Questions that help provide better opportunities to learn.

1. Lean Facilitation
Questions
Questions that help provide
better opportunities to learn.

2. Created by Tom Curtis 2011
Blog: www.onimproving.blogspot.com
Presentations: on www.slideshare.net/onimproving
Email: ideamerchants@gmail.com
Twitter: @onimproving

3. Facilitating Questions asked in trust and with respect,
will learning and growth through their answers direct.

4. What is value as defined
by the customer?
“What is the value as defined by
the customer?” sets the stage for
assessment of activities as to
whether they are waste or value-
added. This provides the chance
to identify kaizen opportunities.

5. What do we know?
“What do we know?” helps
clarify what we still need to
research. It is also a measure
of who far we are along in
gathering the information we
need.

6. Who does
this impact?
“Who does this impact?” forces us
to think beyond ourselves and our
interests. This helps to protect
against local optimization at the
expense of the whole.

7. Why?
“Why?” drives thinking and
allows room for explanation.
When asked respectfully it
facilitates learning and growth.
It can provided a path to
finding root cause.

8. How do we know?
“How do we know?” helps us
bring to light what we our
theories are. This allows us to
assess how we and others are
thinking and look for
improvement.

9. Really?
“Really?” is a challenge
question. It must be asked
respectfully, but can help unveil
hidden factory and get to what
is really happening.

10. What do we expect?
“What do we expect?” allows
us to learn from our
predictions and to test our
assumptions. This question
requires everyone to have a
position, which allow us to
better facilitate learning.

11. What do you see?
“What do you see?” allows us
to do two things. One, assess
what is being seen and two,
allow others to share and find
their voice and new
perspectives.

12. Therefore what?
“Therefore what?” is a question
to help prompt further thinking
and to find application.
Sometimes we need to help
thinking move to a deeper level.

13. What would
ideal look like?
“What would the ideal look
like?” can expand what is
thought possible and many
times we can incorporate
aspects of the ideal state into
the future state.

14. What can we learn?
“What can we learn?” can be
the basis of reflection and
learning from what we have
tried, experienced, or seen. If
we do not practice we miss out
on valuable lessons and
insights.