In our work life today, we are used to delivering solutions to problems as quickly as possible. As a result, when we are asked for help by an employee or colleague, we jump right in and offer solutions. Of course, depending on the situation, offering an immediate answer might be the right thing to do. But actually, would it not be even better to help the person learn how to approach the problem so they are able to solve a similar situation by themselves the next time round?
You might not have the time for an in-depth discussion, but you can give them a couple of things to think about. Sometimes the questions are blindingly obvious, but in our quest to offer a solution ourselves, we remove the opportunity for the other person to learn. I’ve pulled together some of my favourite fast-results questions. Even asking one of the questions below as you are meeting at the water-cooler can help get closer to the solution.
In fact, I find them so effective, I even ask myself these questions when I get stuck trying to solve a problem!
1) What problem are you trying to solve? People who come asking for advice are not always as concise as we’d like them to be! This question helps distill the actual issue out of what is often a fairly lengthy explanation of what they believe the problem is. Once they know what the actual problem is – and it might be different from what they originally started out from – it becomes easier to work on next steps.
2) What is the end-state you are aiming for? Does the person actually know what they want to achieve? What kind of a solution would they be satisfied with? Knowing what situation they want to get to will help them map out their own path to get there.
3) What ideas do you have for solving the issue? Here you can explore what the person has tried already and they can brainstorm new ideas? Sometimes just asking them the question can help them come up with their own solution, or prompt them to verbalise an idea that they already had.
4) What’s stopping you implement the solution? I find this one particularly interesting – often the person will know exactly what it is they want to achieve, but find themselves blocked in one way or another. This question gets them thinking about roadblocks and how they can remove them. (Incidentally, there is a great book by Nancy Kline called “Time to Think” that outlines a process for removing blockers, which well worth a read if you want to get deeper into the topic.)
Obviously for long-lasting results and behavioural change, you would want to spend more time on the coaching process, but sometimes even 60 seconds are long enough to help a person get back on track!
I’ve only shared a few of many possible questions here and I’d love to hear from you – what is your favourite 60-second learning question?
