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A "Secondary Asking Process", being mostly non-verbal, is part of inquiry and reflection.  These are critical when associated with the actions within an enterprise.  It is from asking, questioning, inquiry, and reflection (all similar) that learning not only is initiated but also continued!  For it is part of the human experience, from infancy, that while feedback supports learning it is asking, mostly through thoughts and emotions, that initiates and continues our learning in all areas. 

Associates on the frontlines of daily operations receive most of their feedback from supervisors and colleagues.  Even if the feedback is from customers (real or outsourced) it more often than not comes to the associate this way through programs.  Feedback from colleagues and supervisors is important especially in maintaining discipline and structure but we find it is often overused as a solution to operational problems.  For instance, additional customer focus feedback is often provided if a team is making errors in executing services or even as a precaution.  For long-term results. we believe the solution of first choice is to involve the associates in the asking process through activities which develop reflection and inquiry for all of their important other activities which are responsible for the desirable results.

Our findings suggest that this is the missing link in daily operations.  Long-term customer focus, learning, and commitments on the part of frontline associates cannot develop without leading activities (mostly non-verbal and unconscious) of asking/questioning/inquiry/reflection.  In fact, these activities by frontline leaders provide associates a third (in addition to feedback from colleagues and supervisors) and often missing feedback--that from their own daily activities.

Henry Mintzberg points out the importance of actions and reflection in the Harvard Business Review: 

These days, what managers desperately need is to stop and think, to step back and reflect thoughtfully on their experiences. Indeed, in his book Rules for Radicals, Saul Alinsky makes the interesting point that events, or "happenings," become experience only after they have been reflected upon thoughtfully: "Most people do not accumulate a body of experience. Most people go through life undergoing a series of happenings, which pass through their systems undigested. Happenings become experiences when they are digested, when they are reflected on, related to general patterns, and synthesized."

These observations parallel Dr. Deming's observation--the recognized father of TQM although he didn't use the term:

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© George Reavis - george@thankingcustomers.com

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