The Puzzler
Short, open-ended questions sent as you think a problem through. To you, the meaning is obvious. People guess at what you mean rather than admit they’re unsure.
Save your quiz results, ask your team what they see, and build a Traction Shift.
Five habits to watch
What a Puzzler tends to do, and what it costs the people around you.
You send short asks with no context
Your team feels: They spend an hour decoding what you meant
You forward things with nothing but “thoughts?”
Your team feels: They guess what kind of answer you want
You ask vague status questions
Your team feels: They write a full report when you wanted a yes or no
You change the ask halfway through
Your team feels: Work gets redone because the goal moved
You send asks people are afraid to question
Your team feels: They guess rather than admit they are unsure, and pull others in to solve it
How it shows up
- Sends one-line asks with no context
- Forwards things with just “thoughts?”
- Changes the ask after the work has started
When you shift, your team gets
- ✓ Asks they can act on right away
- ✓ Clarity on what done looks like
- ✓ A short answer to a clear question