I was a curious kid, I read a lot of books, I stuck my finger in light sockets, and I ask A LOT of questions. It was always why does this _______, what does that _________, how come __________, who, what, when where, why, and how. My mother and grandparents did their best to put up with my constant bombardment of questions, they took me to the library to find endless books about endless topics. Sometimes I’d find the answer, sometimes I’d be told I’d figure it out when I got older, sometimes i just forgot about one thing and moved onto ten more.

Today, as a BPM practitioner and consultant, I still find myself asking a lot of questions, just to different people and a different kind of question. Where does the process start? Who does what along the way? When do we know we’ve reached the goal? How can we make improvements? What are you unhappy about with your current system? Why why this proposed solution be a better solution? So on and so forth…

Many people think it’s about knowing the right answers, and while to certain extents that helps…. I think it’s even more important to know how to ask the right questions, and to know who to ask them to. Once you know that, the answers can be determined, but if you don’t know how to ask the right question, how do you know you’re getting the right answers? Furthermore, you only gain the right answers because at one time you asked the right question… How do I do this, How does this work, what happens if I, What have did I learn from this, What can be done better next time, etc…

As a child, success meant knowledge for the sake of having knowledge. It mean learning something new, just because. Success meant simply finding the answers to feed my curiosity. As an adult, and in my profession the real success comes with what I do with the answers I find out, but it’s the questions I ask that help me get there!

So, I’ll leave you with a question. Are you asking the right questions to be successful?