The Apprehension Surrounding Inquiries and Strategies to Conquer this Anxiety in 2025
The Apprehension Surrounding Inquiries and Strategies to Conquer this Anxiety in 2025
As we usher in a new year, we're plagued with more queries than solutions. With 2024's notable US election, international conflicts, an intensifying climate predicament, and AI acting up unpredictably, it may seem like we're drowning in questions that remain unspoken.
During a 2021 investigation into undergraduate students' attitudes towards asking and answering questions, researchers discovered that even though half of the students recognized the value in questioning and answering, over half of them never engaged in such activities in large-enrollment courses.
This reluctance to speak up isn't exclusively a psychological issue that impacts jittery students or those constrained by personal, societal, or structural challenges. It's a philosophical predicament that affects us all.
By acknowledging our fear of questioning as an inherent condition, we can empower one another to summon the courage to confront the tough questions heading into 2025.
We All Have Reasonable Excuses to Remain Silent
Eve has been working at her company for a couple of years, becoming skilled at handling tasks, colleagues, and clients. However, she yearns for changes, but they are beyond her remit. When upper management encourages her and her colleagues to voice concerns and suggestions for improvements, she suspects they only want a particular type of input. The ensuing uncertainty prevents her from speaking up.
With the Magical Question Triangle in mind, Eve's reluctance to ask questions can be divided into three distinct risks:
1. Inquiring Risks Undermining Our Personnel and Professional Position within the Team
During a previous article on Our Website, I presented the ASK guide, emphasizing German philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamer's belief that when there isn't a learning method for raising questions, what truly matters is our willingness to acknowledge that there's something we don't know.
However, anthropologist Esther N. Goody highlights that knowledge is perceived as power in many societies, so openly acknowledging ignorance by asking questions may appear as relinquishing our position and devaluing our influence.
Moreover, when we, like Eve, have been employing our expertise in the same company or industry for an extended time, others anticipate and rely on our competence.
Fortunately, our proficiency does not contradict admitting our shortcomings. In fact, the optimal questions emerge from a thorough understanding of the subject, allowing us to recognize what's missing or needs improvement.
Therefore, to conquer the fear of losing our status, we mustn't refrain from asking questions that may cast doubt upon our competence. Instead, we should identify what others need to know to grasp the significance of our query, and share this knowledge to persuade them of our motivation to question.
2. Inquiring Risks Straining Our Relationships with the Other Team Members
Goody describes the act of questioning as follows: "Questioning involves not only requesting information but also carries an imperative function. Questions are speech acts that bring two people into direct, immediate interaction. In doing so, they convey messages about relationships, relative status, assertions of status, and challenges to status."
Questioning and answering is inherently a game of power. If we uncertain about how to navigate it, we'll not only be wary of losing our position, but also apprehensive about impacting our team's dynamics.
To tackle this fear, we must consider if our question is crucial to collective clarification or discussion. If the answer is no, it's not yet appropriate to raise the question. However, if the answer is yes, we must weigh the risk of not clarifying and discussing the question against the risk of questioning.
If the former overshadows the latter, we must ask the question despite our discomfort, ensuring we're not wasting anyone's time but helping everyone engage in what matters most.
3. Inquiring Risks Accommodating Our Responsibility to Contribute to a Common Goal
Although questioning enables us to consider, connect, and commit, we don't necessarily ask questions to contribute to a shared mission. Sometimes, as French philosopher Paul Ricoeur suggests, we ask questions to scrutinize the existing order. This means that raising questions can put a team or even an entire organization's stability and security on the line.
However, posing questions is essential for individuals, groups, and organizations to renew themselves and assume their role in shaping the future, rather than merely adapting to the constantly transforming world. To conquer the fear of questioning, we must keep in mind that the risk of not asking questions is often greater than the risk of doing so.
By avoiding questions, we can minimize the risk of appearing uninformed, wasting others' time, and assuming responsibilities beyond our scope. Nevertheless, we escalate the risk of crucial knowledge not being shared, significant issues not being clarified, and no one taking responsibility for shaping our collective destiny.
Instead of surrendering to a vague apprehension about inquiring, we need to examine the tangible dangers of inquiring and not inquiring in the scenarios we encounter. Initially, it's imperative to recall and reassure ourselves, as well as others, that though the intimidating inquiries of 2025 might appear daunting, we are all engaged in the realm of questioning where power is shared.
In the context of the text, Eve's reluctance to speak up and ask questions in her workplace could be attributed to her fear of asking questions, particularly due to the fear of undermining her position or straining her relationships with her colleagues. Despite recognizing that questioning is essential to clarify and contribute to a shared goal, she may be overwhelmed by the imagined risks associated with inquiring. Furthermore, the fear of asking questions in a larger societal context, such as the 'fear of asking questions' in large-enrollment courses, can also be a significant barrier that hinders open discussions and critical thinking, contributing to the 'fear of the unknown' and 'fear of voicing unpopular opinions'.