Questioning
Diagnostic questioning
Find the underlying issue instead of stopping at the visible symptom.
The shape
- Symptom
- Clarify
- Evidence
- Pattern
- Root issue
Why that order
It prevents solving the wrong problem, which is the most expensive mistake available because the work looks correct while it happens.
A worked example
- Symptom
- I struggle in presentations.
- Clarify
- What happens when you present?
- Evidence
- I lose my structure during questions.
- Pattern
- It happens mainly when the questions are unexpected.
- Root issue
- The gap is real time response structure, not presentation preparation.
You have it right when
The named problem is different from the presented one, and better.
What usually goes wrong
Digging past the point of usefulness. Not every symptom has a deep cause, and treating one that does not wastes the session.
Used in
Where this shape does its work in a real situation.
Mostly serves Intent, and reaches into Message and Connection.
A framework tells you what shape the answer takes. It cannot tell you whether shape is what you are short of, and for most people it is not. Which one is yours, and whether a framework is the right instrument at all, is what a Discovery Call is for.
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