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coin toss Questions Hold the Key Unlocking Better Decisions and Performance through Asking By Joe Whitefield "I f there is something you don't know, ask someone." Does that sound like advice you have received at sometime in your life? It sounds simple enough. And yet, we see a plethora of faulty decisions being made that appear to be absent of important information that could/should have been readily available if only someone had asked. Decision making involves process- to be collected, it must be verified as to its accuracy and applicability. This article will address the old fashioned method for information collection and verification: asking questions. Questions are powerful things. More than simply eliciting answers and information, they can reveal the intentions of the one asking, influence thought, and motivate people to action. Most of us answer questions seemingly all the time. They come from political polls, sports polls, business surveys, health forms, and personal inquires from friends and family. Who wants to know and why are logical questions people often ask before freely answering many questions asked of them. When trust is absent, skepticism abounds. That said, let's look at a couple of areas in facilities management where we are prone to ask questions. ing all kinds of information, often from numerous sources, to assess the tradeoffs (costs and benefits). Given the vast amount of data that is available today, one would think that useful information is so abundant, that decisions could practically make themselves. This has not proven to be true in my experience in facilities management. Sometimes the overabundance of data and information can impair the process, as much as lacking information can. Not only does information need SOLICITING FEEDBACK 14 | may/june 2013 | Facilities Manager Soliciting feedback on the performance of an individual or a project/service can be a wise thing to do. Without feedback it is difficult to make necessary improvements for the future. One method that is common here is the use of surveys. While I like surveys in general, I rarely find them that useful. Often the questions ask about customer satisfaction levels but they seem to be incomplete. Simply asking skeptical individuals about satisfac- C O I N Completion Organization Innovation Being Nice tion levels alone can be counterproductive. Here is where it can go awry: satisfaction is a comparison of the level of service (performance) with the anticipated level of service (expectation). Basically, satisfaction = performance/expectation (S=P/E). When performance exceeds expectation, P/E > 1, customers are very satisfied. When performance is less than the expectation, P/E < 1, customers are not satisfied. Surveys often ask about performance without asking about expectation. So, if someone is unsatisfied, it could be a matter of expectations being too high, as easily as it could be a matter of performance being too low. Surveys often don't make this distinction. Here are a few suggestions. First, find customers with whom you have a healthy relationship (where trust is present) and ask them for feedback that addresses their satisfaction based on their expectations and your performance. If your motive is to improve, they can be most helpful. So the obvious question is "How many of your current customers could you approach on this basis?" Second, when asking questions, provide some context and the intentional use of