When you feel you aren’t getting the answers you like to your question; look at how you are framing your question. Often we feel we don’t make progress and get the expected outcome; when really our question is being answered; we are more often not phrasing or asking the question we mean to.
Not just managers
It applies to all employees, we leave a meeting feeling like we aren’t satisfied with the responses, or the answer we were given. We might ask the same question a number of times over time, and we still get the same unsatisfactory answer. Have you thought about how you are asking the question; how the question is being received?
Think about changing the ‘frame’; word it differently. Maybe use drilling questions, start at a surface level and dig down until your question is in the correct place. Sometimes our question is unanswerable by that individual; we need to find out who might be better to be asked.
For Team Leaders
You are the fighter for your team; you need to make sure your team’s questions are understood and that you find the best outcome or answer to their concern or question. I see too often team leaders and managers complain about processes ‘hiring is too lengthy’, ‘nobody can define that answer’ etc.
You too can look at how you are framing the question; who you are asking the question to. If it is about hiring speak their language; show them in figures the costs to the company by not having another team member. That is a form of changing the frame; if all you ever say is ‘we pay lots in overtime, as we are short on staff.’ This issue doesn’t mean a lot to them; when we rephrase it to dollars, or impact like that we often will find they get a better understanding.
Framing, how does it work?
It is often a matter of understanding the ‘language’ of the recipient; if they are more likely to react to something costing the company (in turn looking bad on their department) you can find ‘leverage’ in using this “frame”.
I had a framing scenario where I saw a business need as an employee; I needed to ‘stop, think, and plan’ how I was going to word it in a way that would get attention. This does not mean should I scream, or speak sternly; it was a matter to picking the frame to put the picture in so they could understand the picture I was trying to display.
I talk more about communication in a previous article; but framing is working out ‘what matters most to the recipient’.
The recipient
This could be a manager, a client, or even a colleague; understanding how you word the issue or concern makes a big impact. Remember they too are humans with feelings and don’t want to feel attacked; but if your concern is bigger than just you then it is an opportunity for you to work out how to frame your concern and ‘translate’ it to them.
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