Are there bad Questions?
I have been told there are no bad questions when learning. As a teacher, I have often told my students, “There are no bad questions.” I was always encouraging engagement in the classroom. And when as a teacher or as a manager, we get our students engaged, the classroom or place of work becomes a much more fun place. But as we get older… There are times when too many questions can be detrimental to advancement. The questions have to have a time and place.
I am going to disagree with the premise all questions are good questions. When in certain environments, questions for the sake of asking questions can hurt you professionally. In order to show you are paying attention and to prove your knowledge the right question is more important than a lot of questions.
An example of being patient to ask the right question was when, I spent two years learning how to coach football at Ohio State University under Fred Pagac. Coach Pagac was the linebackers coach my first year and his role included being the defensive coordinator my second year. I was new to coaching and college football. Coach Pagac had played for Coach Woody Hayes and for Coach Mike Ditka with the Bears in his playing days— two old school coaches. Coach Pagac was a little old school and irritated when I became a part of his coaching world, unexpectedly and uninvited. Needless to say, I was more than a little bit intimidated. If I came in asking a lot of questions, Coach Pagac would have asked me to leave. He didn’t have time for me to be stopping him from doing his job.
I had to earn his trust. Coach Pagac was coaching a top five in the country football team. I was a fly in the ointment. I knew to stay as far away as possible. I camped out in the desk as far back in the linebacker room as possible. After two weeks, Mike Vrabel, the always talkative one on the defensive unit, realizing I wasn’t going away, said, “Hey, who are you and why are you here?”
Many of the defensive players were in watching film in Coach Pagac’s office on their own time. The defensive players loved Coach Pagan and his office was a hang out room. So I responded, “I am here to learn football. I didn’t play college football, and I want to be a football coach.” The room was satisfied with the answer, and I became a small part of the clan.
Knowing I wasn’t on level with the learning process, I had to learn quickly. The nomenclature was like that of a foreign language. The playbook became my friend. The defensive graduate assistant and the student assistants became my friends, as I tried to fit in and help make their jobs a little bit easier with an extra set of hands. The level of difficulty was extremely high when trying to fit in and at the same time trying to learn and not get in the way.
Knowing Coach Pagac would take any opportunity in which I screwed up to ask for me to be removed from his office, I had to be very careful with what I said and what I did. At this point in time, there are stupid questions! I know if I had wasted his time with a bunch of questions, I should know the answer to, then he’d make sure I wasn’t wanted around.
How to come up with a question worth asking? Ok for the most part, I could find answers to questions I had by asking the people around me with out having to ask Coach Pagac. I could look up answers. But I wanted to challenge Coach Pagac. I wanted to show him I was learning and was a part of the coaching process.
The quest for the question took almost two months. I had been at the football offices pretty much every day during the fall, I was afraid I’d miss something. I was also afraid if I didn’t show up, I’d be kicked out the next time I showed up. I thought, I researched, and I worked to find the question. Can I remember what the question was I asked? Well, no. The question wasn’t about solving the earths problems. The question was about whether or not I deserved to be in the room learning football from a master.
The answer to the question was not important, Coach Pagac’s reaction to the question was of utmost importance. I waited until we were alone in his office so I had his undivided attention, and he couldn’t escape the question. After I asked, he gave me the head nod. He was not impressed, because being impressed is not a trait old school coaches and businessman have. But he acknowledged the question. He took the time to give a long answer which led to a good discussion. I had asked the question that didn’t waste his time. This question made him realize I was paying attention. I was in the club. Again, I had more questions, but I realized I had to ration of them, and I had to ask the right question at the right time.
When asking questions of people you respect and who you know will be irritated by a string of questions, where if you took a little time you would be able to come up with an answer to:
- Find the right question.
- Take the time needed to make the question one that will engage.
- Make sure the question has follow up questions even though you may already know the answers.
- The answer can’t be answered by yes or no.
- Do the research and know the question. Know the topic thoroughly.
- Don’t be afraid, go for it.
- Don’t just ask questions machine gun style. Know when to stop. Let the conversation happen naturally.
