ChatGPT said:

What if the most powerful move you can make as a manager isn’t giving the perfect instruction, but asking the perfect question?

The question is this: “What led you to choose that approach?”

A while back, one of our staff members made a mistake that created a headache for the whole team. It wasn’t catastrophic (we weren’t about to go full Lord of the Rings and toss the school into Mount Doom) but it was enough that my first instinct was to step in with a firm correction.

Instead, I paused and asked, “What led you to choose that approach?”

The answer surprised me. They weren’t careless. They weren’t lazy. In fact, they thought they were solving a problem. They had noticed bottlenecks in our scheduling system and tried a shortcut they thought would make things run faster. It didn’t work, and yes, it caused new problems, but their intention was actually to improve the process.

That question turned what could have been a defensive, awkward conversation into something entirely different. It became a coaching moment. We talked through their reasoning, clarified where the breakdown happened, and together found a better path forward. They left the conversation feeling respected, not scolded. And the next time a challenge came up, they brought me their idea first instead of trying to quietly “fix” it on their own.

That’s the power of the question.

It builds clarity because you get to see the thinking behind the action, not just the outcome.

It creates connection because your staff knows you care about their perspective, not just whether they hit the mark.

And it strengthens accountability because when someone walks through their decision-making, they own both the choice and the correction.

This is exactly how Productized Education works, whether with students or staff. We are not just handing out knowledge or rules. We are building systems where people are clear on their path, connected to the outcome, and accountable for moving forward one step at a time.

So the next time someone on your team does something wrong, resist the urge to swoop in with the right answer. Try asking instead: “What led you to choose that approach?”

You might just turn a mistake into momentum.