What's in a Question?

Written by Cindy Leavitt

One of the most useful and perspective-changing trainings that I ever went through was “Managing to Learn” where I learned the A3 management process that is foundational in Lean Management. For IT folks, it is helpful to understand that Agile Programming and DevOps are based on Lean Management theory. A foundational Lean Management philosophy is that a manager’s job is to help their team members develop clarity of thinking and strategy by asking open-ended questions that probe the thought process of the other person without trying to guide them.  

The goal of the training was to be able to create a one-page A3 strategy map that started with a one-sentence description of the problem each participant was trying to solve. Distilling a problem into a single sentence is extraordinarily difficult to do. Answering the question, “what problem am I trying to solve?’ is a way to better understand the core problem and examine assumptions so that you do not immediately move to solutions.

I have heard many leaders opine that the answer is in the room and that the leader's job is to uncover the answer. This is not what I believed or practiced early in my leadership journey. I thought it was my job as the leader to have the answer, define a solution and drive everyone toward it.  

Personally, it was illuminating for me to understand how often I was using closed-ended questions to guide other person to my solution rather than actively supporting them in identifying the core problem and developing a solution that would work for them and their team. At home, I realized that I was asking my children leading questions most of the time without any awareness.

What I learned through painful experience was that driving my solution and vision without meaningful input from others wasn’t very effective. It built resistance and compliance rather than cooperation and engagement. One of the most powerful tools we have as leaders are open-ended questions that invite others to identify which problem we need to solve and co-create a solution.

The questions we ask are clues to our mindset and markers to others about whether we want their true input and ideas or if we just want them to agree with us. A great podcast on the subject is Design Thinking 101: User Research and Asking Better Questions with Michele Ronsen. 

My challenge to you this week is to try to shift your questions from closed-ended to open-ended and see what you learn. I would love to hear about your experiences.