These questions allow the partner in your conversation some flexibility and choice in deciding how to respond to an invented but possible situation. Since they are hypothetical, they give you, as interviewer or leader of the conversation, greater flexibility in designing a question to fit a particular situation. Here are some examples:

• “Let’s change roles for a moment. Suppose you were supervisor of this department and someone came to you with a complaint similar to yours. How would you like to handle it?”
• “If you learned a process or procedure that that could free up one hour of your time each week, what do you see yourself doing during that hour?”