Episode 203 –Tap into Hidden Wisdom – How to Ask Better Questions

The podcast by project managers for project managers. This episode explores the art of asking effective questions. Author Jeff Wetzler offers practical advice for improving our skill at asking effective questions. The “Ask Approach" is Jeff’s five-step method designed to enhance anyone’s questioning skills, and he walks us through each step and presents questioning techniques we can all apply. Table of Contents 02:43 … Motivation for Ask03:56 … Why People Withhold Information05:17 … Barriers to Sharing07:40 … What We Say vs. What We Think09:53 … What People Withhold12:00 … Asking Superpowers14:17 … The Ask Approach16:00 … 1. Choose Curiosity18:58 … 2. The Safety Cycle19:32 … 2.1 Creating Connection20:43 … 2.2 Open up First21:09 … 2.3 Radiate Resilience22:37 … 3. Pose Quality Questions24:41 … Using a “Why” Question26:23 … Clear up Confusion28:13 … 4. Listen to Learn31:31… 5. Reflect and Reconnect35:39 … How AI Can Help36:53 … Connect with Jeff38:25 … Closing JEFF WETZLER:  …we don’t realize there’s something that we need to know.  We’re not curious.  We walk around the world thinking that we’ve got it figured out, thinking that we know how this person is and what motivates them and what the right answer is in this situation.  And so, we’re trapped in what I call a “certainty loop,” where the pre-existing beliefs and assumptions we have about the world lead us to walk into any situation and just size it up in ways that essentially reinforce what we already thought and believed.  And we get that sense of, “Here we go again.  This is how they always are.”  And so all of that keeps us stuck.  And we don’t even realize there’s something to ask about.  WENDY GROUNDS:  Welcome to Manage This, the podcast by project managers for project managers.  I’m Wendy Grounds, and with me in the studio is Bill Yates.  We like to talk to you twice a month to talk about what matters to you as a professional in the field of project management.  And we like to bring top experts to speak to you. And today we have someone.  His name is Jeff Wetzler.  He’s written a book called “Ask:  Tap Into the Hidden Wisdom of People Around You for Unexpected Breakthroughs in Leadership and Life.”  And when Jeff sent the book to us, Bill and I both read it and were completely impressed.  And we thought, now, this is something we can talk to project managers about. Jeff has been on a quarter century quest to transform learning opportunities.  He blends a unique set of leadership experiences in the field of business and education.  And he’s been a management consultant to the world’s top corporations, and the Chief Learning Officer at Teach for America.  Most recently he’s a co-CEO of Transcend, an innovation organization. BILL YATES:  We have so much to learn from this book and from Jeff’s input or description of it.  For project managers, we ask questions all the time.  And quite frankly, some of us are good at it, and some of us are not.  Some of us are growing in this area, and this is an opportunity to take a conversation with a guy who’s written a book and researched how to ask questions that are effective, that are not throwaway questions, that go deep, that remove some of the barriers that people have to actually sharing what they’re feeling, what they’re thinking, what their experiences have shown them.  And what I love about it is he’s got a five-step approach.  I love a five-step approach, and he has that.  He lays that out for us.  And we’re going to walk through it with Jeff so we can understand how can we get better at asking questions that are effective. WENDY GROUNDS:  Hey, Jeff.  Welcome to Manage This.  Thank you for joining us. JEFF WETZLER:  Oh, it’s so great to be with you. WENDY GROUNDS:  We are going to ask you a lot of questions.  We’re just going to pick up from the [crosstalk]. JEFF WETZLER:  I love it.  I love questions. Motivation for Ask WENDY GROUNDS:  We’re going to start straight away.