“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 five minutes.”

—ALBERT EINSTEIN

Since many of the challenges we face are unprecedented and we cannot simply project what worked in the past, we need tools that help us navigate and create a more positive future. Strategic questions enable people and organizations to move from the known (present) to the unknown (future) – exploring possibilities, seeing new options, and realizing where new information may be needed. Strategic questions lead us to reflect in ways that inspire movement.

For example, the research labs at Hewlett Packard were involved in a strategic planning exercise, oriented around the question: “How can we be the best industrial research lab in the world?” One day an engineer came into the office of the woman organizing this strategic planning initiative and said:

“What would really energize me would be to ask the question: How can we be the best research lab for the world?”

That one word change shifted the context of the inquiry and mobilized many peoples’ energy. The question “traveled well” and began to be considered by many employees throughout the company.

Strategic questions like that one generate motivation and creative energy. A key aspect of what makes a question strategic is that we do not know the answer…the question draws us into a discovery process. Learning to ask these questions is an art, since in school we were taught to consider questions that there are already answers to. As professionals, we pride ourselves on having all the answers; ‘not knowing’ is not comfortable. Yet, we live in a complex world that is changing fast with trends and situations that have never existed before. The answers we had yesterday are often not the answers we need to navigate into the future. In our focus on having the answers, an overlooked skill is the ability to frame the right questions, questions that lead to fresh responses and innovative solutions.

Fran Peavey, a social activist who developed, practiced, and wrote about the technique of Strategic Questioning said:

Questions can be like a lever you use to pry open the stuck lid on a paint can… If we have a short lever, we can only just crack open the lid on the can. But if we have a longer lever, or a more dynamic question, we can open that can up much wider and really stir things up. . . . If the right question is applied, and it digs deep enough, then we can stir up all the creative solutions.

Some of our favorite strategic questions we have recently been discussing with clients include:

• What is the most important question we should be asking at this time?
• What is a story of where our organization has worked well? What are the elements that made that work?
• Who is not at the table?
• How could we make this change in a way that embodied the values of what we want to create, e.g., if we are building a network, how can the initial planning meetings strengthen networks each step of the way?