One of the toughest parts of being a new employee is the feeling of stupid.
In your first days in the new office, it is hard enough to memorize names, find the bathroom, get your computer working, and clean the cubicle that the previous tenant left filthy (not just dirty but filthy!). Now, you are expected to go to meetings and take part in the discussions without knowing much about the topic. I always hate that feeling of having no clue what the discussion is about and I don’t want to take the meeting off track asking stupid questions. Why are we discussing garbage bins behind the office? How does the new server affect the existing system?
Meeting rooms can turn into torture chambers. As you walk down the hall toward the meeting room, visions of demons living in the walls of those rooms occupy your mind. 
waiting to mock you as the CEO will be droning on and on and on and on…feeling of dread and nausea is not a good way to start a meeting.
I can hear the scoffers now. Most of the noise will be from men who will deny any of these feelings. Males excel in pretending that we are big, strong, and have no problems.
My experience in technology companies that it will be at least 3 months before I was independently working on projects and tasks. Not all businesses are this complicated but there will always a certain amount of time before you can become fruitful.
Don’t Be Pompous
I have seen too many new employees walk in and still glowing from the cheerleading their mommy gave them. “Son, you are the greatest, that company is so lucky to get you. In days you will have everything straightened out” In 5 days, all you can do is figure how to operate the conferencing system and getting your logins to work. Business domination is not even possible.
Asking Stupid Questions
No one likes to appear stupid but businesses are hurt because we don’t want to been seen as a dummy. We have all been in meetings where someone comes up with a question that stuns everyone with its stupidity. I am not advocating being stupid on purpose but there is great value in asking questions that no one else is asking.
Groupthink is very powerful and the desire to keep from straying from the current group mood is high. I can see a CEO who meets with his team early one morning and tells them they are going to build a ladder to the moon. Everyone scatters pricing land, steel, putting together a design team, looking into permit issues, etc. No one stops to ask “Why would we build a ladder to the moon?”
Not being afraid to ask that question is very important and needed by all management. Any leader in business (or any organization) that does not want the team to ask tough questions in a civil manner will be a failure. In fact, it would make sense to me for an executive to have at least one person on the team who is not afraid to say privately “What are you smoking?” Too many people are afraid of getting fired so I suspect there aren’t many executives who cultivate a person like that.
Catching Problems
Asking simple, basic questions can also catch significant problems. There are many monuments to stupid design (see these photos). Sometimes the most advanced experts cannot see a problem but a fresh set of inexperienced eyes can sometimes spot something others cannot. I have found problems in tech issues because I didn’t understand a design even though I was the least experienced person in the meeting. By asking “stupid” questions, I have discovered a problem sometimes that others didn’t. I wasn’t that smart…I just viewed the design in a simplistic manner with fresh eyes.
Go Forth and Ask Stupid Questions
Be brave and be bold in meetings. Carefully ask your questions so you don’t make them too idiotic. But, asking basic questions is always a good activity. You will frequently end up being embarrassed as someone will make an insulting remark to you. The benefits are worth any insults.
I have worked with upper management leaders that do that. We will be in a discussion of a deep issue and they will come back with a very basic question that goes to the heart of the problem.
It is a very effective tactic.