Don't be afraid to ask questions, here's how!

 

Have you ever had a vague assignment and you weren't sure how to get started. Perhaps you received direction to go perform a task and the task itself was clear, but what it was supposed to achieve was not clear. Throughout my career I've had situations where I've been asked to do something and the direction was vague. At the beginning of my career I would jump to get started and work through as much as I could and turn in my work. Over the years, after turning in many assignments like this, I've learned that it's better to ask questions.

What does vague direction look like?

Vague directions are most likely to occur in positions without clear definable goals, but can also appear in those with clear goals such as sales.  For example if you are in a business analysis position you might receive an assignment along the lines of "Something's up with the performance of this business unit, can you tell me what it is and put together a report for me?" That may seem on the surface to be a clear assignment but as we dig a little deeper we realize that we don't know enough to properly analyze the performance.  We would need to analyze every possible objective and subjective metric to hopefully hit on the correct metric.  As a sales person you might get direction from your manager along the lines of "I need you to sell better".  OK you think, I'll get on it, but.... what is it exactly I need to be dong better? Sell more of widget A?  Should I be doing better attaching service B or add-on C?  

What are the risks of acting on it?

In both of these scenarios you'll spend a tremendous amount of time working on your assignment. For the business analyst you will be digging into every possible metric that can be defined and hope that you hit the right one.  As the sales associate you'll be trying to work on all of your sales behaviors and results unsure if which one you really needed to improve. This is not a good use of your time. If you need the specific issue that the business unit was having you could focus on that metric and really deep dive into it.  The extra time would allow you to put together a comprehensive look at the historical current and future trend for their performance and identify valuable solutions. As a sales associate, knowing the metric you need to improve would allow you to continue to perform all of your other duties as normal but focus specifically on improving that one metric. That allows you to more rapidly improve performance and meet the targets your manager has for you. 

Ask questions to understand

To improve your efficiency and ultimately the outcome of your results, you must ask questions to be sure that you completely understand what the direction is. For the business analyst that might look like, "Sure, what specifically are you concerned about and where would you like to see their performance? Are there any additional things that you're looking to see in the report?" This will allow you to target the specific part of the business that the manager perceives as an opportunity.  No guesswork will be required and you can either turn in the report more quickly, or use the extra time to improve the quality of the work. For the sales associate you might ask something like "OK, I want to hit all of my goals. Which one specifically are you referring to?  What does right look like for this goal and do you have any advice on how to improve?" This will ensure that you are focused on just the goal you need to improve and will be able to measure when you are successful.

Check in

During my career, I've thought I was on the right track with a project. I've worked hard on completing an assignment only to turn it in and find out that I didn't go after the right thing. That is both embarrassing and demoralizing. Sometimes I had asked questions up front and other times I hadn't. I learned that it was valuable to check-in once you've settled in on a direction for your assignment to see if you're on the right track. For the business analysis project you might ask your manager, "Hey there, here are my initial findings on what might be going on. I'm going to dig deeper into this for my final report, but wanted to check-in to see if this is what you were thinking?" This will be crucial to allow you to plow ahead or make a course correction.  As the sales associate you might start working on your specific metric and measuring your performance. You can ask your manager, "Hi, I've started doing X to improve my performance. Here's my lift so far. I wanted to see if I'm on the right track." You've enabled a quick performance check-in where your manager can affirm you're in the right direction or give you advice on the next step in your improvement process. 

Benefits to your work and career

The benefits of stopping to ask questions apply to both the assignment themselves and your overall career and reputation. You may feel uncomfortable asking questions, especially if your manager seems busy or in a rush to get to their next meeting, but it is crucial that you do that. While it may feel uncomfortable in the moment, you will feel much worse if your assignment is late, you chase the wrong goal or you turn in work that only has to be redone. You will feel bad because you're turned in the wrong work, but also because you've wasted your managers time and the company's resources. You'll be viewed as much more valuable if you consistently turn in work performance that is exactly on point and on time. When you consistently provide your manager with what they're looking for you become more valuable to them. They will appreciate the questions you're asking, even if they're in a rush.  So please ask.

Have you ever had a situation where you didn't ask enough questions up front and the end result was not what your manager was hoping for?  Tell us below!