A one-word fix for your questions

Bob Tiede Nov. 29, 2020

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When you think of the word "might," what comes to mind?

• Physical strength?
• Military strength?
• Financial strength?
• Verbal strength?
• Leadership strength?

Definitely not the first three! Perhaps it does relate to verbal and leadership strengths—but not the way you're thinking.

Take a careful look at these two questions:

• What should we do to fix this?
• What might we do to fix this?

What's the difference?

Yes, "should" in the first sentence has been replaced by "might" in the second.

When you ask your team, "What should we do to fix this?" might they feel that they must come up with the right answer before they speak? Might they be concerned that the immediate response to their answer will be, "That will never work!"

However, when you ask your team "What might we do to fix this?"— might they be much more comfortable simply sharing possible fixes?

Which of these two questions might increase the possibilities of your team finding a fix for whatever is broken? Other examples:

Do you now see the power of "might?"

It sets people free to verbalize multiple possibilities, and just might dramatically increase the probability of your team finding a solution.

Excerpted from Now That's a Great Question by Bob Tiede, which you can download for free at LeadingWithQuestions.com/resources.

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Bob Tiede helps leaders everywhere move from telling to asking. He has been on the staff of Cru for 48 years and on the U.S. Leadership Development Team for 16 years. His blog, LeadingWithQuestions.com is followed by leaders in over 190 countries. Bob has written three eBooks available for free download, Great Leaders ASK Questions, 339 Questions Jesus Asked and Now That's a Great Question. Learn More »

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