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E-Mail Tip #20 - Use Socratic Questions

Guest post by: Robert Whipple

Article Overview: The technique known as The Socratic Method is a powerful way to convince others of your point of view. It must be applied with skill to be effective. In e-mail, the socratic Method is often very helpful. This paper describes some examples and gives some rules for using this technique well.

E-Mail Tip #20 - Use Socratic Questions

The Socratic Method is one way of using questions.

Socrates was a Greek philosopher who was famous for asking series of seemingly innocent questions which led the respondent to a conclusion which was incompatible with his or her original statement. Socrates was well known for his innovative method of teaching, which was deemed so enlightening that it has been incorporated into today's law school programs nationwide. Socrates believed that the most effective way of teaching a student to argue logically was to engage the individual in a philosophic dialogue, in which he would attempt to argue a point.

Adapting the Socratic Method for online use provides an excellent tool for the politically smart person. Often the indirect approach is the quicker way to get agreement on issues. This method is particularly helpful if you are communicating with people in higher positions, trying to lobby for a position you know is going to be a hard sell.

If you come out and strongly advocate your position in an e-mail, seeking to buttress it with data, you may set off a chain reaction in the mind of the reader to resist your thesis. Let's say Alice (your boss) is the reader of your note. After a few lines of text, Alice may be thinking to herself,

• "I'm not sure if I buy this. Let me study his arguments to see if I can poke a hole in any of them. If I can shoot down one line of reasoning, I can reject the entire package. That's good, because this is not my idea anyway. It could potentially work, but I don't think it's worth the risk."

Since Alice is your boss, it is a delicate situation once she has rejected your initial case. Further attempts to convince her with additional data or modifications to the arguments will earn you a reputation as a pest. While reading your counter to her initial rejection, she may think,

• "Not him again - and on the same issue. What part of ‘no' didn't he understand? How can I get him to go away with this ridiculous idea and stop bothering me?"

Now Alice will come back with a stronger message such as,

• "I am still not convinced we should do this. My initial reaction was negative, and your additional information really does not address my concerns."

It might be possible to salvage the situation with a third attempt, but you should do it in person and not try a third e-mail. She would probably not even read it, and you would do further damage to your reputation.

Let's take a specific example. The scenario is that Alice reviews a long string of financial information in tabular form every month at the staff meeting. People hate it and tend to fall asleep after the first couple of charts. Mike, one of Alice's direct reports, has developed an alternate way to share the data. Here is what is likely to happen if Mike takes the direct approach:

• Mike: "Hi Alice, I have an idea that may improve our staff meeting. Sometimes the performance review section has so much information that people become overloaded with data. I have developed a set of charts that can show exactly the same data in a fraction of the time and prevent data overload. If you agree, I would like to demonstrate how this will help our team by doing the financial review at our next staff meeting. I am sure you will find this is a significant improvement over our current format."

• Alice: "Thank you for the offer, Mike, but Corporate wants us to review all of the data at each meeting, so I don't see any option but to do that." (Thinking to herself: "What is he trying to do here, take over my staff meeting? If people think there is too much data, maybe I will start serving coffee before the meeting. I think Mike is a bit rude and presumptuous approaching me this way. My hands are tied by Corporate, so I don't want to mess with the format.")

• Mike: (Trying to save himself ) "Oh sorry, Alice. I didn't say this in my last note, but all of the information is included in my charts, so Corporate would be fine with them."

• Alice: (getting miffed) "I'm not sure. I don't want to rock the boat right now. We have bigger fish to fry. Maybe we can look at your idea in the fall." (Thinking to herself: "What a pest. I already told him I don't want him taking over my meeting. If he comes back again, I'm going to call him on the phone and tell him to butt out in so many words.")

A more effective approach would be to use the Socratic Method from the start. Mike would present a problem and start asking questions. Note that since the Socratic Method calls for a series of questions and short answers, it might be faster if done in the Instant Message format rather than conventional e-mail, but the logic would work the same in either medium. Here is how the exchange might go using the Socratic Method:

• Mike: "Hi Alice. I wonder if you think the weekly staff meetings are producing the maximum results for the time we spend. In reading your body language last week, I thought you seemed upset with the meeting."

• Alice: "You are right, Mike. I was upset. It seems people are not paying attention to important information. It's like some of them feel the meeting is a waste of their time. I even saw a couple people dozing off during the presentation."

• Mike: "I thought that might have been what was eating you. I would be happy to help if I knew what the problem was. Do you have any ideas?"

Notice that up to this point in the e-conversation, Mike has avoided having Alice get defensive, and she is willingly engaging in dialog with him. Therefore, he is already ahead of the first method where he turned her off with his initial note.

• Alice: "I'm not sure. Maybe all the financial numbers are boring to everyone, or perhaps they are just tired of hearing the details from me."

• Mike: "Do you think some kind of change in format might rejuvenate the meeting?"

• Alice: "I wish there was a less monotonous way to share the monthly figures. Perhaps people would be more interested."

• Mike: "Do you think a set of simple charts (pie chart or bar charts) might cover the same information in a fraction of the time and keep people more engaged?"

• Alice: "Well, that might work, but I don't have the time or inclination to fool with it. If you want to give it a try, be my guest."

Notice the discussion has finally turned to where Alice is requesting help. Mike now has her permission to advocate something.

• Mike: "I have worked up a few ideas that will cut the presentation down from 24 tables to 4 charts that have the same information and are easy to grasp. Would you like me to show them at our next meeting to test the reaction from the staff?"

• Alice: "Great. Let's try it. What do we have to lose? Thanks, Mike, for showing initiative on this matter. This might be helpful. Certainly, it will give us more time in the meeting to discuss other important topics. It seems we are always running out of time. I will put you on the agenda for the financial review next week."

The reason Mike got a better response in the second version is that Alice was allowed to do the problem analysis and suggest a solution. As far as Alice is concerned, the whole idea of trying a different approach was hers, not Mike's.

Carried to an extreme, this method can become manipulative or divisive. It might feel manipulative, because Mike knows where he wants the conversation to go, but he is letting Alice "discover" that path for herself using the Socratic Method. There is always the risk that Alice will "discover" a different path than Mike had in mind. It would not work on an issue where Alice has strong feelings and has already made up her mind. In most cases, if there is some chance for an open mind on the other end, it is wise to have the ideas spill out from the dialog rather than just advocate a solution and try to defend it. Another danger is that the Socratic Method can be risky if the person is clumsy with it or obvious about it.

For leaders trying to increase trust, a kind of modified Socratic Method would have the leader ask a series of leading questions of a group. As people reflect on the questions, a brainstorming mentality often uncovers many creative solutions to problems. Since the leader is sincerely looking for ideas with the leading questions, when people see their thoughts considered and some of them adopted, it will automatically improve the level of trust. The only caution is to avoid an arbitrary selection process to choose which ideas to pursue. It is best to have some kind of group voting process where all stakeholders can give input. All of this can easily be accomplished online.

This method of advocacy is useful in some, but not all, e-mail notes.I stress the need for a direct approach with maximum clarity when writing online. The direct approach is best when you are communicating information, ideas, concerns, issues, etc. The Socratic Method should be used only in circumstances where you believe a strong advocacy stance at the outset will weaken your case. These are situations where you want to draw solution ideas out of the reader and move toward consensus before advocating your own position.

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Article Tags: Email, Leadership, questions, Socratic, Trust



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