Are you a smartASK? Do you have one in your organization?

A “smartASK” is a person who pushes the organization by asking tough and insightful questions. The smartASK helps you find holes in your thinking and challenges your deeply held assumptions.

SmartASKs are a valuable asset for an organization. Yet, they are often shunned or avoided. They make things harder. They don’t always appear to play well with others. They don’t give you the confidence of having unanimous votes for all of your ideas. But, they do keep you honest.

Asking questions is easy. Asking good questions, however, is a skill. SmartASKs know how and when to ask just the right question. They usually don’t ask about facts – anyone can do that (and they don’t provide a lot of value). SmartASKs focus on meaning and purpose. They ask for the implication of the facts. They ask whether the facts matter. They ask whether the facts are even reasonable in the first place. Most importantly, they ask what do as a result of those facts. That’s the role of a good SmartASK.

While smartASKs are hard to find, their nemesis, ASKholes, are usually pretty common. ASKholes are the people who use questions to shoot down ideas or silence people. ASKholes focus on facts and details at a time when you should be focused on possibility and opportunity. They use question to embarrass or squelch others. Most importantly, ASKholes use questions to make their point rather than to understand yours.

You might not be the smartASK but you’d better be sure you have one. And, under no circumstances should you take on the role of ASKhole. There are already too many of them cluttering up your organization.

Which one are you? Are you a smartASK or an ASKhole? Which one gets rewarded in your organization? Which do you reward?

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Brad Kolar is a consultant, speaker, and author with Avail Advisors. He can be reached at brad.kolar@availadvisors.com. Avail can help you think more critically, ask better questions, and make better decisions.