Inspiring Workplaces 
The Way Work Ought to Be!

#1,081- July 9, 2025

Rather than offering people a binary, black and white "yes or no?" choice about a decision or idea at work instead try asking them how enthusiastic they are about the idea on a scale of 1-10. 

Using a scale allows for much richer and more nuanced conversations and it's a more interesting way to gauge the level of enthusiasm people have for, say, your idea to allow wombats in the workplace (as just one typical workplace example). This allows people to express specific concerns they might have or offer additional reasons why they think the idea is brilliant ("We could do with more wombats since the current level of wombats at work is, well, zero"). 

And follow-up questions such as, "Oh, so you're a firm six? Can I ask why not higher?" gives people the chance to express their thoughts out loud, which oftentimes causes them to reevaluate their number as they swirl it around some more ("Hmm...now that I think this through and realize how adorable wombats are I think I'd like to raise my number to 8.7"). And yes, always use decimal points. I mean, come on, decimal points are way more fun.  

And, if you really want to shake things up when you're asking in a meeting, have everyone stand up and form a line from 1 to 10 to create a visual map of how everyone feels, which will also spark more interesting observations and conversations.