Author: admin

I’m firmly of the opinion that great managers ask great questions and, being a business coach, my stock in trade is a cupboard full of useful questions. I’m always impressed when a timely question unlocks a new possibility for a client, or generates that moment of deeper reflection.

The art of asking questions is about listening to what someone is really saying and then gently prompting them to consider fresh perspectives. To encourage broader thinking here are three great questions to ask:

1) What is going to get in the way?

2) What do the numbers tell us?

3) What are three other options (assuming I can make them happen for you by a wave of my wand)?

The reason these questions work well is because:

1) Asking people about stoppers and blockers tends to surface their fears. If something is going to get in the way, we might as well get it out in the open and test it a bit, to see what the reality is.

2) Asking about facts is a good way to check the reality of a situation. However, facts can sometimes be an opinion wrapped in an assumption, so asking for the numbers cuts through this. Numbers tend to be objective and therefore are more reliable.

3) There are always more options than we realize and by naming them we tend to expand our thinking. This can often lead us to reveal a secret wish that lurks inside us, but which we are reluctant to name for fear of sounding ‘silly’. By making the discussion more imaginative people can share options and make progress.

The thing to notice about great questions is that they are usually short questions, as that makes them easier to answer. What’s the shortest question you know?

Have fun!

Next week: ‘The SRS of Leadership’

Following on from last week’s post about ‘How to get the best from your staff’ here are three of my favourite quick tips.
Leadership and management is often really simple at heart, and although it can appear complex, success often rests on simple words and the ability to ask good questions. In the spirit of simplicity, here are three things we can all have some fun with this week.

1) Say thank you twice as much as you do, because the chances are that you currently say it half as much as people would like.

2) When someone says ‘I’ll try and do that’ they are often only agreeing to have a go….and not to complete the task. Smile at them and ask: ‘Are you going to try and do it, or do it?’ They will now have to think about it and make a firm commitment.

3) Ask ‘what’ instead of ‘why’. This is because ‘why’ questions can ‘rubberband’ us back to old home or school situations and we feel the same way as we did when asked ‘why haven’t you tidied your room’ or ‘why did you get that answer wrong?’ As kids we didn’t have a good answer – we were too young to know, and in our confusion we stopped thinking. Now we’re a big person this rubberband effect can cause us to close down our thinking again. However, if we get asked a question such as ‘what was your thinking there?’ or ‘what issues do you have?’ we are more likely to think coherently and provide useful information.

So that’s three quick tips for us all to use.

Next week we’ll have more fun with three really useful questions for leaders to ask.