{"id":"lead-skip-level-open-questions","audience":"managers","category":"leadership-work","track":"leadership","level":"beginner","technique":"constraints","title":"Write open skip-level questions that people will answer honestly","free":false,"task":"You're holding skip-level meetings with your managers' teams. Write exactly 5 numbered questions, all open-ended (none answerable with yes or no), covering the three lowest-scoring survey areas. None may ask someone to rate or judge their own manager. Under 90 words.","materialLabel":"Engagement survey results (attached to your prompt automatically)","material":"Engagement survey - Engineering org, Q3 (score out of 5)\n\n- Mission and purpose: 4.4\n- Team relationships: 4.2\n- Tools and environment: 2.9 (\"CI is slow\", \"laptops are 5 years old\")\n- Workload: 2.7 (\"on-call is brutal\", \"too many priorities\")\n- Career growth: 2.5 (\"don't know how to get promoted\")\n- Manager support: 3.8\n\nComments mention two managers by name, both mixed.\n\nI run 4 teams through 4 managers. Skip-levels are 30 min, groups of 4-6 people, managers not in the room.","rules":[{"type":"questionCount","count":5},{"type":"maxWords","max":90}],"mistakes":[{"title":"Yes or no questions","why":"The AI writes 'Do you feel supported?' which gets a one-word answer.","fix":"Add: \"Open-ended only, starting with What or How.\"","checks":["r0"]},{"title":"Ignoring the survey","why":"The AI writes generic questions about mission and culture.","fix":"Say: \"Cover the three lowest areas: career growth, workload, tools.\"","checks":["r1"]},{"title":"Putting people on the spot","why":"The AI asks 'How would you rate your manager?' in a group.","fix":"Add: \"Never ask anyone to rate their manager.\"","checks":["r2"]},{"title":"Too many questions","why":"The AI gives 10-15 questions for a 30-minute meeting.","fix":"Say: \"Exactly 5 numbered questions.\"","checks":["questionCount"]},{"title":"Trusting the AI to count words","why":"AI is bad at counting. Ask for a total word limit and it often lands over it.","fix":"Cap each part instead: \"each line under 15 words.\"","checks":["maxWords"]}],"promptHints":[{"label":"Fixes the count","patterns":["\\b(5|five)\\b"]},{"label":"Asks for open questions","patterns":["open","yes.{0,5}no","what or how"]},{"label":"Uses the low scores","patterns":["lowest","career","workload","tools"]},{"label":"Protects the managers","patterns":["rate","judge","manager"]},{"label":"Sets a word limit","patterns":["\\d+\\s*words"]}],"hint":"A skip-level only works if people feel safe and the questions aim at real problems. Tell the AI the count, the question style and which survey areas to cover.","rubricLabels":["Every question is open-ended (starts with words like What, How, Where or Which, and can't be answered yes or no)","Questions cover all three lowest areas: career growth, workload, and tools and environment","No question asks people to rate, judge or evaluate their direct manager"]}