The Question Code by Andrew Laurie

Author:Andrew Laurie
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Impact Press

When to use open and difficult questions

Helping someone to make a substantial change to their behaviour is perhaps where this technique of finding someone’s kidneys is most commonly required. As a professional coach, it can be invaluable. As a manager developing their team, likewise. For example, when speaking with Bob about adopting the correct sales process, John might have started with the open question, ‘Tell me about your sales conversion over the last few months, Bob.’ He could then have been slightly more directive with a question such as, ‘Which parts of our company sales process have been working best for you?’

If Bob had not been using the company sales process, this would likely be a short answer. (He’s found Bob’s kidneys!) John might then follow up with questions such as, ‘What impact on the business will it have if you keep going like that? What do you think the impact will be on you, your bonus and even your future here?’ And now Bob’s kidneys are bleeding! Pain relief can then be provided through a question such as, ‘How might you go about addressing this and improving that outlook?’ I make light of a serious subject here, but this is all done in an attempt to assist Bob in becoming more successful — something that is surely in his best interest.

Similarly, in some sales situations, where substantial change is required from the prospective buyer, the use of such kidney questions can assist in helping the prospect to recognise their own need for change. For example, when John was meeting with Alex, the bank CIO, John should have asked open questions about the bank’s current systems to identify any problems or areas in which John’s system would provide a better solution. Upon finding such a problem area, John could then have dug deeper with questions such as, ‘How much is that problem currently costing the bank?’, ‘What will be the impact if that problem continues for another year or two?’ Or even, ‘How is that problem impacting you personally, Alex?’ Such kidney questions would likely have helped Alex to recognise the value in exploring a different system. They would almost certainly have been more effective than John’s approach of just telling Alex about his product and its qualities.

From building a successful coaching business, I learned that for us to be able to help someone, we had to help them recognise their problems before they had any chance of solving them. Kidney questions were often the best way to enable that. Yes, it would be momentarily awkward, even painful, but it was always done with the positive intention of enabling us to help them.

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