Question Everything
Background
If you’re not sure who deserves more credit for the title of this article, here’s some ideas. The owner of our company loves a band called Five Finger Death Punch, they have a song titled ‘Question Everything’. Albert Einstein is often in fun memes on the internet quoted for using the phrase. The (amazing) television show, X-Files, used it in concert with a bit more of a pessimistic tone ‘Question Everything. Trust No One.’ All credit is due to others for coming up with this simplistic, yet powerful terminology.
Recently, a person I highly respect, in a leadership position sent me a message with a series of questions. Questions that could open Pandora’s box of complexity. These questions can be interpreted different ways depending on the mood, the tone, the context of the conversation. Generally speaking, I am a curious, empathetic person who wants to understand other’s positions. I also want to understand the technical answer when challenged with a tough problem.
Those questions are pretty standard within the federal government. Here are a few generic examples:
- How does this system work within the context of other systems?
- How does this system work within the context of other peer agencies and their systems?
- Is this approach fair to other providers of similar products and services?
- Are we showing favoritism by testing this product or service?
- Will our providers use these government systems?
- Who will pay for the providers use of these systems?
All of these questions are completely fair. In many cases we might have an approach or context to satisfy the request. In others, we might need to research or contact outside teams to understand, which is a cost. Government at scale is a truly complicated, generally risk adverse environment, rightfully so. Instead of diving into these huge, intentionally vague, generously complex questions, which need answering, it sounds more fun to talk about a hypothesis I have about individual behavior.
A Hypothesis of Three Reactions
For now, this is simply a hypothesis with simple outcomes. I will likely only scratch the surface of the subtleties in reactions possible. Please, allow my oversimplification.
Apathy
Let’s start with what I think is the worst reaction. Apathy is the ‘lack of interest, enthusiasm, or concern’. Sometimes, it is the right response, but not in this particular case. When is it the right response? When you are being attacked or presented with hyperbole to protect a bad outcome. But, hopefully, this is rare in your life and not an often used item in your toolkit.
In many cases, we all can get too busy or just choose to deprioritize response. That is not what I hope to describe. I hope to describe an emotion that is far more damaging to the relationship involved. In this case our actor shows indifference and often dismisses the questions as nonsense or somehow unworthy of their attention. It is true that a lot of the complexities of managing tens of thousands of resources are above most of our heads. Still, complexity deserves thought and attention, and this actor is choosing instead to ignore its existence entirely. This damages not only their credibility, but creates a rift that could be very negative for either the actor or their customer.
Intrigue
This is generally my desired state when meeting this type of challenge. Often times, I find myself as an outsider offering strategic or tactical advice on how to interact with systems — helping others gain associated skills. That means I am good at figuring out processes and interactions. That does not mean I am good at understanding the subtleties of every regulation, or how to unwind all of the alphabet soup in the government. Did you know the USSF has SBIRS and SBIRs? And they couldn’t be any different.
This time our actor is receptive to the questions. The experience for the actor can be quite time consuming in the government. When is the last time you read the FAR (Federal Acquisition Regulations) cover to cover? Bless you, if you have. The response of our actor, though, offers both understanding of why as well as trust in the person asking questions. This is the type of relationship we should strive to have with all customers, one where we do not look at questions as good, bad, right, or wrong. Instead, we look at them as an opportunity to close an understanding gap and grow together.
Defensive
This is not worse than apathy. I promise.
This is also not an uncommon first reaction. As humans our monkey brains have trained us to seek patterns. Think of the complexity of our world, and what your eye sees. Your brain does not process 100% of your environment, it simply would be overwhelmed by the inputs. Similarly, our initial reactions are not always thoroughly considering the inputs. In fact, I admit that my initial reaction to these types of questions is considerably more defensive than after greater consideration.
Still, it’s better than apathy. Why? It’s an engaged response. It is far better to respond even verbalizing the defensiveness than to ignore, or dismiss something as nonsense out of convenience. The defensiveness can be unwound by trained, curious leaders. Generally, people understand initial defensive responses, and adapt their approach for greater understanding. Of course, this theory does not work so well in politics.
Final Thoughts
The reason I start with ‘Question Everything’ is it is an important skill. As I have developed in my professional career, I have learned a lot of lessons. The most important lesson is that I am not the expert. I do not need to be the center of attention. But, I do need to ask good questions to make sure others are successful. Questions like the ones posed are totally fair. Not all of them will have a satisfactory answer. I want to learn what that right answer is, and I want to ask, respectfully, in return: “What programs have successfully answered all of these questions?” so that we might learn from our peers.
Also, I think we all only get better by asking questions. And I believe, strongly, that questions reflect a desire for understanding. That education benefits us all. Keep asking questions, and question everything. Skepticism is healthy, be willing to rule out your own assumptions, and you will grow.
