Framing Questions...

Listening to the 2008 (Is innovation withering on the vine?) talk from Judy Estrin she made a very interesting point my none managing brain never thought of.

when you ask a question judgmentally you will get a different answer than when you ask it openly. Example: "When will XYZ be finished?" vs "what are you working on and what obstacles are you facing?".
The former sounds more critical and judging which leaves you feeling a bit tainted, where as the latter is more like someone wanting to see you succeed.

I've had excellent managers ask me both of these questions. Can you guess which one I got along with better? :)

Another point in Judy's ETL talk is that curiosity is linked to innovation. If you stifle curiosity you're stifling innovation.