Maieutics

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maieutics

I can't emphasize enough the role of asking people to explain their ideas,
their feelings, their current way of doing things and asking questions on how things can be improved.

My favorite question is "so, what are your feelings about this". The question being generic, it aims to let the important points emerge, since normally feelings concentrate about the important points. And the questions can be a catalysts of debate with colleagues and decision making.

Don't expect things to be good from day one, they become good with an iterative process of revisions and revisiting.

Socratically speaking, truth is latent inside us and as a baby she needs some little help to emerge. We can be the midwives of our own ideas and processes, but better ask a little help from our friends, as Joe Cocker said. We are social animals and isolation can bring to aberration.