Clarify the Ask

Hello everyone. In today's lesson, we'll practice three phrases for asking clear follow-up questions at work.

This happens all the time. Someone asks for a deck, a report, a feature, or a quick update, and you need to understand what they really want.

The goal is to ask clear questions without making the other person feel challenged.

Our first expression is, "Can you walk me through what you have in mind?"

Use this when the request is too broad and you need the other person to explain their thinking.

It is softer than saying, "What exactly do you mean?"

Example one: "Can you walk me through what you have in mind for the customer summary?"

Example two: "Can you walk me through what you have in mind before I start the draft?"

Example three: "Can you walk me through what you have in mind for the new onboarding flow?"

Example four: "Can you walk me through what you have in mind so I can match the right level of detail?"

This phrase is useful when the other person may have a picture in their head, but has not explained it yet.

It invites context early, which usually saves you from a painful rewrite later.

Our second expression is, "Just so I'm clear, are we optimizing for speed or quality?"

Use this when two goals are competing and you need to know which one matters more.

You can replace "speed or quality" with other pairs, like cost or coverage, depth or simplicity, short-term or long-term.

Example one: "Just so I'm clear, are we optimizing for speed or quality on this first version?"

Example two: "Just so I'm clear, are we optimizing for executive clarity or technical detail?"

Example three: "Just so I'm clear, are we optimizing for a fast reply or a fully researched answer?"

Example four: "Just so I'm clear, are we optimizing for a quick fix or a more durable solution?"

This phrase is useful when the task has hidden trade-offs.

It makes the priority visible, so you do not accidentally deliver the wrong kind of good work.

Our third expression is, "What does success look like here?"

Use this when the task is open-ended and you want to know the expected outcome.

It is a strong question because it moves the conversation from activity to result.

Example one: "What does success look like here: a decision, a recommendation, or just a summary?"

Example two: "What does success look like here for the client meeting?"

Example three: "What does success look like here if we only have one week?"

Example four: "What does success look like here from the leadership team's point of view?"

This phrase is useful when you want to sound thoughtful before you start moving.

It helps you avoid doing a lot of work that is technically correct but not actually useful.

So today we practiced three phrases: "Can you walk me through what you have in mind," "Just so I'm clear," and "What does success look like here?"

A natural message could be: "Can you walk me through what you have in mind? I want to make sure I understand what success looks like here."

Or: "Just so I'm clear, are we optimizing for speed or quality on this version?"

I hope today's script helps you ask better questions with less hesitation.

These phrases are useful when you want to be helpful, but you do not want to guess your way through unclear work.

Use them early, and you will often save yourself a long round of revisions later.

That is it for today's Work English lesson. Try one of these before you start your next unclear task.