by Robb Hiller
Discovery Questions: Identification, Information, Impact
Discovery questions are the first step toward getting us unstuck. They begin the process of specifically naming the problem or challenge ahead of us (identification), along with conducting an inventory of the resources we possess, as well as those we lack, for solving the issue (information). And they help us to determine the scope of the situation and how much of our energy to devote to solving it (impact).
Your DIP Tool
Goal of Questions
How to Start
Discovery Questions
Gain clarity
Increase understanding
Stop confusion
Build trust
Ask questions that start with what or how.
When I was a teenager, my dad owned a movie theater in our hometown of Marshall, a hub of southwestern Minnesota located two and a half hours from the Twin Cities. My dad sometimes took me along to the booking office in downtown Minneapolis where major film companies marketed their new films to theater owners.
In one instance, Dad and I sat in a big conference room waiting for a 20th Century Fox executive. A big man wearing a shirt embroidered with the Fox logo eventually appeared.
Dad was there to negotiate the release date for a promising new movie, The Sound of Music starring Julie Andrews. Fox had planned to premiere the movie in the Twin Cities and add theaters in outlying areas much later. Dad sensed the movie would be a huge hit, and he wanted it in Marshall on release day.
I listened closely as Dad asked the Fox executive a series of questions, starting with “What are your sales goals for the state of Minnesota?” That was a great discovery question. Get the facts out on the table!
The executive sat back in his chair. He grabbed a pencil and paper and did some math. After a bit, he turned to dad and gave him a big number that drew a smile from both men.
“How soon are you expecting to hit those numbers?” Dad asked next. He was forming an idea in his mind, but he needed accurate information to discern if it was even possible. I don’t remember the man’s response, but it seemed ambitious.
“How will you ever get to that number by opening at just a few theaters here in the Twin Cities?” Dad continued. The Fox man’s response reeked of doubt.
My dad was a great businessman, and he immediately saw a window of opportunity. He asked, “How would you like to assure your studio that by adding the entire southwestern part of the state with Marshall, you will guarantee your success?”
Dad’s biggest theater held more than seven hundred people, and he thought he could fill it most nights. Dad really wanted this potential blockbuster film, so he asked one final question: “Would seven hundred extra seats a night help you toward your goal?”
The conversation turned to negotiating terms of a contract, which came with the tough provision that the studio would keep 90 percent of the box office receipts for the first two weeks, along with an up-front payment of $10,000.
Dad had a deal.
My father told me on the way home that this would be the biggest hit ever. As it turned out, Marshall was the only outstate theater that opened with The Sound of Music at the same time as the big Minneapolis venues. The film became an all-time box office hit across the world. It won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and even today, it’s one of the most beloved musical films ever produced. Dad’s theater played this wonderful film not only one month, but an additional month plus, selling out every night. As one of the theater staff working for my dad, I saw the film fifty-two times, and I still get chills every time I hear the song “Climb Every Mountain.”
I smile when I think about how my father used discovery questions to unearth key information about what mattered to the studio. Watching my dad showed me how to help people and organizations by acting on what he had long known: discovery questions can open the windows of heaven!
BUILD TRUST
In addition to gaining clarity, discovery questions lower defenses and build trust among everyone involved in a conversation.
Consider what happened when one of my kids came home with a D and an Incomplete on a report card. What was my Father Knows Best reply? I saw the bad grades and blurted out, “What in the heck is going on? Why did you get a D in one subject and an Incomplete in another?” I received a defensive response. “I didn’t turn in some assignments and forgot to study for our big test. I just had too many things going on!”
Maybe you can relate.
Let’s go back in time and examine what I’d say now using the Power of 3. My discovery questions might look like this: “What happened in these two classes? How do you feel about a D and an Incomplete? What are some of the consequences of not doing well in these classes? What steps do you want to take to move ahead?”
I wish I had fully understood this principle when my children were young. I would have been a better, more relaxed parent, and I could have avoided a lot of the unneeded stress that comes from raising kids. If I’d asked far more how and what questions, it would have been easier for my children to see me as a trusted ally. I know the tension in the house would have been diminished!
Asking discovery questions often helps us find common ground with those we disagree with, which is helpful in both work and personal relationships.
Whenever I tell my wife what I think she needs to do versus asking a question, it never works. Pam’s response is usually seen in her face with a frowning eyebrow and tight lips saying silently, Are you kidding? Sometimes it is just a simple statement—“No.” The same holds true in coaching or in sales. People don’t want to be sold or told what to do; they want to sell themselves for the reasons that are important to them. Then they will be happy in their decision!
We might ask ourselves, What is driving the other person’s point of view? What is behind my view? What assumptions are we each operating under? Michael Corning, a Microsoft engineer, says that a single question has often shifted his perspective when he faces conflict both at the office and at home: “What are the odds I’m wrong?”[1]
Finding common ground enables us to connect. When the aim is to connect with family, it may require asking questions together. Bruce Feiler, author of The Secrets of Happy Families, and his family improved communication at home by considering three questions together each week: “What went well in the family this past week? What could we do better? What things will we commit to working on in the coming week?”[2] By regularly affirming their mutual strengths and coming up with mutual goals, the Feilers developed a deeper bond and a shared vision for the future.
PRACTICE DISCOVERY QUESTIONS
Discovery questions are exceedingly powerful. As you frame your own questions, it’s helpful to think of them in three key categories to take inventory of your situation and uncover the facts you need to move forward:
Identification (What is the primary issue?)
Information (What do I know about this problem? What additional information do I need? How have other people successfully dealt with this issue?)
Impact (Why does this matter? What will happen if I can solve this problem? What will happen if I can’t?)
Innovative Questions: Let Go of Limits
I saw the power of discovery questions during my dad’s meeting with the Fox executive. He asked himself, Is there a way to change this plan that will help Fox and also benefit our theater? It led to this innovative question from my dad: “What if I could guarantee you an extra seven hundred seats a night?”
The next tool in your DIP toolbox is innovative questions. Innovative questions allow us to reexamine our challenges from a new perspective. Asking What if? leads to imagination and possibilities. It taps into our creative and intuitive sides—and often, what is in our hearts. It leads us away from being stuck. What if? questions often show us how to connect ideas and methods that at first don’t seem to go together. Innovative questions move us from theory and brainstorming to practical and sometimes astounding results.
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br /> Your DIP Tool
Goal of Questions
How to Start
Innovative Questions
Explore creative options for next step
Ask questions that start with what if, how, what, when, and where.
Ask direct questions that open possibilities.
Innovative questions can begin with how as well, and they can also be direct questions where you are looking to encourage someone or find a new pathway of thinking or creative options to act on.
But the most powerful innovative questions begin with What if?
Jacqueline Novogratz worked for a nonprofit that made microloans to female entrepreneurs around the world. Her organization sent her to Africa, where she began imagining a venture fund that would back entrepreneurs trying to start new businesses, create jobs, and solve everyday problems in the developing world. Her idea was inspired by the question, “What if we could invest as a means and not as an end?” and has led her to a multitude of investors and successful projects.
Similarly, when San Francisco roommates Joe Gebbia and Brian Chesky worried about having enough funds to pay the rent, they put out three air mattresses and rented space in their apartment for a modest fee to out-of-towners visiting for a conference. Everyone enjoyed the experience. Then came their right question: “What if we could create this same experience in every major city?” It inspired them to form the online hospitality service Airbnb. Today, Gebbia and Chesky aren’t exactly worried about scraping together rent money!
Innovative questions change your perspective. Just as important is their power to shift the perspective of the people around you. This is one of the most important ways to build your skills as a pacesetter, coach, influencer, and leader.
That was never more apparent to me than on an early morning shortly after my initial cancer diagnosis. I was wheeled into an operating room for surgery to remove lymph nodes from my neck and get a better understanding of the extent of my cancer. At this point I knew I had lymphoma—but how bad? How would we treat it? What were my chances of survival? The surgery would reveal the answers to all these questions.
Nobody enjoys being operated on. But I wanted this procedure done. Now. I needed to know what I was up against.
I was stretched out on a table being prepped, with a light shining down and three people hovering above me. A nurse inserted an IV, the anesthesiologist asked a few questions, and then we waited for the surgeon to arrive.
We continued waiting. And then we waited some more.
“It’s unusual for the doctor to be late,” one of the staff said. I sensed the surgical team growing uptight. Finally, thirty minutes later, the doctor rushed into the room. With worry etched on her face and tension in her voice, she apologized profusely and explained that her previous case had stretched far beyond what was expected.
I was concerned about my doctor. My situation was bad enough. I wasn’t sure I wanted a rattled surgeon wielding sharp instruments on my neck. I thought, What if I lifted the mood? I decided it was time for an innovative question.
“Doctor,” I said, “do you believe in God?” That caught her by surprise. With a thoughtful look, she replied, “Yes, I do.” I smiled and said, “No worries here. My wife and I have already prayed that your gift will be used in a mighty way and that everything will turn out just the way it’s supposed to: perfect. You’ll do great.” My surgeon’s face transformed before my eyes. Grim tightness was replaced by relaxation. “Thank you so much,” she said. “I know it will.” The smiles on the other faces in the room told me the atmosphere had shifted for everyone—including me!—all because of the power of an innovative question that drew out a positive response and a sense of peace.
The power of asking innovative questions can’t be overstated. It has the potential to turn negative attitudes into positive ones, both for you and for the people around you. It leads to relevant information and solutions instead of blaming. It opens doors to new paths when it seems you are stuck.
In my career, one of the first places I noticed the power of innovative questions was during leadership classes I conducted with an insurance firm. It started with discovery questions that helped staff identify a critical problem: their claims process involved too many steps and took too long, frustrating their clients and costing the firm’s staff time and money.
Then I led them through a creative method that inspired new ideas. I asked innovative questions like these:
What if we could cut our claims review cycle of twenty-two days down to six days?
We could do this if we did . . . what?
These innovative questions and answers eventually allowed the company to cut the number of days in the claims process from twenty-two to six, reducing staff time significantly and eventually saving the company more than a million dollars over the following year.
PRACTICE INNOVATIVE QUESTIONS
You can do your own innovative-thinking exercise based on the process I’ve used with clients.
State your goal in the form of a question, like “We could improve our response time to customer complaints by 50 percent if we did what?”
Now continue by simply asking, “We can have happier customers if we increase our response time by 50 percent by doing what?” List all answers in a ten- to fifteen-minute time frame and keep listing any idea without judging the suggestion. From that list, pick the top five ideas that you like, and talk through the possibilities that have the potential to really solve the problem.
By using this process, you’ll generate your own creative ideas for solving critical problems in your life and at work.
Proactive Questions: From Information to Action
Discovery questions provide information. Innovative questions lead to potential new approaches. Proactive questions enable us to apply what we’ve learned.
Your DIP Tool
Goal of Questions
How to Start
Proactive Questions
Help you move ahead through thinking about actions
Reduce fear
Consider the outcomes you want
Ask questions that start with what.
Ask direct questions that focus on concrete next steps.
Many people are natural researchers or creative thinkers. They love the process of gathering information and generating ideas. Only when they pursue questions that lead to action, however, will all of that information and all of those ideas be put to good use.
I’ve seen over and over that it’s the combination of discovery, innovative, and proactive questions that leads to success.
Consider these examples:
My dad’s discovery and innovative questions during our meeting with the Fox executive led to practical, proactive questions about how they might implement Dad’s idea for our theater to be included in the initial release of The Sound of Music.
My response to my child’s poor grades in two classes could have been different. After asking a few discovery and innovative questions, I could have followed up with proactive queries such as “How could you put your new plan in motion? What would be a logical first step to bring up your grades? Is there any way I can help?”
Discovery and innovative questions revealed the insurance company’s biggest problems with the slow claims process and possible solutions, but proactive questions identified which solutions were most practical and likely to succeed.
Proactive questions became immensely important as I battled cancer. As I started my first chemotherapy treatment, I had no idea what to expect.
I was led to a small, private room that had lots of bags of fluid and a big comfortable chair that could recline like a La-Z-Boy. Soon afterward a nurse inserted a large needle in my arm so that I could receive the five chemo drugs and reminded me that this first course could cause some side effects. The staff would monitor me closely, and I was told that if I felt lightheaded or had difficulty breathing to please let them know. I thought to myself, What am I about to do?
The nurse began the first chemo drug, and about an hour in, I felt lightheaded, and my throat was getting awfully tight. I immediately hit my red call button and shared with the nurse what I was experiencing. She slowed the flow of the drug, but it didn’t help. She promised to call the doctor so she could give me a separate injection to counter the side effects happening in my body.
As we learn more information with discovery questions and ask innovative questions that can potentially lead to a better tomorrow, proactive questions are a wonderful tool to help us find practical steps we can take immediately.
I asked myself a proactive question then: What can I do right now to make my situation even a little bit better? The only thing I could think of was praying that this remedy would work. You see, if my body resisted the chemo, I might not be able to take this treatment at all. At this point, I wanted the best chance of living, and the doctor said this was my best chance. So Pam and I asked God to help. Within fifteen minutes or so, I started to feel better, and my throat and breathing returned to normal.
By about three in the afternoon, I was tired of feeling weird and having one bag of chemo after the next. I began to ask myself the same question: What can I do right now to help myself? This led me to think of lying on my bed and looking up and out at the beautiful, sunny room that was vaulted and spacious. As I put my mind into that comforting space, the strange feeling subsided so I could continue.