Questions to get you unstuck…
By: Tom Connor
Tags: Leadership, Blog, Tom Connor, Creativity, Innovation

Warren Berger writes in his book and blog “A Beautiful Question”

A beautiful question is an ambitious yet actionable question that can begin to shift the way we perceive or think about something — and that might serve as a catalyst to bring about change.

Further the World Cafe Organisation identifies a powerful question as one that:

Is thought provoking

Challenges assumptions

Generates Energy

Focuses enquiry and reflection

Touches a deeper meaning

Evokes related questions

Here is an eclectic collection of great questions, accumulated from numerous sources over the years. I’d love to see any good ones you have..

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If we were meeting three years from today — and you were to look back over those three years to today — what has to have happened during that period, both personally and professionally, for you to feel happy about your progress? Specifically, what dangers do you have now that need to be eliminated, what opportunities need to be captured, and what strengths need to be maximized?

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Amy Edmondson — The Fearless organisation — (Chapter 7)

To broaden understanding of a situation or expand an option set, ask,

“what might we be missing?”,

“what other ideas could we generate?”, or

“who has a different perspective?”

Other questions are designed to deepen understanding. Ask,

“what leads you to think so?” or

“can you give me an example?”

When we’re discussing an idea,

“What did the dissenter say?” If there isn’t one then you need to go out and find them!

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Better questions = better decisions

Who need to benefit from our decision? How?

What else would we need to know to be more confident of this decision?

Who are the people affected by this decision; who have the least power to influence it?

How much of this decision must we make today?

Why is this important? and what’s important about that?

If we had infinite resources — time, money, people — what would we do? What would we do if we had none?

What are the reasons this is the right decision? What are all the reasons it is the wrong decision?

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What’s a book that changed your life?

What book do you wish you read earlier in life?”

“What book shaped your career as a _______ more than any other?”

“Is there a book out there that really changed your mind?”

“I’m dealing with ___________ right now; what authors would you recommend on that topic?”

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4 questions of a Leader — Abhijit Bhaduri

Am I a barrier buster? What roadblocks can I remove to make them better and their jobs easier

Am I a bouncing board? Can they come to me with their ideas?

Am I providing air cover? Do I have their back?

How can I run with the troops to make them more effective?

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Question #1: How can I create an environment for people to do their best work?

Question #2: How can I create as much clarity and coherence about what needs to get done and why?

Question #3: How can I personally model the behavior I want to be true across my team?

Question #4: How can I see things for what they are, instead of what I want them to be?

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Don’t Just Ask — “What’s the Matter?” Ask “What Matters to you?”

Chip and Dan Heath

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Seth Godin — This is Marketing

A Simple Marketing Worksheet — people like us do things like this

Who’s it for?

What’s it for?

What is the worldview of the audience you’re seeking to reach?

What are they afraid of?

What story will you tell? Is it true?

What change are you seeking to make?

How will it change their status?

How will you reach the early adopters and neophiliacs?

Why will they tell their friends?

What will they tell their friends?

Where’s the network effect that will propel this forward?

What asset are you building?

Are you proud of it?

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Tara Gentile — How can you do it quicker?

What would you have to do differently to reach your goal for this entire year in the next 6 weeks, without working more?

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“What else?” used at the end of most answers will evoke more. Plain silence, while allowing a coach to think, often evokes more too.

“If you knew the answer what would it be?” is not as daft as it sounds, since it enables the coachee to look beyond the blockage.

“What would the consequences of that be for you or for others?”

“What criteria are you using?”

“What is the hardest/most challenging part of this for you?”

“What advice would you give to a friend in your situation?”

“Imagine having a dialog with the wisest person you know or can think of. What would he or she tell you to do?”

“I don’t know where to go next with this. Where would you go?”

“What would you gain/lose by doing/saying that?”

“If someone said/did that to you, what would you feel/think/do?”

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What if I did the opposite for 48 hours? What do I spend a silly amount of money on? How might I scratch my own itch? What would I do/have/be if I had $10 million? What’s my real TMI? What are the worst things that could happen? Could I get back here? If I could only work 2 hours per week on my business, what would I do? What if I let them make decisions up to $100? $500? $1,000? What’s the least crowded channel? What if I couldn’t pitch my product directly? What if I created my own real-world MBA? Do I need to make it back the way I lost it? What if I could only subtract to solve problems? What might I put in place to allow me to go off the grid for 4 to 8 weeks, with no phone or email? Am I hunting antelope or field mice? Could it be that everything is fine and complete as is? What would this look like if it were easy? How can I throw money at this problem? How can I “waste” money to improve the quality of my life? No hurry, no pause.

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“What important truth do very few people agree with you on?”

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Purpose — what to you want to accomplish Importance — whats the biggest difference this will make Ideal outcome — what does the completed project look like Success criteria — what has to be true when the project is finished What is the best result if you do take action What is the worst result if you don’t

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Accidental Creative — Todd Henry

Phrasing your problem as a question immediately gets your mind working on solutions rather than on the pragmatics associated with the project.

Future . What would a solution to this problem look like? What would it feel like? What is the ultimate state that would describe that the problem has been solved? Write a few words, then start generating ideas off of them.

. What would a solution to this problem look like? What would it feel like? What is the ultimate state that would describe that the problem has been solved? Write a few words, then start generating ideas off of them. Past . What are some assumptions that are presently keeping us in gridlock around this problem? Are there any assumptions that need to be challenged or that could serve as a starting point for idea generation? Try to challenge one of these assumptions by generating ideas designed to disprove it.

. What are some assumptions that are presently keeping us in gridlock around this problem? Are there any assumptions that need to be challenged or that could serve as a starting point for idea generation? Try to challenge one of these assumptions by generating ideas designed to disprove it. Conceptual . What are other problems and corresponding solutions that I know of that are similar to this one? Are there any learnings from case studies or other items I’ve been exposed to that could apply to this problem? Try to force a connection between something you’re familiar with and the problem you’re currently working on.

. What are other problems and corresponding solutions that I know of that are similar to this one? Are there any learnings from case studies or other items I’ve been exposed to that could apply to this problem? Try to force a connection between something you’re familiar with and the problem you’re currently working on. Concrete . What are the specific and concrete attributes of the problem? Can the problem be broken down into three words? If so, do these words give me a new way of perceiving or attacking the problem? Free-associate new words off these concrete attributes and see if they spark any new ideas.

. What are the specific and concrete attributes of the problem? Can the problem be broken down into three words? If so, do these words give me a new way of perceiving or attacking the problem? Free-associate new words off these concrete attributes and see if they spark any new ideas. Once you’ve written ten to twelve words per column, start choosing two words, each from a different column, and see if an idea is sparked

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Dan Sullivan (Again!) — How far can I go?

I tell them that I’m not looking for an answer; I’m just following a question. No matter what level of success I’ve achieved, no matter how much [my career] has grown, when I’ve achieved a major life goal, the question always comes into my mind: Now I wonder how far I can go?

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Widen your options

Look for bright spots; Look across industry;

look at doing this AND that rather than this OR that

What would you do if your current option vanished?

Simplicity — how can you make this easier

10x your solution. Consider 10x based on impacting

the process outcome

the cost or value

the effort

The time

the perception — e.g. do nothing but sell it better.

Reality test

How can you find proof now your current decision is a terrible one?

Zoom out and look at the base rate;

how can you test the solution by ooching

Are you absolutely sure it is true?

Turnaround the statement to self, other, opposite.

Attain distance

What would your successor do?

6 months from now why would I regret this decision?

What needs to be true for this to be the best possible choice?

10/10/10 decision making

Prepare to be wrong

Its a year from now and it have failed utterly — Why?

What trip wires do you need to set to tell you to review or reconsider your option

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Dane Maxwell — Thefoundation.com Idea Extraction

What are the big projects you are working on right now? What seems to be taking up the most mental energy for you in the last couple days or weeks?

What are the first few things you do each morning? OR…

What are the first few things you’ve done TODAY.

What are the things that you love to do? When are you in flow?

What keeps you from being in flow.

You can do by repeating 2 simple phrases 1. “That’s interesting” 2. “Tell me more”

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BASIC CUSTOMER DEVELOPMENT QUESTIONS

Tell me about how you do _________ today….

Do you use any [tools/products/apps/tricks] to help you get ________ done?

If you could wave a magic wand and be able to do anything that you can’t do today, what would it be? Don’t worry about whether it’s possible, just anything.

Last time you did ___________, what were you doing right before you got started? Once you finished, what did you do afterward?

Is there anything else about _________ that I should have asked?”

“Can you tell me more about how that process goes?

Who is involved in making that decision?

Last time you did ______, how long did it take?

Where did you most recently go to buy ______?”

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Step 1: What tasks is the product really used for?

Step 2: When I know what task a product is really used for, are there any steps that I can remove from that task?

Step 3: What tasks are the very next tasks that the customer will want to perform after using my product?

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GOOD QUESTIONS — PD MRSA initiative:

What do you know about MRSA?

What do you do to prevent patients under your care from getting MRSA?

What are the barriers that keep you from doing it 100 percent of the time?

Do you know of anyone who has figured out strategies to overcome these challenges? If so, how?

Do you have any ideas about new strategies?

What would it take to implement them in this unit?

Who is willing to take the next steps

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Work through defining the following to clarify your position

Principles

Purpose — Why do we exist

People — Who is this for? What do they care about?

Personal — How can we change how people feel? How can we help then live better lives?

Perception — What do they believe? What do we want them to believe about us?

Product — What do people really want or need? How do we create value for our customers?

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Ask yourself these five fundamental questions for building effective hooks:

What do users really want? What pain is your product relieving? (Internal Trigger) What brings users to your service? (External Trigger) What is the simplest action users take in anticipation of reward, and how can you simplify your product to make this action easier? (Action) Are users fulfilled by the reward, yet left wanting more? (Variable Reward) What “bit of work” do users invest in your product? Does it load the next trigger and store value to improve the product with use? (Investment)

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