If we want to help people achieve different results, we need to help them take different actions. However, actions are preceded by thoughts and a key component of people’s thinking is the quality of the questions they answer.
In 1998 I made a significant mistake. It was all to do with asking the wrong question. It would have been helpful then to know what I later discovered through Einstein’s wise words, “If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depended on the solution, I would spend the first 55 minutes determining the proper question to ask, for once I know the proper question, I could solve the problem in less than 5 minutes.”
If asking a great question is so important, why don’t most people invest more time and effort in crafting and designing them? A well-crafted, high quality, question designed to help yourself or others can stop a person in their tracks – often accompanied by a statement such as “Wow. Good question!” – as their thinking is taken to a new level or a more helpful place.
In 1997 I became fascinated by the subject of achievement and “Making A Difference” (MAD). So over 14 months I led a 4000 hour grounded research study to identify key success principles that people naturally apply when making a difference and achieving success. In essence, I pieced together the “D.N.A.” pattern of how to make a measurable difference. This resulted in the development of the Go M.A.D.® Framework comprising 7 interlinked principles that can be applied as thinking system to help individuals, teams and organisations question, take action and measure the differences they are seeking to make.
The Go M.A.D.® Thinking Framework
So, how could we possibly help people to ask themselves great questions about making a difference and do some great thinking – especially if they could not access a coach or a colleague with great questioning skills? One way is to develop virtual coaching software that contains great questions designed to stimulate thinking, help people achieve goals and solve problems. Over the past couple of years iCheev ® has developed into an interactive online thinking collaboration toolkit that does just that.
You can register for a free iCheev ® account at www.icheev.com. It contains over 54 goal wizard templates, 6 creative possibility thinking tools and various collaboration features to enable you to share your goals and involve others.Is it virtual coaching or a form of e-learning by doing? You decide. Your feedback and ideas for future collaboration are most welcome. andy.gilbert@gomadthinking.com