The inquisitiveness of children....

Have you ever noticed how children ask the 'daft' and obvious question that exposes gaps in your knowledge?

My six year old son was watching the news with me on the day that Gordon Brown became Prime Minister and he asked me what a Prime Minister was. I started to reply that the PM was the leader of the main parlimentary party when he interupted me and asked me why groups needed leaders and whether or not the people in the political party were capable of making decisions for themselves.

This was a slightly more complex issue and stopped me in my tracks for a few seconds. Of course, everyone in a group has intelligence and is capable of making decisions for themselves but they needed a guiding hand to set the overall direction of the party and to act as a mediator in the event of a dispute.

His questions set me thinking about the usefulness of asking questions from the viewpoint of a child and how it forces people to examine why things are they way they are, why certain decisions have been taken and whether there might be another way of doing things. You often find someone involved in an improvement project will ask what appears to be a simple (or even daft) question that unexpectedly exposes a real issue, threat, risk or opportunity.

Perhaps we should encourage child like questioning for our organisations as it will challenge whether the organisational paradigms are valid or could be improved.

Are you brave enough to try?