Quit Brainstorming and start Q-Storming®

We talk about asking good questions all the time and few of us receive little if any training in questioning. Recently, I have devoted much of my free time to this subject and my journey brought me to Marilee Adams’ book, Change Your Questions, Change Your Life: 10 Powerful Tools for Life and Work (BK Life (Paperback)) .

In her book, one of the Question thinking tools she discusses is Q-Storming®. From the Inquiry Institute’s website:

Q-Storming is akin to brainstorming. Rather than seeking new answers and solutions, the goal of Q-Storming practice is to generate as many new questions as possible. Q-Storming empowers collaborative, creative and strategic thinking. It is a tool for moving beyond limitations in perception and thinking and advancing to novel and extraordinary solutions and answers. It is most often used when breakthroughs are sought in decision making, problem solving, strategic planning, and innovation.

Q-Storming is based on three premises:

Great results begin with great questions,
Most any problem can be solved with enough of the right questions,
The questions we ask ourselves often provide the most fruitful openings for new thinking and possibilities.

I thought the Q-storming idea was quite novel. How many times are Brainstorming sessions used to find a solution for a specific problem? It is encouraged practically by every facilitator that I know and arguably not even an effective strategy.

Brainstorming the questions is an area that I believe should be done more often. Consider the opportunities it presents to your sales and marketing people? Think of preparing a list of questions for the stages of your marketing cycle. Have your sales and marketing team Q-storm a list of questions for the customer and their decision-making team.

I liken this to the Bill Walsh days at the San Francisco 49ers where he would script the first twenty-five plays. In the week preceding, they would practice those plays to perfection which resulted in less mistakes and penalties. They virtually ignored situational play-calling and as a result increased the game tempo. Executing these plays successfully could established momentum and dictate the flow of the game. It also gave the coaching staff an opportunity to run test plays against the defense to gauge their reactions in game situations. Later in the game, an observed tendency in a certain situation by the opposing defense could be exploited.

During the sales cycle your ability to have the right questions on hand would offer tremendous opportunity for improved quality of your sales and marketing interactions. Review the advantage of scripting the plays. Would these same things assist you? Can you imagine at your daily meetings counting down the successful answers received from the customer. Maybe, even create a game out of it.

You may want to include your customers team. You might be surprised how easy it is to break down barriers with a flow of questions. As a result, it may enhance your competitive position, not from the ability to generate a response but from the open and collaborative environment that develops.