Page 35 - my SUCCESS! my CHOICE

Deepak Gupta my SUCCESS! my CHOICE
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“I still remember that meeting vividly; all Bob did was to ask me simple questions in such a ‘non-

threatening’ and ‘knowledge-seeking’ manner that I enthusiastically shared everything without trying

to defend my proposal on which I had spent so much time and effort. Questions and their tone

convinced me that Bob is a supporter and is genuinely seeking to learn more about my proposal.

Before I knew it, I was saying, “Bob, I would like to reevaluate my proposal and come back to you.”

He looked at me passionately and said, “Any time Ron. Thank you for so much hard work on this proposal.

I will look forward to our next meeting.” he said handing back the proposal to me.”

“Bob’s questions had opened new doors for me; it had suddenly become apparent to me that there

were other possible ways to approach my recommendation. Although he was not an expert on the

subject, his questions made me, the expert, rethink and realize that there could be different and

probably better ways to get to the same endpoint”

“It took me 4 weeks to re-evaluate and re-analyze all aspects of my new awareness and learnings. I

was delighted with my new revised proposal that was a better solution -- lower capital expenditure and

shorter lead-time. I sent the reworked proposal to Bob and it was approved within 24 hours without

the need for me to see him again. That is the power of effective ‘Ask’.”

Dan was listening to the story mesmerized. Before he could say anything. Ron continued. “I spent

lot of time analyzing that meeting with Bob that opened the doors to such learning and knowledge

for me. I categorized the questions Bob asked that day

o Probing Questions sought clarification or challenged and validated my assumptions.”

o Why Questions to discover the root cause of a problem.
o How Questions explored different routes to a breakthrough.

o Coaching Questions to help me visualize what else is possible.”