Get smarter ask this one question

If you want your team to learn from experience, I encourage you to add this simple question to your conversations.

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cid=em01016week38 Get Smarter: Ask This One Question

If you want your team to learn from experience, I encourage you to add this simple question to your conversations

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My team has a not-so-inside joke about me Here's why they tease me: Whenever we get unexpected results, or friction with a client or vendor or in a new working environment, at the end of the day I ask them:

"What are we learning?"

I'm not the first person to notice that smart people still repeat mistakes often Even smart people often fail to learn from experience

If you want your organization to learn from all of its experiences, then I encourage you to adopt this simple question as a part of your regular dialogue

You could ask it at the conclusion of every meeting, but I have found that people get numb to the

exercise, so it produces a diminishing quality of responses You could ask it by email, but I have found that I get short answers or no response at all

How to Get the Best Results

So if you are going to adopt this question, here are a few guidelines:

When to ask: I like to ask just after the part of the conversation when people have let off steam I don't

have much stomach for general complaining, but some frustration is understandable when people are focusing on their own excitement, surprise or disappointment My goal is to transfer the energy of the moment into behavioral reinforcement or change for the future

How to ask: Usually, I start with a quick summary of the circumstances what we expected, where we

are now, and how we got to this point Of course, because I am in the conversation, I have to try to check my own emotional energy at the door, which is not easy But one of my old mentors told me,

"Facts are our friends, even when they are unfriendly." I try to stick to the facts

Who to ask: Each time, try to ask someone different to weigh in first That's a good way to make

certain that, over time, everyone gets heard Many small teams have some very vocal members, while others are quiet However, some of the best insights may come from the quiet members and to get their ideas means asking them first

Start positive: The group will want to hear what you have to say Go last and start first with the

productive and positive lessons first The risk inherent in this question is that it can become another way to point out faults and flaws That will not produce a culture that embraces learning

Skip the blame: Similarly, keep in mind that "What are we learning?" is a very different question than

"Whose fault is it?" You are looking for insights that will change behaviors and increase the potential for success in the future To do that, focus on the facts and the process, not the people

Even though my team teases me, I catch my employees using the same technique with vendors, clients, and each other Learning organizations win

Author, speaker and consultant Tom Searcy is the foremost expert in large account sales

With Hunt Big Sales, he's helped clients land more than $5 billion in new sales Click to get

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