Developing judgement – creating a question bank
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Following our more recent article on Developing Judgement By Making More Mistakes, we examine in this article the key role of questions in rapidly acquiring excellent judgement.
But interestingly, it’s not the questions YOU ask, but the questions your EXPERT asks, that will develop your judgment fast!
If you want to learn to develop a high level of judgement, one of the most interesting things you can do is to observe an expert as they go about sizing up and handling the kind of situations that require skilled judgement.
Most experts reveal their expertise through the sophisticated bank of questions they ask. Each question relates to key distinctions that previous experience has taught them and is important in selecting the right solution. Each question will eliminate a cluster of options, or lead to a further questioning process. This is what enables them to quickly get to the core of a problem.
The most powerful way of getting inside their head and seeing their mental map is to look at the kind of questions they ask when first investigating a number of situations.
For example, if they’re looking at a set of financial accounts, get them to verbalise the kind of questions they are asking themselves. What do they look at first? What question are they trying to answer? Where do they next look? Again, what question is in their mind?
If they’re going in to develop a solution for an internal customer – whether this is an IT solution, or a training solution, or process solution – what questions do they ask? Write them down – and afterwards, ask them to run through the purpose of each question, and what was in their mind as they asked it. Can they give you examples of when that question was critical, in their past experience?
If they are handling a disciplinary, what questions do they ask the people involved?
When picking up expertise, a great strategy is to write down an expert’s questions – not just the answers – and later go through them with the expert. Ask the expert:
Take away
Use it or lose it! If you try out this tip, you are much more likely to retain it. Ask an expert to allow you to see them in the diagnostic stage of their work. Explain that you are trying to understand the questions to ask to make good decisions. Create a set of questions on index cards as they work, and later ask them to explain what critical information those questions unveil.
But interestingly, it’s not the questions YOU ask, but the questions your EXPERT asks, that will develop your judgment fast!
If you want to learn to develop a high level of judgement, one of the most interesting things you can do is to observe an expert as they go about sizing up and handling the kind of situations that require skilled judgement.
Most experts reveal their expertise through the sophisticated bank of questions they ask. Each question relates to key distinctions that previous experience has taught them and is important in selecting the right solution. Each question will eliminate a cluster of options, or lead to a further questioning process. This is what enables them to quickly get to the core of a problem.
The most powerful way of getting inside their head and seeing their mental map is to look at the kind of questions they ask when first investigating a number of situations.
For example, if they’re looking at a set of financial accounts, get them to verbalise the kind of questions they are asking themselves. What do they look at first? What question are they trying to answer? Where do they next look? Again, what question is in their mind?
If they’re going in to develop a solution for an internal customer – whether this is an IT solution, or a training solution, or process solution – what questions do they ask? Write them down – and afterwards, ask them to run through the purpose of each question, and what was in their mind as they asked it. Can they give you examples of when that question was critical, in their past experience?
If they are handling a disciplinary, what questions do they ask the people involved?
When picking up expertise, a great strategy is to write down an expert’s questions – not just the answers – and later go through them with the expert. Ask the expert:
- Why was it important to ask that question?
- We know what this customer answered, but what other answers have you seen, and how would that affect your strategy?
Take away
Use it or lose it! If you try out this tip, you are much more likely to retain it. Ask an expert to allow you to see them in the diagnostic stage of their work. Explain that you are trying to understand the questions to ask to make good decisions. Create a set of questions on index cards as they work, and later ask them to explain what critical information those questions unveil.