“Organizations gravitate toward the questions they ask” (David Cooperrider)
Cooperrider is basically saying that your organization takes on the culture of the questions being asked by the leaders.
In his book “A More Beautiful Question“, Warren Berger explained it this way: if your leaders ask questions like; “why are we falling behind our competitors and who is to blame?”, then the business will end up with a culture of turf guarding and finger pointing. However, if the questions are more expansive and optimistic then this will be reflected in the company culture. Berger goes on to say that “we all live in the world our questions create.”
So what world has your questions created? What direction is your organization gravitating towards?
These are powerful questions that we need to consider as leaders. Are the questions we are asking and allowing to be asked, fostering an open, honest and challenging environment or are we creating a negative environment complete with fingered pointing, cover ups and other negative behavior?
These can be tough questions to ask….and painful to answer! However, the impact to your company’s culture is well worth the honest reflection and your focus on asking the proper questions.
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