Two people were talking about an issue that had arisen on a project the other day.  They had different views on the situation, as people often do.  The two people were trying to convince everyone that their respective positions were THE right answer.  Before long, the people’s voices were raised and they stopped listening to each other.  They became more insistent about their positions.  Eventually, one of the people said, “just forget it.  It isn’t worth talking about.  You have your views, and I have mine.” 

This isn’t a big issue.  It happens all the time, in business and in life.  When people are convinced that they know THE answer, they face issues like this all the time.  How can the Socratic method help us approach problems?  What can we do to help people learn to deal with conflicts like this one?

Those are all wonderful questions.  They are questions that Frank Kanu, author of Stop Telling…  Start Leading!  The Art of Managing People by Asking Questions, would probably ask if we were to talk with him about an issue like that discussed above. 

Fundamentally, Frank’s book talks about the Socratic method.  The Socratic method is a common approach that is taught in law school.  Let’s think about how you might use this approach to help resolve issues.  Let’s also consider how we might help people learn to use questions.

Situation

Imagine you are facing an issue in which two people are having a conflict like the one described above.  How would you decide whether to get involved and to try to help them resolve the conflict? 

Hypothetically speaking, suppose that the factors that would lead you to become involved are present.  In this post, let’s look at a simple approach that you may find helpful.  To make it easier to actually apply the approach, I have spelled out a few questions that might be of interest at each stage of the process.

Approach

After you decide to become involved, you have to decide what to do.  As a starting point, it often helps to encourage the people to share their perspectives.  This might be done by asking questions, combined with sharing information.  In a business context, the discussion might include questions like:

1. I wonder if we might take a step back so that I can be sure that I am on the right page.  Please help me understand what has occurred. 
2. I know that you are concerned with ________________.  Can you help me understand why that it important?  What does that mean for us?
3. This project is going very well.  I know that both of you are doing a fantastic job to make that happen.  It has come to my attention that we seem to be facing some conflict with regard to how we can ___________.  Please help me understand what is occurring and your thoughts about what we can do to resolve the issues and move forward.   
4. It seems like there was an issue on an earlier project related to __________.  Do you remember how that issue was resolved?  I wonder if there is anyone who might be able to help us find out more about that situation.
5. What I am hearing you say is _____________________, Joe.  Am I hearing what you are saying?  Please correct me if I am misunderstanding because I want to be sure that I see the real situation from your perspective.  That is the only way that I can help you solve the real problem.
6. Joe, as I understand it, you are interested in ____________.  What does this really mean though?  Suppose that I were in Sue’s situation and that I had done what Sue’s team has done.  How would my actions have impacted your organization?  From the organization’s perspective, why would they be a problem?  

The discussion needs to be tailored to fit the fact situation.  Basically, the idea in having people share their perspectives is to allow the people (in this case Sue and Joe) to collect their thoughts and to take a step back.  It also gives you a chance to gather information about the situation and helps the people involved understand that they will have the chance to make their positions known.  At another level, the idea is to be sure that people understand you aren’t going to ram a solution down their throats, people are going to work together to resolve the issues in a way that actually does meet the needs that have been identified.

After you understand the situation from their perspectives, it is important to understand the parameters, constraints, requirements, and specifications related to the situation.  In discussing this issue, you might use questions like:

1. As I understand it, the project needs to be completed by ___________.  Can we work backwards up the timeline?  When does the stage in question need to be completed if this project is to meet the timeline?
2. I am wondering how the project is tracking with the budgets associated with the project.  Are the estimate that we have so far on target with what is actually needed for the project?  If we are exceeding budget, as we talk about issues, can you help us brainstorm options that will bring us back in line with the budgets?
3. What are the parameters that our solution needs to meet?  If we boil the issue down to brass tacks, what does it have to do and what constraints does it have to satisfy?
4. What steps can we take to make sure that issues are resolved so that they don’t impact the project’s success?
5. How can we deal with the issues that we are facing?

On a complex project, there can be a variety of issues that do arise unexpectedly.  If you focus on the event, there is little that you can do.  That is why I suggest focussing on the consequences.  To develop an approach for dealing with such contingencies, it can be helpful to ask questions such as: 

1. Suppose that the worst possible thing happens on the project at this point.  What would that look like?  If that were to happen, what would our options be?
2. It seems to me that we will be more successful if we identify the issues early in the cycle.  The sooner we know, the less waste there is and the less damage there is to our relationships.  With that in mind, I wonder if we can talk about the warning signs.  What are some signs that this or a similar issue is occurring, or is about to occur?  Who would see them?  What would they see? 
3. How did we discover this issue was occurring?  What were the warning signs that told us that there was a problem?
4. It is great that we were able to detect the issue when we did.  Going forward, I wonder if there are steps that we can take which would warn us that the issue is coming back or that a similar issue is arising earlier in the process.  What are your thoughts about this?
5. Please help me understand the processes being used on our project to identify and address issues.  Can we think about what is working in this area, and what might be improved?

When an issue arises and is resolved, think about what can be learned from the situation.  How often do you see people who forget the past as they move forward towards the future, only to repeat the issues?  The questions that might be of interest to you in this context include:

1. If we had to do this situation over again, what would we do the same?  What steps would we do differently?
2. The critical factor for us in this situation seems to have been ________.  In what other contexts can this factor be relevant?  Does this situation teach us anything about those situations?
3. What lessons have we learned as a result of this situation?
4. How can we use the lessons that we have learned in this situation to prevent issues on future projects?
5. Are there steps in our process that should be modified to incorporate the lessons that we have learned from this project?

Helping People Learn

One of the challenges that we encounter is that people are taught to give answers, rather than to ask questions.  As a result, encouraging questions requires us to help people “unlearn” behavior.  How can we do this?  Here are a few thoughts about this.  I welcome your feedback as well.

1. Ask questions in classes and have students tell each other and teachers what the answers are.  This makes the learning student-centric and allows students to add value to their own learning.  It also engages students in the learning.
2. Make learning a dialogue.  Both students and instructors should be learning from the exchange of ideas.
3. Encourage students to take chances in class.  Often, the biggest obstacle to a person’s success is not found in an external source, but within the person himself or herself.
4. Allow people to make mistakes, in class and in business.  Help them model the approach described above.
5. See learning and education as an activity in which each person takes ownership and works together to develop the necessary skills.
6. Treat students with respect.  Especially in training and higher education, students often have knowledge that they can share with each oher and with the instructors.  The key is to build the sort of environment in which students will choose to share their ideas.
7. See one goal as helping students develop their critical thinking skills.  Often, the students themselves are in the position to identify ways to do things better, faster, and at a lower cost.  This is true of management and future managers.  It is equally true of hourly employees.  As a result, it seems to make sense to encourage thinking, even in technical training and coursework. 

What are your thoughts about this issue?  Is it consistent with what works when you learn? 

Filed by Coleen Davis at 1:40 am under Business Tips, Negotiations, Tips for Students, Training