Always ask why

I have spent a little time thinking about the questions we ask to uncover problems in our businesses, but "why" seems to be the question we always forget. I have been talking a bit about identifying and solving business problems. One of my first posts was The two most important questions sales people never ask. When we are working to understand business problems, it becomes even more important to ask the question why. If we don't understand why we do something, we may never be able to figure out how to change. If you identify that an employee walks across the building four times a day to hand deliver a report, you may say, "You know, if you email the report, you don't need to walk every day." When you ask why, you might find that the answer is, "The person at the other end doesn't have a computer because of the nature of that person's job." In that case, another solution may be considered. You never know what the answer to the question 'why' might bring. Sure, you run the risk of sounding like a seven year old, but it will help you develop the right solution for the right problem.

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Corey Smith is the Vice President of Innovation at Fisher’s Document Systems where he maintains a blog on business and technology.