🎯 Quick Answer
What: When a team brings a fix for approval, the most useful first question a leader can ask is "What else did you consider?" It checks whether the team compared options or took the first idea that came up.
Why it matters: The first idea in a meeting usually becomes the plan, especially when it comes from the most senior person. Teams also drop options they think the leader will not like, before the meeting starts. Asking the question is how those options come up.
The questions leaders should ask before approving a fix: What else did you consider? Why did the others lose? Does this fix remove the cause? How will we try it small? Who has to work differently, and have they tried it? Then ask about cost and time.
The payoff: Better fixes, chosen on purpose, and a team that compares its options before it brings them to you.
When a team brings a fix for approval, most leaders ask one of two questions. "How much will it cost?" or "When can it be done?"
Both are fair questions. But they skip an earlier one. Is this the best fix the team found, or only the first one?
One question answers that: "What else did you consider?"
This article covers why the first idea usually wins, how to ask the question, what the answers tell you, and why leaders should share their own idea last. It ends with the questions leaders should ask before approving a fix, when the question is not needed, and one more question for after the project ends.
Why the first idea usually wins
A team that has found the cause of a problem wants to fix it. The first workable idea feels like progress. A meeting feels finished once there is an answer.
There are other reasons too. The first idea often comes from the most senior person in the room. Comparing options takes time, and the team is busy. And some options never reach the meeting at all, because the team has already decided the leader will not like them.
None of this means the first idea is wrong. It means nobody knows yet whether it is the best one.
The method for listing and comparing fixes is in Don't Take the First Fix. This article is about the leader's part.
The question: "What else did you consider?"
Ask it before you ask about cost or time. Ask it in a plain, curious tone.
It is not a way to say no. A fix can be the first idea and still be the right one. The question checks one thing: did the team compare this fix with others?
Ask it every time, including when you like the fix. If you only ask when you have doubts, the team will hear the question as a sign that you are against the idea. When you ask it every time, it becomes part of how decisions are made.
What the answers tell you
There are three common answers. Each one tells you something different.
"We looked at three others, and here is why we chose this one." This is the answer you want. Ask why the others lost, then decide.
"Nothing else." The fix may still be right, but nobody knows yet. Send the team back for an hour, not a month. Ask them to list two or three other fixes, check each one against the cause, and come back.
"We had another idea, but we didn't think you would agree." This is the most useful answer of the three. It means the team dropped an option before the meeting, because of what it thought you wanted. Ask to hear it.
A field story: the option the team almost dropped
One plant's maintenance team often waited days for small spare parts. The team brought a fix for approval: keep more of every part in stock. It needed money and shelf space.
The plant manager asked, "What else did you consider?"
After a pause, the team named one more option. They had looked at where the days went. Most of the wait came from one step. Every parts order, however small, needed the plant manager's signature. The plant manager was often away from the desk, so the orders waited.
The team had dropped this option early. It meant taking an approval away from the person they were asking.
The plant manager agreed to try it for one month. Orders under a set amount went straight to the supplier. Most small orders now went out the same day. The extra stock was not needed.
The team had found the better fix on its own. It had also decided, on its own, not to bring it. It only came up because the plant manager asked.
Share your idea last
Leaders often have their own idea before the meeting starts. That is normal. What matters is when they share it.
When a leader shares an idea first, it usually becomes the plan. Everyone hears it first. The rest of the meeting is about that idea. People add details to it, and other options are never listed.
Here is a common example. A warehouse manager opens a meeting about late orders by saying, "We need one more picker on the night shift." The team spends the hour on that: who to hire, when to start, and how to pay for it.
Nobody lists the other options. Send the orders out in a new order. Move the fastest-selling items closer to packing. Change the cut-off time for same-day orders. One of those might be the better fix. Nobody will know, because nobody compared them.
Here is a better order for the meeting:
Ask the team for their options first.
Write each one where everyone can see it.
Ask, "What else did you consider?"
Add your own idea to the list, last, as one more option.
Compare all of them the same way.
Your idea may still be the best one. If it is, the team has seen it compared with the others, and knows why it was chosen.
Questions leaders should ask before approving a fix
"What else did you consider?" comes first. Here are the questions leaders should ask after it. Each one takes about a minute.
Why did the others lose? The reasons show how the team compared the options. They also help later, if the chosen fix does not work and the team needs the next option.
Does this fix remove the cause? A fix that only deals with the symptom will need fixing again.
How will we try it small? A small trial on one line or one shift finds problems while they are still small.
Who has to work differently, and have they tried it? The people who do the work know what will make the new way hard. Their answers show whether the right way will also be the easy way.
How much will it cost, and when can it be done? Now these questions compare real options.
When the question is not needed
Not every decision needs a list of options. If a fix is small, cheap and easy to undo, try it. Comparing five options for a change that takes ten minutes to reverse wastes everyone's time.
Save the question for fixes that cost real money, take weeks to put in place, or are hard to undo. Those are the decisions where the first idea and the best idea are most worth comparing.
How to make it a team habit
When a leader asks the question every time, the team starts to get ready for it.
Ask it every time, in the same tone, including when you like the fix.
Ask for the list before the meeting, so the team brings the options it compared, not only the one it chose.
Keep the list with the decision. Write down the options and why each one lost. It saves time if the chosen fix does not work.
Never treat "nothing else" as a failure. Send the team back for an hour, then decide.
After a few months, most teams bring their list of options without being asked.
One more question, after the project
The questions above help a leader approve a better fix. There is one more question, and it comes much later.
When a project closes, leaders usually stop asking about it. The team starts new work. That is when a gain is most likely to be lost, a little at a time. A setting is changed back. A routine stops. A number is still collected, but nobody looks at it.
So before a project closes, ask: "Who will look at this number after the project ends?" And once a month, pick one project that closed six months ago or more, and ask to see its number today.
In DMAIC, the step-by-step method used in Lean Six Sigma, this is the Control phase: keeping the gain after the project team has gone back to other work.
I write one of these every week, based on what actually happens on projects rather than what the textbook says should happen. You can join the newsletter here.
FAQ
What questions should leaders ask before approving a fix?
Start with "What else did you consider?" Then ask why the other options lost, whether the fix removes the cause, how it will be tried small, and who has to work differently. Ask about cost and time last, once you know you are comparing real options.
Why ask "What else did you consider?"
Because the first idea in a meeting usually becomes the plan, whether or not it is the best one. The question checks whether the team compared options. It also gives the team a chance to mention options it dropped because it thought the leader would not agree.
Why should a leader share their own idea last?
When a leader shares an idea first, the rest of the meeting is usually about that idea, and other options are never listed. Sharing it last lets the team list its options first. The leader's idea is then compared with the others, like any other option.
What if the team did not consider anything else?
The fix may still be right, but nobody knows yet. Send the team back for an hour, not a month. Ask for two or three other fixes, each checked against the cause, then decide.
Should leaders ask this question about every decision?
No. If a fix is small, cheap and easy to undo, try it. Ask the question for fixes that cost real money, take weeks to put in place, or are hard to undo.
Ask what else they considered. Share your idea last.
