Establishing an Ask Anything Culture

By Rose O. Sherman, EdD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN

I have been surprised by how many nurse leaders have recently told me they are having trouble getting staff to speak up and ask questions. As one leader explained it to me:

I am not sure what is going on. I used to not be able to suppress my staff’s curiosity. They asked so many questions. I tell my new grads today that my door is always open and that they should ask questions whenever they aren’t sure. But they don’t ask. They either struggle in silence, look things up on their phones, or make an avoidable error because they didn’t want to bother anyone. I am not sure what is going on, but people are speaking up less and asking far fewer questions. It worries me. How do I build a culture where my staff feels more comfortable asking questions? 

It is easy to misinterpret this hesitation as indifference, overconfidence, or disengagement. But for many younger nurses, particularly Gen Z and recent graduates entering complex, high-acuity environments, the reluctance to speak up rarely comes from a lack of care. It comes from fear, self-doubt, and what they see as the unspoken rules of hospital culture.

 Why They Don’t Ask 

If we want new nurses to ask questions, we have to understand what it costs them emotionally to do so:

1. The “Imposter Syndrome” Trap: New graduates are terrified of looking incompetent. Many worry that asking a foundational question will confirm a preceptor’s or manager’s suspicion that they “aren’t cut out for this.”

2. Fear of Being a Burden: Today’s healthcare environment is chronically busy and short-staffed. Younger nurses see their colleagues running at full capacity and genuinely do not want to add to another nurse’s heavy workload.

3. Digital Reflexes vs. In-Person Inquiry: As digital natives, younger generations are accustomed to finding answers instantly on their own devices without risking social awkwardness or perceived judgment. In a hospital, however, relying on quick online searches can never replace contextual, clinical wisdom.

4. The Ghost of “Nurses Eating Their Young”: Even if your unit is warm and supportive, nursing school lore warned them about toxic workplace dynamics. A single eye-roll, sigh, or curt response from a senior peer during a stressful shift can permanently close the door to future inquiries.

Telling staff, “You can ask me anything,” puts the burden of vulnerability on the least powerful person in the room. An “Ask Anything” culture isn’t created by passive availability; it requires deliberate, proactive leadership behaviors. Here are four concrete strategies nurse leaders and charge nurses can use to make speaking up natural and expected:

1. Frame Questions as a Sign of Safety

Flip the script during onboarding, daily huddles, and 1:1 check-ins. Make it clear that a nurse who never asks questions is a major safety concern, while a nurse who asks frequently is demonstrating clinical vigilance.

• Try saying: “In our unit, the strongest nurses are the ones who verify and clarify. If you aren’t asking 5–10 questions a shift right now, you’re carrying too much in your head.”

2. Reframe How You Ask Questions

When senior nurses or preceptors ask, “Do you have any questions?” the default answer from an anxious novice is almost always “No, I’m good.” Closed questions create pressure to appear in control.

• Shift to targeted prompts:

  • “What is not clear to you in this patient’s care plan today?”

  • “What is one thing you’d like us to double-check together before the patient is discharged?”

  • “If this patient’s blood pressure drops, what is your immediate next move?”

3. Show Vulnerability as a Leader

When was the last time your experienced nurses or leaders openly admitted they didn’t know something? When leaders model curiosity, it removes the stigma of not knowing. Encourage preceptors and charge nurses to say out loud: “I haven’t seen this protocol in a while—let’s look it up together,” or “I made a mistake like that early in my career, here’s what I learned.”

4. Designate Times for Question Asking

Designate intentional moments where asking is expected rather than requested.

• The Post-Huddle Micro-Check: Dedicate 60 seconds after shift change for the charge nurse to ask: “Does anyone have a gut feeling or question about an assignment they want a second set of eyes on?”

• The “Question of the Day” Board: Put up a white dry-erase space in the breakroom where staff can write clinical questions or procedural doubts anonymously for the clinical educator or manager to answer without judgment.

New nurses will not speak up simply because we give them permission. They speak up when they feel psychologically safe and when they trust that admitting what they don’t know will be met with coaching rather than criticism. When we intentionally replace the fear of being seen as incompetent with a culture of curiosity, we don’t just protect our patients; we develop our next generation of nurses into strong critical thinkers.