Ask More

What are you telling me?
What does this mean?
What aren’t you telling me?

How did they reach it? What is it based on and what is the prognosis?

Have you ever repaired the roof?
What exactly have you done?
Does the water drip from the ceiling or down the wall?
Does it only leak when the wind blows?

Does it leak every time it rains?
Does the leak always start when the rain begins?
Where do you see the first signs of the leak and has that changed over time?

When did you first notice this?
How long has it been going on?
What was it like before?

If the problem is eliminated, can we survive?

What got us into the ditch?
What happened to the business plan?

When did things start going wrong?
What have you learned?
How do you think we fix it?

Why is this company in so much trouble?
Where do the problems originate?
What isn’t working?

If you’re going to ask “What’s wrong?” then you have to embrace bad news.