CHAPTER 10

Q-Storming to the Rescue

Collaboration is vital to sustain what we call profound or really deep change, because without it, organizations are just overwhelmed by the forces of the status quo.

Peter Senge

With less than half an hour to get ready for my appointment with Charles, I went into self-coaching mode and focused on the three questions Joseph had given me that morning: What assumptions am I making? How else might I think about this? And, What is the other person thinking, feeling, and wanting?”

Then my secretary buzzed, announcing Charles’s arrival. In the past, I would have kept him waiting. Today, I immediately got up and met him at the door. We shook hands, and I asked him how he was doing. He replied that he was fine, but he looked a little nervous. At least I wasn’t the only one! When I originally made the appointment with him, I’d been all set for a showdown. But that was before my meetings with Joseph. Since then, my perspective on the problems between us had changed considerably. I offered him a comfortable chair and asked if he’d like coffee or anything to drink. That must have surprised him, because I’d never done that in the past. He thanked me but said he was fine, holding up a small bottle of water he’d brought along.

Yesterday while thinking about this meeting, I reviewed many of the things I’d learned from Joseph. I also considered details about how both Joseph and Alexa conducted their meetings with me. They had both asked lots of questions, but they also had a certain way of speaking that put me at ease. I always felt like they were on my side, like they wanted me to succeed. When I thought about it, I realized that both of them made our meetings a Learner experience.

I’d recalled, for example, that Joseph made sure there wasn’t a desk or other physical barrier between us. This gesture made me feel that he was truly interested in what I had to say. So I was trying the same thing with Charles. With so much at stake, I wanted to do everything I could to make our meeting successful. I slid my chair from behind my desk and placed it so Charles and I were facing each other just a few feet apart near the window. Without the desk between us, establishing my authority, I felt a bit vulnerable. At first, Charles seemed a bit uncomfortable, too.

“I’m very worried about how our team is doing,” I began. “In fact, we’re really in trouble. So I’d like to talk some things through with you. And if it’s okay, can we start with a few questions?”

Charles nodded and his eyes darted off to the right.

“Let me be quite candid with you,” I continued, trying to think how Joseph would say this. “I’ve realized that I may have contributed to some of the problems we’ve been having with our team. I want to change that, and I believe the place to start is with you and me.”

I paused, checking out Charles’s reaction. As far as I could tell, he was attentive and engaged, though he didn’t look very relaxed. When I put myself in his place, it was easy to imagine what might be going through his mind. I continued, “I’ve made certain judgments about you that I now believe were wrong interpretations. For example, I knew you’d been at QTec for several years and that you were in line for the job that was given to me. I’m pretty sure my arrival wasn’t exactly good news for you, and I assumed you’d have trouble working under me. Am I right about this?”

Charles nodded. “I’ve got to confess that has been difficult. Alexa broke it to me gently enough, and made a nice salary adjustment, but that only goes so far.”

His response surprised me. Had he already recognized the problem . . . and had he actually been working on it? It appeared so. For a moment I got defensive and guarded, thinking that if this were so maybe he should have gotten the job instead of me.

“Had the situation been reversed, I’d have been pretty bent out of shape myself,” I said.

“I’m still working it out,” Charles admitted. Let me ask you this.” He paused. “How am I doing?”

“Considering that I put an awful lot off on you that really didn’t belong on your shoulders, I think you’re doing great.”

“I’m not sure I understand,” Charles said.

It wasn’t easy saying what I what I said then. “I made a few assumptions about you, Charles. First, I assumed that because I was brought in over you that you’d resent me and wouldn’t be able to work with me. I realize I was judging you unfairly. My second assumption had to do with all those questions you ask in our meetings.”

“My questions?” Charles looked totally confused. A second or two later he had gathered his thoughts enough to say, “I don’t get it. Why would my questions be a problem? You’re the new guy. I need to find out what you want, where you’re going to take us. How would I find out what I don’t know if I don’t ask?”

I wasn’t ready to admit to him that I’d thought his questions were aimed at showing others on the team that I didn’t have all the answers. However, I told him that my job at QTec required a huge shift in the way I was accustomed to operating. “At my old company,” I explained, “people came to me for answers. I was so good at it that I earned a sterling reputation as the answer man. Here at QTec I’m heading up a team and I need other people to help me find answers and implement them. Being the answer man isn’t enough.”

Charles took a sip of water from his bottle, then said, “A few weeks before you came aboard, Alexa brought in this guy for a training session. It was about just this sort of thing, about questions and answers. He talked about the significance of the power of questions, how they can help us to become more innovative and change our thinking, our relationships, and even an entire organization. He asked us how anyone could expect to get the best answers without first asking the best questions. One thing he said stands out in my memory. It was: Great results begin with great questions.”

I remembered Alexa telling me about that training session the day she hired me. She explained how she was having Joseph come in to facilitate a core training on Question Thinking. She’d invited me to attend, but I’d had scheduling conflicts with my old employer and couldn’t make it. Besides, I was the answer man! Questions were the last thing on my mind back then. On top of that I barely knew what I was going to do as the leader of my team. I couldn’t help but wonder how things might have been turned out had I attended Joseph’s training that day. There was no doubt in my mind that Charles was describing that training, so it seemed safe to assume he also had some familiarity with Question Thinking and the Learner and Judger mindset material.

“Since I wasn’t there,” I said, a bit apprehensively, “maybe you’d suggest ways that you see us employing some of those practices here.” The moment those words left my mouth I regretted it. Was I going too far and undercutting my own authority? Was this giving Charles what he wanted?

Meanwhile, he had folded his hands in his lap. His head was slightly bowed as if he was thinking about ways to answer that question. Finally he looked up, drew a deep breath and said, “Every question missed is a potential crisis waiting to happen.”

“I’m not sure I understand,” I said. “Could you say more?”

“It’s one of the things Joseph told us, to emphasize the importance of Question Thinking,” Charles said. “He even handed out cards with that sentence printed on it. I’ve pinned one of those cards to my bulletin board as a reminder.”

“I guess maybe our team has been missing a lot of questions about our project,” I said. The room went silent. I wasn’t sure what to do or say next. All I could think of was that I hadn’t until now invited questions from my team. On the contrary, I’d squelched them. I’d been interpreting Charles’ questions as criticisms of me. I’d reacted defensively. If Joseph’s saying was really true, my reactions had led to a lot of unasked questions. Was I to blame for my team’s lack of participation? What was wrong with me? Why had it taken me so long to see this? Judger questions tumbled around in my mind. It didn’t take a genius to see who was at fault. But I couldn’t stop here. If I wanted to move forward and find real solutions, I had to accept what was true and start asking very different kinds of questions—and lots of them. What’s more, I had to start encouraging questions from all my team members.

“I need your help,” I said. Instantly, I was surprised by the tone of confidence that came through in my voice. “As you know, it’s the eleventh hour for our project. If we don’t get off the dime and move forward, we’re in real trouble.”

Charles nodded. “I understand,” he said. “And I share your concerns. You have my full pledge that I’m behind you 110 percent.”

“That means a lot to me,” I said, convinced he was sincere in his pledge. “Let’s start with this question: How do we get past what’s been blocking us and our team?” This was a question I’d come up with in my preparations for this meeting. “In particular, what do you need to help us be successful?”

For a moment, Charles seemed taken aback. Then he said, “I’m not sure I have any immediate answers or even the best questions. However, I am sure of one thing—that whatever we’re doing in this conversation feels a whole lot better than before. It seems like a good direction.” He paused, then added, “I think I’ve got something that could be helpful to us.”

My hackles went up. Here he goes again, I thought, reacting like I had a million times before. He’s going to challenge my authority. But I quickly stopped myself. In that instant three Self-Q’s popped into my mind: Am I in Judger? How else can I think about this? What do I want to accomplish in this meeting? If I wanted to clear the air with Charles and get the team moving forward, I had to let go of my old assumptions. Everything depended on it.

“I’m all ears,” I said.

“It’s something Joseph showed us,” Charles said. “He called it Q-Storming.”

At that moment you could have knocked me over with a feather. Just a day before I would have done anything to shut Charles down. Today I just said, “Tell me about it.”

Charles got up and went over to the flipchart that had become a permanent fixture in my office and picked up a blue felt-tip marker. “The goal,” he explained, “is not to come up with answers, ideas, or solutions. Instead we want to come up with as many new questions as possible. Just throw out questions as fast as we can, while I write them down.”

“In other words, with no responses or discussion in between,” I guessed.

“Exactly. Joseph said the goal is to open new doors in our minds . . . behind every door we might find another answer or solution. Every new question just expands our range of possibilities. I think his exact words were ‘A question not asked is a door not opened.’

“You always start by describing the problematic situation and your goals for change,” Charles explained. “After that you figure out what assumptions you have about the situation.”

“You mean like the assumption I made that you’d have trouble working with me,” I said.

Charles cringed but then nodded. “Once you’ve got your goals and assumptions clarified, you take a look at the actual facts about the situation. After that you start brainstorming new questions. For example, you might ask: In what ways can we best work together to meet our targets?” He wrote that question on the flipchart. After that, he immediately added another question: What do I want to change about the team?

“What don’t we want to change!” I exclaimed.

“Joseph says the secret of successful Q-Storming is to stay in Learner and be careful about how you phrase the questions,” Charles continued. “If we’re to get the results we want, the questions need to be in the first person . . . in other words, asking in terms of I or we.”

“Okay,” I said. “You mean like: What would I like to see happen that isn’t happening now? How can we all listen better? What can I do to be more creative?”

“Great questions,” Charles said, writing as fast as he could and underlining all the I’s and we’s.

I’m not sure where it came from, but right after he said this, a new question popped out of my mouth: How can I keep the communication channels open between you and me and our other team members?

I thought I saw Charles smile, but he didn’t say anything, just wrote my last question on the flipchart. Then he added another of his own: What will help me to keep asking the right kinds of questions?

How do we state our goals better, so everybody can be more aligned?

“And inspired?” Charles added.

“Exactly,” I said.

“Let’s keep going. More questions!” Charles exclaimed. He continued to jot them down on the flipchart, scrawling them out with the blue felt-tip pen:

What kind of fuel can I bring to keep our team running?

How do I keep from being judgmental?

What are the greatest strengths of each team member?”

How do we make sure we follow through on all our promises?

How can I assure each member it’s okay to ask for help?

We both fired off questions in rapid succession. I was surprised at how naturally and easily Charles and I were working together. In no time we had four sheets covered with questions, and they were all over the floor. Finally, I suggested we stop and review what we’d done.

Charles stepped back from the flipchart and said, “Joseph explained that it was important to notice if there are any questions we hadn’t asked before. The new questions can make the biggest difference.”

I quickly looked over the list still on the flipchart and shuffled through the sheets of questions on the floor. “Yes, quite a few,” I admitted, frankly startled at how many I really hadn’t asked.

Charles and I stood in front of the flipchart and then taped the other sheets up on the wall. We spent the next half hour looking over all our questions and adding new ones here and there. As we began discussing the questions it became clearer to me why we’d been stuck and what would help us make the changes we needed.

Seeing all those questions written down helped me slip into my self-coaching mode and look at my present situation more objectively. Q-Storming allowed me to see possibilities I never would have come up with on my own. I remembered Alexa’s story about her big breakthrough, how changing the kinds of questions she asked had changed the whole company. I was getting an inkling of how that could happen for us as well.

Charles was copying our questions into his tablet for later reference.

I perched on the edge of my desk, staring at the flip-chart. “I think I have a question to add to our list,” I said. I went up to the chart, turned to a new sheet and wrote: What will help each of us make our best contribution?

“Nice,” Charles said, nodding.

That word contribution suddenly became the central focus of my attention. In my zeal to assert my old role as the answer man, I had hardly ever asked questions such as: What do other people have to offer? What do they need and want? What is my effect on them? I saw even more deeply how the failure of the team, the team I used to call a nightmare, had been the leader of the team: me! I had been the problem all along!

“I think I could spend the next few hours discussing what we’ve just accomplished here,” I said. “But do you know what the most valuable lessons are for me in all of this?”

Charles shook his head.

“First, this was a great demonstration that questions have the power to open things up and maybe even turn things around. I can imagine using Q-Storming with the team—and as soon as possible! Second, I’ve got a whole new perspective on the ways that questions can help us better appreciate and understand the people around us.”

These revelations were opening another very big door for me, with a new question coming into sharp focus: Am I willing to allow others to help me or contribute to solving our problems?

“Ben,” Charles said. “Before this meeting, I wasn’t at all sure I would be able to stay on here at QTec. To tell the truth, working with you had started feeling like it was more trouble than it was worth.”

“That painful, huh?” I did my best to cover up how ill at ease his statement made me feel. I even felt the tug of defensiveness. But then something shifted inside me. I felt my face break into an embarrassed grin, then I just laughed out loud. “I sympathize with you entirely,” I said.

“Sorry, I guess I came off pretty harsh, didn’t I?” Charles said. “But I needed to tell you that.”

“Yes, you did,” I said. “We both needed that.” I extended my hand to him. He hesitated for just a second and then shook it warmly. We had made our peace, and it felt great. In the process I’d made the breakthrough I’d been hoping for—and changing my questions was the pivot that made the difference. I could hardly wait to tell Joseph what had happened.

After Charles left my office, I went back to the flipchart and started blocking out plans for meeting with our team the following morning. This time I wanted to have the right questions to create a Learner environment. That would change everything about the way we worked together. I was sure our results would change because of that. I sat down at my desk, pulled out my notes from my meetings with Joseph and began thumbing through them.

I leaned back in my chair and stared at the little placard on the wall: “Question everything!” Yes, I thought, Joseph was right. It all seemed so simple now. Right. Simple like Einstein’s Theory of Relativity!