By asking questions, we share our ignorance. We are saying publicly that we don't know something.

I recently re-read Peter Senge - The Fifth Discipline : The Art and Practive of the Learning Orgabnisation - and this reminded me many factors, including fear of looking foolish often stop us from asking the questions we need to ask.

"School trains us never to admit that we do not know the answer, and most corporations reinforce that lesson by rewarding the people who excel in advocating their views, not inquiring into complex issues. When was the last time someone was rewarded in your organisation for raising difficult questions about the company's current policies rather than solving the urgent problems?" Senge p.25

Even if we feel uncertain or ignorant, we learn to protect ourselves from the pain of appearing uncertain or ignorant. That very process blocks out any new understandings which might threaten us. The consequence is what Argyris call "skilled incompetence" - teams full of peoples who are incredibly proficient at keeping themselves from learning. Senge p.25

"To practice a discipline is to be a lifelong learner. You "never arrive"; you spend your life mastering disciplines. You can never say, "we are a learning organisation," any more than you can say "I am an enlightened person." Senge p.11

The more you learn, the more acutely aware you become of your ignorance. Thus, a corporation cannot be "excellent" in the sense of having arrived at a permanent excellence; it is always in the state of practicing the disciplines of learning, of becoming better or worse." Senge p..11

One take home message:

• Help others build the confidence to admit they don't know by modelling the way - by making yourself vulnerable by asking the "silly" and "obvious" questions - make it clear that it's okay to not know, but it's not okay to pretend to know.