12 minutes
Asking without leading Learn to hold an outcome conversation in which the person defines the outcome, rather than choosing from the ones the service offers.
What you’ll be able to do Hold an outcome conversation using open questions in the person's terms, and record the answer in the person's words rather than translated into service language. Compare the responses to this question and explain your choice: What has happened? Document a next step for Asking without leading: Hold one outcome conversation this month and write the answer down in the words the person used. The menu problem Most planning questions are menus. They offer the person a choice among the things the service is set up to provide, and they call the result the person's goal. This is efficient and it is not the same as asking. A person whose greatest wish is to see their grandchildren more often, or to stop being afraid of a housemate, or to go back to a job they lost, will not find those on the menu, and will pick something that is.
An open question is one with no answers built into it. What would a good year look like? What do you wish were different? If one thing changed, what would you want it to be? These are harder to ask, because the answers are not predictable and may not fit a service. That unpredictability is exactly what makes them worth asking.
Leading and open, side by side Leading Open What to do with the silence
"Are we thinking more community activities or more skills work?" "Would you like to keep the same goals as last year?" "Do you want to work on your budgeting?" Each of these has an answer inside it, and the person is being asked to confirm it.
"What would a good year look like?" "What do you wish were different?" "What do you miss?" "What would you do more of if you could?" None of these has a service in it. The answer may take a while.
Many people have not been asked an open question about their life in years, and the first response is often a pause, a shrug, or something small. Wait. Ask a follow-up in the same spirit. The small thing is usually connected to something larger, and the person is finding out whether you mean it.
Translation, and what it loses "I want to see my grandkids more."
Translated: "Increase community and family engagement." Lost: the grandchildren, the frequency, and the reason. The person will not recognize this as theirs.
"I want to stop being scared of Dan."
Translated: "Improve housemate relationships." Lost: the fear, the name, and the possibility that this is a safety issue rather than a relationship goal.
"I want my old job back."
Translated: "Explore employment options." Lost: the specific job, the loss, and the fact that the person is not exploring; they know what they want.
"I want to be left alone in the mornings."
Translated: "Increase independence in morning routine." Lost: the request, which is about privacy and control, not skill.
Record the words, then the goal What you can change You control the order in which things are written down. The person's words first, then whatever the service needs to add, keeps the translation visible.
What to watch for Do not let the service's language replace the person's. Once it has, nobody can tell what the person actually said.
Your next step In the next plan you write, put the person's words in quotation marks above every goal.
Carry this forward A question that offers options leads; a question that asks what a good year would look like does not.
The answer belongs in the person's words. Translated into service language, it becomes a goal the person may not recognize.
Silence, a shrug or an answer that seems small is often the beginning of the real answer, and the useful move is to wait.
A tabs comparison of leading and open questions, a flashcard set on translation, a scenario decision and a knowledge check.
Hold one outcome conversation this month and write the answer down in the words the person used.
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Previous lesson Next lesson Carry this into practice The difference between a service delivered and a life changed, how to ask about outcomes in the person's terms, and what a quality review looks like when it starts from the person rather than the file.
Return to the experience: What did you notice or try, whose perspective informed it, and what would you keep or adjust?
Participation and course completion in this program do not count toward DHS-required training credits unless management, a director, or DHS leadership expressly approves an exception.
