May 13, 2008This Week in the World ~ A policy of asking

Filed under: This Week in the World by merylrunion |

Module ten of my Say What You Mean eCourse is about questions. While reviewing those lessons, I was reminded of an experience I had with an employee who consistently misinterpreted my instructions.

After a few months of misunderstandings, we developed a policy of asking. Every time I made a request or delegated an assignment, she would ask at least one question. Even if she was sure she understood, she would come up with some kind of question.

Sometimes her questions were clearly manufactured, but surprisingly often they were important questions that she wouldn’t have asked had we not agreed to a policy of asking.

The policy of asking served us well, and it helped us both develop habits of not assuming we know. So create your own policy of asking. As The National Enquirer says – “Inquiring minds want to know.”

Share
Add your comments | Email This Post Email This Post

Related posts which may interest you

    • A Question Fast
    • HBR post nails the need to consider image in choosing words and Speaking Strong
    • This week: Questions are the answer
    • PowerPhrase: I wish I could let you take all the time you want to tie things up. I’d like to give you the kind of send-off you deserve
    • A Congregation With No Complaints

No Comments »

RSS feed for comments on this post. | TrackBack URI
You can also bookmark this on del.icio.us or check the cosmos

Leave a comment




XHTML ( You can use these tags): <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong> .

« Ask Meryl ~ Was that done?    PowerPhrase ~ Crumb management problem »

Newsletter Sign Up

Name
Email
Follow Meryl on Twitter image link

RSS Feed

Keep current with SpeakStrong Posts using Google RSS Reader



Categories

  • Admin Assistants
  • Announcements and events
  • Ashley
  • Ask Meryl
  • B2B associate courtships
  • Book Reviews
  • Character-based Communication
  • Discussion Topic
  • Dynamic dignity/corporate ignominy
  • Expectation Management
  • How to restore sanity
  • Hubby series
  • Kids
  • Kudo Corner
  • Leadership
  • New Dynamics
  • Newsletter
  • Nurses
  • Poison Phrase of the Week
  • Power Phrase Quick Tip
  • Quote
  • Reader comment
  • Reader Stories
  • Speak Strong, smart and sweet
  • Success Story
  • Success story in progress
  • The PowerPhrase of the Week
  • The SpeakStrong Method
  • This Week in the World
  • Tip of the week
  • Uncategorized
Powered by WordPress
Theme by Sreejith, Customized by MyBlogCoach
Copyright © 2012 A PowerPhrase a Week