Asking Questions, Getting Answers: A Shared Responsibility

New professionals are encouraged to ask questions. That is useful advice, provided the team offers a way to obtain answers.

A relevant question may remain unresolved when its recipient is rushed, people pass it around or nobody knows who should decide. The person asking for clarification cannot resolve those organisational difficulties alone.

A question identifies a need

Asking which drawing version to use or who authorises a change does not necessarily indicate poor preparation. It may reveal missing information, an unclear responsibility or an uncommunicated change.

A paper published by the Project Management Institute (PMI) stresses understanding information needs and checking that messages have been received and understood. [1]

For project teams, this means checking understanding as well as transmitting information.

Impatience can close a useful conversation

A brief or irritated response may make a colleague hesitate to raise an issue again. The effect differs between teams, but deserves attention when a technical or operational decision remains uncertain.

Imagine a coordinator asking which document governs the work. “We already discussed that” may not identify the version to use. The conversation can end without resolving the question.

Encouraging questions also means making answers accessible and precise enough to act on.

An answer can be deferred without abandoning the question

Nobody is available all the time. A request may need checking or another specialist’s advice.

An interim answer can acknowledge that: “I need to confirm this; here is who will handle it and when we can follow up.” This distinguishes a question being addressed from one forgotten.

For important issues, a register can record the subject, the person responsible and the affected stage. It only helps if someone uses it to follow outstanding points.

Care is shared

The questioner can provide context, identify the document and describe the decision needed. The recipient can answer, identify the right person or explain what remains to be checked.

The organisation must also make room for these exchanges. If clarification time always disappears behind urgency, dialogue depends too heavily on individual availability.

A way to assess a team

During an interview, ask how questions are handled. Who supports newcomers? How are technical answers confirmed? What happens when an unresolved issue blocks the work?

A team that invites questions must also organise the possibility of answering them.

Why this reference?

This North American conference paper addresses communication within project teams. Its management principles are relevant to the discussion; it is not a Canadian regulatory directive.

Reference

[1] Project Management Institute — Requirement for Effective Project Communications (2004).
https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/requirements-effective-project-communications-8261