Lean Enterprise Institute Logo
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletter Signup
  • Cart (0)
  • Account
  • Search
Lean Enterprise Institute Logo
  • Explore Lean
        • What is Lean?
        • A Brief History of Lean
        • Lexicon Terms
        • Topics to explore
          • Operations
          • Lean Product & Process Development
          • Administration & Support
          • Problem-Solving
          • Coaching
          • Executive Leadership
          • Line Management
  • The Lean Post
        • Subscribe to see exclusive content
          • Subscribe
        • Featured posts
          Handling the Heat of the Kitchen

          Handling the Heat of the Kitchen: A...

          Manager reviewing financials and noticing a discrepancy in clam sales.

          Saving $30,000 Worth of Clams with a...

          • See all Posts
  • Events & Training
        • Custom Coaching and Learning Experiences
        • Co-Learning Partnerships
        • Forms and Templates
        • Featured learning
          • Improvement Kata/Coaching Kata Remotely

            June 06, 2022 | Online Live Course

          • Developing Structured Problem-Solving and Leadership Skills using A3 Thinking: Managing to Learn Remotely

            September 19, 2022 | Online Live Course

          • Hoshin Kanri Remotely: Aligning and Executing on Your Organizational Objectives

            September 23, 2022 | Online Live Course

          • Designing the Future Remotely: A Lean Product Development Immersive Learning Experience

            September 26, 2022 | Online Live Course

          • See all Events
  • Store
        • Shopping Cart
        • Featured books
          The Art of Productive Inquiry

          The Power of Process – A Story of Innovative Lean Process Development

          Toyota Way of Dantotsu Cover

          The Toyota Way of Dantotsu Radical Quality Improvement (Paperback)

          • See all Books
  • About Us
        • Our people
          • Senior Advisors and Staff
          • Faculty
          • Board of Directors
        • Contact Us
        • Lean Global Network
        • Press Releases
        • In the News
        • About us

The Lean Post / Articles / The Art of Productive Inquiry

text, letter

Coaching

The Art of Productive Inquiry

By Andrew Quibell

September 14, 2017

Last month Andrew Quibell released a sketch outlining a process for effective silent observation. His new sketch shares what to do next -- productive inquiry! Read more.

Facebook0Tweet0LinkedIn0Email0Print0Comment0

In my last release I explained how to perform “silent observation,” which is the preparation you do in advance of carrying out “productive inquiry.”

Productive inquiry is the step you take to verify and confirm something you observed, which either did or did not make sense to you. Often I have witnessed and confirmed through productive inquiry that tasks that made no sense to me actually were quite logical for the person doing the task. Why?

That person has created a workaround or nonstandard process to keep things moving. This is normally a direct result of support functions or supervision not responding to calls for help or addressing underperforming (minor stoppages) or problematic equipment that hinders the person doing the task. In effect, our lack of concern and action as management forces the team member to take action with the best intentions (they believe) to keep things running, but in reality they are only masking problems or creating waste or defects that could potentially impact the customer.  

So talking to someone about what you saw is easy, right?

Wrong. What I have learned through many painful interactions is you MUST use open-ended questions, which ensure you get at least a sentence-length response. Their antithesis, closed-ended questions, are prone to getting you a simple “yes” or “no” response – which shuts down your line of inquiry pretty quickly.

The art of asking open-ended questions takes plenty of practice. You need to make sure the person you are talking to feels emotionally safe and comfortable with you, so tone of voice, posture and eye contact must be friendly. You should show concern and interest in helping them, not hindering them. Lastly, it is very important that you listen, let them talk and don’t interject. It’s 90 percent listening, 10 percent your input.

Check out my new sketch and animation to reinforce the learning opportunity and then just go practice, practice, practice.

The Art of Productive Inquiry

Facebook0Tweet0LinkedIn0Email0Print0Comment0

Written by:

Andrew Quibell

About Andrew Quibell

Born and raised in the United Kingdom, Andrew Quibell entered the automotive industry in the mid 1980’s as a trainee quality engineer. He advanced through the ranks into quality management and worked in several established tier-1 companies in the UK before joining the Textron division Kautex in 2002. Quibell entered Textron’s Lean Black Belt program in 2006, eventually becoming a leading lean practitioner in the business, working primarily in high volume manufacturing. His roles at Kautex included VP CI Global and Director, Quality – Global.

Prior to leaving the automotive sector, Quibell sat on Textron’s Quality & Continuous Improvement Council while also working as a regional advisor within Toyota’s tier-1 supplier base organization BAMA. Currently Quibell holds status as a Chartered Member of the UK CQI, a Senior Member of the ASQ, an Incorporated Engineer within ICME, and is registered as a principal auditor in QMS with IRCA.

In January 2016 Quibell left Kautex and moved into the printing industry, joining CIMPRESS – a leader in mass customization of printed products – as their Global Head of Quality Assurance.  Presently Andrew lives with his wife and daughter in the Windsor / Greater Detroit area.

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related

Handling the Heat of the Kitchen

Coaching

Handling the Heat of the Kitchen: A WLEI Podcast

Podcast by John Cotter and Matthew Savas

improvement kata coaching kata model 2

Operations

The Fundamentals of Improvement and Coaching Kata

Article by Lean Leaper

kata funnel model

Coaching

A Video Primer on Improvement Kata as a Funnel

Video by Beth Carrington and Lean Leaper

Related books

The Gold Mine (Audio CD)

The Gold Mine (Audio CD)

by Freddy Ballé and Michael Ballé

graphical user interface

Four Types of Problems / Managing to Learn Set

by John Shook and Art Smalley

Related events

June 06, 2022 | Online Live Course

Improvement Kata/Coaching Kata Remotely

Learn more

September 19, 2022 | Online Live Course

Developing Structured Problem-Solving and Leadership Skills using A3 Thinking: Managing to Learn Remotely

Learn more

Explore topics

Coaching graphic icon Coaching
Problem Solving graphic icon Problem Solving

Subscribe to get the very best of lean thinking delivered right to your inbox

Subscribe
  • Privacy Policy
  • Sitemap
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • Facebook

©Copyright 2000-2022 Lean Enterprise Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
Lean Enterprise Institute, the leaper image, and stick figure are registered trademarks of Lean Enterprise Institute, Inc.

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Learn More. ACCEPT
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT
Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!