manager is very proud of the quality of the company’s products or services but he forgets to ensure that this quality improvement is perceived by customers
- A manger says that he does not need to apply any new management practices because he was doing the same work for decades and it has been successful. But he forgot for decades to ask himself “How are we doing compared with others?”
- A training manager and a CEO are celebrating the company’s successful training activities. But they forgot to ask are those training activities improving the performance and are we training people on what they need
- A manager asks for a presentation everyday but he never asks “do we need a presentation?”
- A CEO visits a company that applies JIT then he decides to apply JIT. Then he gets to hear about Lean so he decides to apply “Lean”. Then he attends a seminar about six sigma so he decides to apply six sigma. Then someone tells him about Kaizen so he decides to apply Kaizen. But he never asks “Do we really need this initiative? Is it applicable for us? Is it different from what we have?”
- People tend to try to achieve what others like to achieve. So, someone will kill himself working for decades to end up as a CEO. But he forgets to ask “Is that what makes me happy?”. The other works very hard to have millions of dollars but he forgets to ask “do I need more to be happier?”
When taking managerial decision don’t forget to ask yourself: Is this the right question? Do we need this? Are we eliminating the results of the problem and not asking about the root? Are these activities really improving our performance?
