Ask the Right Questions

Choosing the right HRMS software may have more to do with questions than answers, at least at first.

Let’s take a classic example. You may have had a classmate who struggled to succeed in school. She was bright enough, but didn’t do well on tests, got low scores in reading, and writing…well, she’d just as soon forget about that. And she often did. No amount of reminding her to read directions carefully, to turn in assignments on time, or to read the text seemed to help. Frustrating? Yes! Why didn’t she just listen? Or try harder? It would’ve made everybody’s life easier.

Then, one day, when she came to school, everything changed. She rose to the top of the class. Her test taking and writing skills seemed to have improved over night. What happened?

Someone finally had asked the right questions. She wasn’t lazy or insolent. She needed glasses!

Problems in business can be like that, too. We look at a problem, a solution seems obvious, but it doesn’t work. Maybe we stopped asking questions before we asked the right one.

Get to the Root of the Problem

Or sometimes, a solution works for a while, but then the problem resurfaces, and we have to deal with it all over again. Once I discovered my formerly dry basement had become damp, and a mildew smell greeted me when I opened the door. I checked the walls and sure enough, they were damp and beginning to become discolored. I waited for a dry spell, scraped and bleached the walls, and applied a moisture blocking paint. That worked for a while, but the dampness returned. I decided on a more drastic measure. Having the ground around the walls excavated and then sealing the concrete blocks would be expensive, but I was willing to pay rather than live with a moldy basement.

Then I called an expert. He came out and asked lots of questions: When did I first notice the problem. Why hadn’t it been a problem last summer when we had all that rain? Why is it coming from the corner?  I was surprised when he took out a ladder. The problem was with the basement, right?

Wrong. The gutters were clogged with autumn’s leaves. Water spilled out and seeped into the ground around the basement rather than being carried away by the downspouts. His curiosity saved me lots of money, solving the problem at its root: in this case at the top rather than at the bottom of the house.

Ask Why?

Moving too quickly on solutions we think will fix the problem may keep us from accurately identifying the true cause. We identify a genuine problem and entertain possible solutions before choosing one. But we forget that we might be looking only at a symptom of a deeper problem. Before moving ahead, we need to slow down and ask “Why?” A drop in production can be a problem with equipment, employee attendance, or quality control. Problems with a computerized solution could originate with the hardware, operator mistakes, or a line of code. A new computer won’t help if the person using it doesn’t know how to navigate the program. User knowledge won’t help if the problem lies somewhere in thousands of lines of code.

Good Questions Are the Answer

When looking for an effective solution, remember:

  • Not to settle on a solution before you ask LOTS of questions
  • The problem you’re solving may be a symptom
  • Ask “Why” questions to get to the root of the problem
  • Turn to experts. They may have questions you don’t know enough to ask
  • Involve other company employees. Listen to their questions as well as their answers
  • Don’t be afraid to change your mind