Using stupid questions for CI idea generation

You know that phrase about there being no such thing as a stupid question...

Well, do you have a collection of these 'stupid questions' in your business that you use?

What do I mean when I say 'use'?

Some of the stupid questions we have heard in our business can also be perfect to launch continuous improvement thinking from.

What are the questions you have in your business that your team have learned not to ask anymore?

Here are some I have heard recently, in hushed conversations...

How can we achieve double our current profit margins?
Why do we have to do all of these steps in our process?
What happens if we embrace our mistakes?
Why don't we get rid of our bad customers?
How do we deliver our products in half the time?

I think all of those questions could be used to stimulate some interesting conversations... if you can get past the look of incredulity on your colleagues faces.

What stupid questions could you ask in your business, to provoke some alternative ideas?

I wrote the book Takt Time, spurred on by a client conversation that seemed ludicrous at the time. They were trying to improve the lead time of an office process. They were only finding gains of up to 5%. After asking some so called stupid questions we came up with a solution that took out 98% of the lead time.

What stupid questions can you ask today?

Giles

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About the author:

Giles Johnston is a Chartered Engineer who specialises in helping businesses to grow and improve through better business processes and embracing Kaizen.

Giles is also the author of Effective Root Cause Analysis and 'What Does Good Look Like?'.

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