Ask the dumb question
A while back, I was in a large meeting. And all the bigwigs were there. And the presentation was about a topic that I was supposed to be responsible for.
My astonishment grew every minute because it felt I should know this material intimately — It was squarely in my domain — but it was completely new. At the end of 10 minutes, I asked a simple question “Wait, are you saying that we are going to do XYZ now? I had no idea”
People were laughing out loud. Look at this guy — this was meant to be his area of responsibility and he does not even know about it. There was hilarity and loud laughter (mostly good natured) about it. After all the snarky comments died down, the presentation continued. I was really embarrassed.
After the meeting was over, I was pulled over by another attendee. He said “I had no idea of the change either, but did not have the courage to ask how this change came about”. And guess what. Half a dozen people told me the same thing. And the presenter later called me and apologized for not inadequate inclusion and communication.
The outcome of this innocent question was an increased level of respect for me in the organization. I found doing so gave courage to others to also ask the questions that they were afraid to.
So ask the dumb questions. You are teaching others that it is ok to do so. And very likely, clarifying something that others were unclear on.
