Knowing the right question to ask

One of my mentees stopped by my office and said, "I seem to be having a week where everything I do is wrong. Why can't I ask the questions like you do?"

This started a discussion about knowing what questions to ask (experience) came from many tries of learning what not to do (bad judgment).

The other element of this equation is time. Just because someone has told you the right questions to ask does not guarantee that the right question will come to mind. There is still a requirement of practice that is required to ensure the mind pulls that specific question out of a myriad of others available.

Bad Judgment (or poor decisions) leads to experience.

Experience coupled with practice leads to good judgment (or good decisions).

An additional context we also touched upon was identification of the learning style/leadership style necessary for her at that moment (highly supportive/highly directive). This was readily recognizable based on her question, her body language, her tone and inflection in her voice.

We then delved into priorities issue she came in to talk about.