The most serious mistakes are not being made as a result of wrong answers. The truly dangerous thing is asking the wrong question. - Peter Drucker
A prudent question is one-half of wisdom. - Francis Bacon
It is not the answer that enlightens, but the question. - Eugene Ionesco
Asking questions can be irritating or a pleasure to the recipient depending on the type of question being asked or the person asking the question.
A child asking questions is usually seen as "cute". There is a perception of curiosity or learning that the child is demonstrating. But if the same kind of questions are asked by an octogenarian or a septuagenarian they are seen as "irritating", even though the objective is the same that of curiosity or learning. The answers to the same questions asked by a child or an elderly person are answered differently by the recipient. The level of patience varies between the extreme points.
Curiosity based questions can again be segregated as curiosity shown with the intention of learning and curiosity shown merely for gossip sake. The latter type of curiosity can cause harm if it is not detected by the recipient of the questions.
The other type of questions is the type a consultant asks. It is said that a consultant is judged by the kind of questions she asks. Here, one is the information-gathering type of questions and the other is reality-seeking type of questions. The information-gathering type of questions are asked to represent the information in a report. The reality-seeking type of questions are for presenting the correct scenario. The latter type of questions are usually the "uncomfortable" questions as the recipients are usually hesitant to answer the questions. More often than not, it is better if the client answers these uncomfortable questions as early as possible in the business cycle so that they can set things right and take the business in the right direction before it is too late.
Questions can be open-ended or close-ended. As seen in questionnaires for surveys, a good questionnaire will have open-ended questions. This will encourage the respondents to think and present the true picture. The responses will be unbiased as opposed to closed-ended questions, where the respondent is directed to think towards a favourable response.
So, as a recipient, are you demonstrating the right amount of patience while answering the questions? As an information-seeker, are you asking the right questions?
