Rethinking Peter Block’s Questions
For a long time I have been an admirer of Peter Block. His works Flawless Consulting, The Answer to How is Yes! and Community have long been on my recommended reading list.
Especially intriguing to me have been the six transformations of questions that he posits in The Answer to How. Here they are as he sees them:
| How do you do it? | What is the refusal I have been postponing? |
| How long will it take? | What is the commitment I am willing to make? |
| How much does it cost? | What is the price I am willing to pay? |
| How do you get those people to change? | What is my contribution to the problem? |
| How do you measure it? | What is the crossroads at which I find myself? |
| How have others done it successfully? | What do we want to create together? |
Block's general thesis is that while the How-based questions are important and need to be answered, the problem is that when they are asked and answered too early in the consulting process they tend to be a defensive mechanism against change and, therefore, they stifle creativity and innovation. According to Peter Block a great consultant is one who is able to shift the dialogue to the What-based questions first and later return, if needed, to the How-based.
With all of this, I agree. However, after having spent about seven years teaching these as is, I am ready (and perhaps bold enough) to recommend a couple of changes to the What-based questions.
First, in place of "What is the price I am willing to pay?" I suggest the following: "What is the value of it to me?" After much thought, I believe this is the better question because if focuses on the primary idea of perceived value. As we know price is derived from perceived value, so looking at price is incorrect because it presupposes value.
Second, in place of "What is the crossroads at which I find myself?" I suggest, "What is the judgment I need to make?" Unlike the first, I believe I am still completely in alignment with Block on this idea and my change is more in semantics. However, I like this question better because a) it is easier to understand and b) it is in alignment with my mantra much written about on this blog that all measurements are judgments in disguise.
If you find this post confusing, might I suggest that you read The Answer to How. It is truly one of the best books on the subject of consulting ever written.
