GREAT leaders ask GREAT questions.
Asking smart questions
is one of the most powerful tools in a leader's toolbox. The right question asked at the right time can
bring answers that help you understand better, think differently, and move your
organization forward.
Leaders who think they have all
the answers often become so absorbed in trying to be the smartest person in the
room that they avoid asking the questions that will actually make them
smarter.
Questions Make You Smart
Some leaders fear asking questions. They believe that if they ask, they will appear weak and uninformed. The direct opposite is true.
People go through a cognitive process as
they search for answers. Insights are more powerful when they reach conclusions independently.
Improving your questioning skills will make you a better manager, employee,
parent, teacher, student or community leader through empowering your team.
Leaders who ask questions also show respect for their teams. Questions contribute to building relationships because they often lead to further conversations, which play a key role in getting to know someone better.
Asking questions …
· Adds perspective because you receive information from a different view
· Empowers the person being asked to think for themselves
· Tells people you value what they say
· Provides a path to deeper conversations
What The Experts Say
An effective leader will ask questions instead of giving direct orders.
Dale Carnegie
Good leaders ask great questions that inspire others to dream, think, learn, do, and become more.
John C. Maxwell
When you give advice, the brain is asleep. Engaging people by asking questions helps them come alive as they develop their own insights.
Dr. Henry Cloud
Leaders who promote a questioning culture in their organizations move people from dependence to independence.
Michael J. Marquardt
Active Listening
There's a second
part! When you ask questions, you must listen carefully to answers to receive deeper meaning and understanding.
It's called active
listening. Being focused and in the moment is one of the skills that help you
better understand answers. That makes you a more effective questioner.
I learned the
importance of listening while studying to become a teacher. We were given a
field project of interviewing a child between 6 and 10 years old.
I thought I had the
assignment aced! We lived in the basement of a landlord who had two little kids!
This task would be easy.
WRONG!
To a person, my classmates
and I came back to class with recordings of themselves talking over their interviewee rather
than listening carefully to the child's answers.
The point was made.
Questions lose their power when you don't listen to the answers. I'll write a
post about it soon.
Who Asks Questions?
There are obvious careers that we associate with questioning. The truth is that people in any profession can benefit by asking key.
· Journalists
· Detectives
· Medical professionals
· Sales professionals
· Teachers
· Researchers
Socrates Asked Why?
Socrates developed an educational method based on asking
questions. He believed he was modelling a system that would help students to think for themselves as they searched for answers to life's questions.
Most of us have been in a talk where the presenter endlessly
droned on without a break. The audience eventually drifted off. However, when
the speaker asked a question, we re-engaged and were drawn back into the
presentation!
Questioning Environment
Questioning will only
work if there is a feeling of safety for those answering. In other words,
people must never fear being diminished, punished, sidelined, or ridiculed for
their answers. Successful leaders let their teams know there are no dumb
questions.
When leaders ask questions, they signal that they are not content
with the status quo. They are not satisfied with doing the same old things in
the same way and hoping for a different result.
But there are questions, and then there are questions! Destructive or demeaning questions can slip out when a leader is caught off guard by a negative situation and responds impulsively.
Why did you spill that?
Instead – Can I help you mop it up?
How could you have been so stupid?
Instead – Can we work through the problem together?
Why can't you be like Fred?
Instead – Can I ask Fred to help you with that?
What was I thinking when I hired you?
Instead – There are some things I'd like to discuss. Can we have a coffee at 2 this afternoon?
Body Language
Body language can enhance or
undermine the act of asking questions. Eye contact, facial expressions, gestures,
and tone of voice make a difference. For example, scowling while pounding your
fist repeatedly into the other hand will affect how the question is received.
Asking the same question with a
smile and your arms extended with your hands turned slightly upwards completely
changes how it is received. Open hands signal you have nothing to hide.
Employee Benefits
If your organization does not appear to recognize your leadership potential, asking questions will help you stand out. Sometimes, leaders know the answer but ask the question as a way to determine how much the team knows or what they think about a specific issue.
Further, answering a leader's
questions helps them learn more about you. They see how well you express yourself,
how much you know, and how engaged you are with your job. They also signal that
you want to be part of the solution rather than the problem.
Questions Guide
Asking relevant questions can focus
and shift a discussion from one direction to another. They can also keep
topics on track and avoid going down rabbit holes.
Triggering Group Think
Asking questions in
group settings causes those there to think about the issue, even if they don't verbalize their ideas. They will often continue thinking about the matter long after the session has ended.
Questions foster group ownership of a
problem. The collective brain power creates synergies that may lead to finding solutions.
More people focusing on a
problem increases the odds of success.
When responses to questions encourage others to contribute their ideas, deeper engagement with each other is the result.
Open or Closed
A question that a single word can
answer is a closed question. Asking, "Did you go to Nairobi?" brings
an obvious answer. It's yes or no.
Asking, "What did you do the day
after you landed in Nairobi?" requires at least a sentence to answer. It may
also launch a multi-sentence conversation providing bonus information you didn't
expect.
The End
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