I sat back. Roy sat back. “In what way can I challenge their thinking without telling them they are wrong,” he repeated, to himself.

“Well?” I waited.

“Okay, I guess I could ask them questions about how they arrived at their conclusion.”

“And what else?” I prodded.

“You mean you want me to think of more ways to challenge them?” Roy chided.

“Sure. What if the first way doesn’t work? You are a manager. You need more than one way to move your team.”

It took another ten minutes, but here is the list Roy came up with.

“I can ask them –

• What they saw that led them to that solution?
• What they heard that led them to that solution?
• To describe the impact of their solution after a week?
• To go away and come back with three other alternative solutions?
• If their solution solves the real problem or only a symptom of the problem?
• What is the underlying cause of the problem we are trying to solve?

There are many ways to bring value to your team. The most effective is by asking questions that move them to solve problems in different ways.