A hands-on walkthrough. Pick a real situation and follow along.
Before you start
- Choose a real case, not a hypothetical — pressure is where the skill is built.
- Give yourself a clear finish line: *Ask five open, non-leading questions.*
The steps
1. Frame it. Write down the situation in one or two plain sentences. No jargon. 2. State the outcome. What does a great result look like? Make it specific enough to check later. 3. Make the move. Do the rep: ask five open, non-leading questions. 4. Check against reality. Compare what happened to the outcome you wrote in step 2. 5. Tighten the loop. Note one thing to do better, then run it again.
What good looks like
- You ask open questions and actually listen to the answer.
- You dig past the first answer to the real problem.
- People feel understood, not sold to.
Done when
You can do this without the checklist — and earn the Problem Finder mark by landing it for real.
Next: see applying it on the job for a realistic scenario and the traps to dodge.