Often underestimated, the profound impact of asking the right questions on business success cannot be ignored. Unfortunately, many business owners find themselves trapped in a cycle of unproductive “HOW” questions, hindering their progress and leaving them stagnant.
In this 10-minute tactic conversation with my life and business partner, Leon Flitton, we delve into the significance of asking the right questions.
Consistently fixating on asking “how” questions, is guaranteed to get you nowhere. You need to recalibrate and aim at asking resourceful questions that harness the power of effective questioning.
Unlock the potential with these five resourceful questions and uncover how they can propel you toward business success when you listen to this episode.
IN THIS EPISODE YOU’LL DISCOVER:
- Utilising WHAT questions to achieve better outcomes or results (04:01)
- The significance of WHEN questions to get clear on timeframes (05:18)
- Using WHY questions in business contexts (05:55)
- The impact of WHERE questions in figuring out business structure (07:20)
- WHO questions to amplify connections (08:10)
QUOTES
- “The problem isn’t asking questions, it’s making sure that you ask the right questions. Questions that are resourceful and are going to get you to where you want to go.” -Samantha Riley
- “Asking why you’re implementing something as part of your business is going to help you assess if it’s any good or actually detrimental to your business.” -Leon Flitton
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WHERE TO FIND LEON FLITTON
- Website: https://yourpodcastconcierge.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leonflitton/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leonflitton
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChatWithLeon/
CONNECT WITH SAMANTHA RILEY
- Facebook: Samantha Riley
- Instagram: @thesamriley
- LinkedIn: Samantha Riley
- Twitter: @thesamriley
TRANSCRIPTION
Leon Flitton Snippet (00:00):
For me, it’s actually given me on track to not be faffing around. So I think if you’re asking the questions, I can actually get better aligned and make progress faster. By doing that,
Samantha Riley Snippet (00:10):
Being able to catch each other out and say, No Wrong question. What’s a more resourceful question you could ask yourself right now, and really understanding how often we are actually asking ourselves and resourceful questions.
Samantha Riley Intro (00:23):
Welcome to the Influence By Design Podcast. I’m Samantha Riley, authority positioning strategist for coaches and experts. If you’re ready to build a business that gives you more than just a caffeine addiction, and you dream of making more money, having more time, and having the freedom to be living your best life, then you’re in the right place, it’s time to level up.
Welcome to today’s episode of Influence By Design, I’m your Thursday co host Samantha Riley
I’m your co host for today’s Samantha Riley and joined by my partner in business and life Leon Flitton, how’re you going today? Leon, you’re here again.
Leon Flitton (00:58):
Great. Thanks for having me back.
Samantha Riley (01:00):
Always a pleasure. Today, we are going to share a quick what we call a 10 minute tactic. We actually have these conversations all the time. But it’s a little 10 minute tactic. And we had a discussion and we came up with all different topics that we could have talked about today. But the one we came back to over and over and over and decided to unpack today is the importance of asking the right question. And I think that this is something that stops people that we work with, and it stops Well, personally, you and I, Leon, and people, so many people, so many of our clients, more than any of us realize, and when I you know, this is something that you and I have started being really hyper aware of, and calling each other out when we don’t ask ourselves the right questions, or, you know, ask the right question in a conversation,
Leon Flitton (01:58):
I’ve got to say as well, that when I was in corporate and why my bosses and colleagues used to really hate this as well, because I’d asked way too many questions that just didn’t really matter that much.
Samantha Riley (02:08):
I see. See, I think questions is really important. I am a a huge question. Asker. I like to know as much as I can. Because if I don’t understand the context of something, or if I don’t understand, you know, little minut details, I can’t put the big picture together. So the problem isn’t asking questions. It’s making sure that you ask the right questions, the questions that are resourceful that are going to get you to where you want to go. And you might be asking yourself this question more than you realize. And I don’t mean you, Leon, because you realize that we catch each other out. But as you’re listening to this episode, you might not even realize how often you’re asking yourself this question this question. And like I said, we have put a plan in place, so that when each of us says this out loud, we catch each other out and say, That’s not the right question. What’s a better question? So what’s the question Leon? The question is how this is the most unresolvable question you can ask yourself, How is this happening to me? How do I do that? These are questions that will get you nowhere and will just have you spinning on the spot. So today, we want to take you through the five questions that you can be asking. So if you catch yourself saying how do I do that? Or maybe someone else is catching you out? And you can say, well, it goes both ways. You catch me out to let you know, but yes, you’re right. I often say what’s a better question, and I can see the little. It’s like a little cartoon watching. Dancing your head. I was Okay, which one? Which one of these 5am I going to pull out today? Our favorites?
Leon Flitton (03:51):
It is grainy, the noise coming out?
Samantha Riley (03:54):
Sometimes sometimes. So what’s the what’s instead of asking how, what’s one of the five questions that we could begin with Leon? So
Leon Flitton (04:05):
I really like this one, because I get it a lot from you. And when you ask me, it’s what? Alright, so this is what does the outcome or final result look like?
Samantha Riley (04:15):
Or it could be, you know, what could this project look like? Or what, you know, what resources do we need? But it’s essentially any question that starts with what, but I really liked that first question that you asked what does the outcome or final result look like? Because I think that this is a really great way to move out of overwhelm and start to get really clear on what the you know what it is that we’re trying to do, because once we’re clear on that we can reverse engineer the steps to create these little tiny so almost like breadcrumbs, you know, like in Hansel and Gretel when the witch puts the breadcrumbs down, and Hansel and Gretel were just like, you know, following along well, it’s kind of like that when we know where we’re going. We’re able to to just follow the breadcrumbs and just take The Little steps. Yeah,
Leon Flitton (05:01):
I think it resonates with me a lot, because I think it’s the most one of most effective ones for me.
Samantha Riley (05:08):
Yeah, I think it depends on on what you’re asking yourself. Because obviously, once you’ve asked yourself, you know, something like, you know, what does the outcome look like? There’s many other questions you could ask. So the second question that you can ask yourself with a second word, is when, you know, it could be something like, when could we start this project? Or when do we need to have this project completed by? Or when is the team available? But it’s something that starts with wind? Because that starts to give us some context around timeframes? Absolutely.
Leon Flitton (05:42):
So I think it’s really crucial with this fast paced moving world that we have these days with this, we’re so busy, that it actually really helps.
Samantha Riley (05:53):
So third, we’ve got what we’ve got when third one is, why these are all really great words to use, you could use why in the context of why is this important, right? Now, you might decide that it’s actually not important right now. And within, you know, five little tiny seconds, you could realize, ah, my focus was being diverted over here, but it’s actually not important right? Now I can put I can move it back over, you know, in this other direction to stay focused. So, you know, what are some other y questions that we could ask?
Leon Flitton (06:32):
You could also be asking why you’re implementing something is part of your business, and is actually going to be, you know, any good for business or not, or actually detrimental to your business, for example. So the why do we need this x being in the business? If it’s, is it good or not good? You know,
Samantha Riley (06:52):
why do we need this piece of software? Why are we using this tool? There’s nothing wrong with asking those why questions. In actual fact, it helps you to, you know, get rid of the fat, it helps you to realize that maybe you’re using too many tools, and you could there could potentially be one tool that helps you in a whole heap. I was gonna say, stop me from buying shiny objects software. Yes, you are terrible at that. The next question that you could ask yourself is where? So you know, where do we hold this event? Are we going to do it online? Or are we going to do you know, an in person event? Where do we need to go to, you know, meet these people or find these people or connect with these people?
Leon Flitton (07:36):
Or even, you know, where does certain things fit in with your business? You know, so, good one, if you have multiple courses, for example, where do they fit in with your business structure?
Samantha Riley (07:48):
Or also where do they fit within the theme of, of our business? You know, I always think that there’s a golden thread or like one key theme in your business, and whatever your programs are our deliverables, they all need to keep that thing. And what’s the last one set? This you asked me because you know that this is my absolute favorite, this is my go to every time. And it’s who, because I believe that this is where the gold is in, in your business is connecting with other people. So it’s things like who has done this successfully before? Who could help us complete this project? Who do we need to bring on the team? Who could we collaborate with to get more traction? Who do we need to reach out to that can give us an introduction to that person?
Leon Flitton (08:38):
I feel like the other web questions, almost like pre qualifiers. I feel like if you’ve made it Sure, those two this one is about getting it done. Who now because it’s a who? Now, I’ve heard you say is that Richard Branson before?
Samantha Riley (08:54):
Oh, yes, he’s, he’s a great one. That is such a good year. Good pickup, because he’s someone that has multiple virgin companies, you know, is obviously he’s got Virgin Airlines. But, you know, there’s virgin insurance and Virgin active and, you know, along the way, there was virgin cola. That didn’t go so well. You know, hats off to someone that just gives everything a go and goes fully in. But when he comes up with an idea, the first thing he asks is, who do I need to bring on the team to get this off the ground? So when he has an idea, you know, like Virgin insurance, he doesn’t think, Oh, well, I’ll go to university and do a degree in insurance. It’s just like, Alright, who do I need to bring in? Who can run this project for me? And that’s why I love it so much. So you mean he didn’t build the planes? No, he did not build the plane. No, he’s the person that always has the ideas. And I think that so many of us as entrepreneurs, you know, the reason we do what we do is because we always have these ideas coming all the time. It’s also the thing that it’s the thing that makes us amazing at what we do. It’s also the thing that can derail us. Because we have all these ideas like it’s, it’s a curse and a blessing all at the same time. But when we have these ideas, if we can tap into, you know, who, I think that’s the best way to move forward, even before you ask any of those other things, because then you can discuss, you know, the watch, or the when the why the where, with the who?
Leon Flitton (10:29):
Yeah, I think it’s a little side note, it’s almost like you can start to move you into that CEO and your own business.
Samantha Riley (10:36):
Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, I mean, you are the CEO of your business, but it helps you to be the light on the executive team, rather than down in the weeds and getting it done. Which is not where we should be if we want to grow and scale our business. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, adding value the right way. Absolutely. So like we said, at the beginning of this episode, today was just a quick 10 minute tactic to help you to understand that asking the right question will be the difference between being stopped in your tracks by asking an unresolvable question like how, and moving into a resourceful state by asking yourself one of the five questions. So if something comes up, just wait, how am I going to reframe this? What, when, why, where? Or who? What’s your biggest takeaway Lian from really tapping into these questions? For me,
Leon Flitton (11:35):
it’s actually keeping me on track, because I’m all about efficiency. So you can be on track to to not be faffing around. So I think if you’re asking the questions, I can actually get better aligned and make progress faster by doing that.
Samantha Riley (11:51):
I think for me, the takeaway is, it’s dipping into a place where both of us catch each other out by asking a how question because usually those questions come out when we’re maybe a bit down or not in a good place or something has happened. That’s not ideal. And being able to catch each other out and say, No Wrong question, what’s a more resourceful question you could ask yourself right now, and really understanding how often we were actually asking ourselves and resourceful questions, even though it’s something that I’m super duper, like, hyper vigilant on, where I thought I was, I didn’t realize how often I was asking myself how so get yourself a support group around you or a little elastic band on your wrist so that you can make yourself every time you ask how. But you tap into asking more resourceful questions.
Thanks for joining us today for this 10 minute tactic on Influence By Design. It’s been a pleasure hanging out with you today. Connect with us on social actually jump onto Instagram, pick up your phone, jump onto Instagram, connect with us. You can find me at the Sam Riley and Leon at Leon Flitton and you just let us know like what’s your favorite question? How has asking yourself more resourceful questions helped you and we look forward to seeing you next week for another episode of influence by design. Thanks for joining me today. Leon. Thank you. And thanks for listening. We’ll catch you next week. Ciao. For now.
Samantha Riley Outro (13:20):
Thanks for joining me for this episode of the Influence By Design podcast. If you want more head over to influencebydesignpodcast.com for the show notes and links to today’s gifts and sponsors. And if you’re looking to connect with other experts who are growing and scaling their business to join us in the coaches, thought leaders, and changemakers community on Facebook, the links are waiting for you over at influencebydesignpodcast.com
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