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Leading with Questions.pptx
- 1. Leading with Questions How Leaders Find the Right Solutions By Knowing What To Ask Michael J. Marquardt
- 2. WHY Leading by Questions? • Peter Drucker: The leader of the past may have been a person who knew how to tell, but the leader of the future will be a person who knows how to ask • John Kotter: The primary difference between leaders and managers is that leaders can ask the right questions whereas managers answer those questions. Doing the right thing is more important than doing the wrong thing well. • Center for Creative Leadership: The ultimate key to successful leadership is the leader’s ability to ask questions and create opportunities for others to ask questions.
- 3. Have you ever been asked a great question? • Why can’t you give me the picture you just took? – Daughter of Edwin Land, inventor of the Polaroid Camera • What might DNA look like in 3D form? – Watson and Crick, Discovery of double helix • Why did that apple fall on my head? – Isaac Newton, led to Newtonian Physics • What would happen if I were on the beam of light? – Albert Einstein, led to E=MC2 • How can I get a good hamburger on the road? – Ray Croc, McDonald’s
- 4. What Happens When We Do Not Ask Questions •Sinking of the Titanic •The Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster •The Bay of Pigs Invasion •Lost opportunities •Lost lives
- 5. Why People Do Not Ask Questions 1. Negative psychological experience with asking or answering questions that have generated fear and discomfort with questions or Ego 2. Lack of skills in asking or answering questions 3. Corporate cultures and working environments which discourage questions, especially those that challenge existing assumptions and policies 4. We are too often in a rush 5. Not prepared to ask questions 6. Who will question the Boss? 7. Lack of confidence to ask questions.
- 6. Benefits of a Questioning •Solve Problems and Improve Decision Making •Build high-performing teams •Spur innovation and systems thinking •Empower employees and customers •Energize People and Improve Relationships •Generate action and learning •Develop Leaders
- 7. What types of questions Leaders should be asking? • Leaders should be empathetic and ask good, not poor questions • Supportive • Insightful • Challenging • Unpresumptuous sharing spirit. • Generally, Open-ended not closed while a good mix is useful. • Not like an interrogation or investigation. • Not to be disempowering. • How Leaders should be asking this kind of question? • Leaders need to seek opportunities to further their knowledge by examining not only the questions they are asking but also how they ask them. • leaders to learn how to inspire hopeful optimism. • Leaders should not be fear-breeding judges. • Be away from reactionary. • Be away from being blame-filled. • leaders should ask “What has gone well and how can it be improved” rather than asking “what went wrong”
- 8. How Leaders should be asking this kind of question? • 5 Steps for leaders to use in a supportive manner 1. Break the ice. 2. Set the stage. 3. Ask what you want to ask. 4. Listen to the responses. 5. Follow-up. • Fundamentals in developing questioning culture • The key point he makes is that leaders need to move from “telling” to “asking”. • leaders must be prepared to create an environment that challenges the norm by integrating questions into daily practice. • People must know that questions are valued by accepting mistakes and rewarding questions. • leaders need to model this through their desire to learn and teach and through the cultivation of a trusting, safe environment where people know their opinions and important ideas are valued and they, in turn, value and appreciate others.
- 9. How to Ask Effective Questions • Questions for individuals that are supportive, insightful, challenging, and offered in an unpresumptuous sharing spirit” • Questions should generally be open rather than closed • should not seem like an interrogation. • disempowering questions should be avoided. • Leaders need to examine the questions they are asking and how they ask them. • Ask “What has gone well and how can it be improved” rather than asking “What went wrong” Question
- 10. Empowering and Disempowering Questions Disempowering Questions • Why are you behind schedule? • What’s the problem with this project? • Don’t you know better than that? Empowering Questions • What have you accomplished so far that you are most pleased with? • What key things need to happen to achieve the objectives • What kind of support do you need to ensure success?
- 11. Judging and Learning Questions Judging Questions •Why is this a failure? •What’s wrong with you? •Whose fault is it? •Why can’t you get it right? Learning Questions •What’s useful about this? •What possibilities does this open up? •What can we learn from this?
Editor's Notes
- his chapter talks about how disastrous it can be for leaders to prefer often providing answers rather than asking questions. Leaders are expected to know all the answers even before the questions have popped up in someone’s mind. Rather than striving to answer these unprepared questions, leaders should ask questions. The author also explains what happens if a leader does not ask questions. Giving instances of disasters like Titanic, he explains how the inability or unwillingness of leaders or people to ask questions led to the lives of thousands in just a matter of a few hours. When concerns are not raised in the form of questions, disasters tend to take place. This chapter elaborates on other incidents like the explosion of the Challenger, the Boat of Pigs fiasco and says that if concerns had been raised on time, these disasters could have been avoided.
- We don’t know how, or when to ask questions. Questions can be perceived as “an invitation, a request, or a missile”. Asking good questions require 2 good skills: What questions to ask and How to ask the right questions effectively
- Questions can reframe the problem/task so that the correct and most critical task is systemically examined Generate open, productive dialogue Enable creative, systems-thinking Assures working on the right problem and not the symptom Questions allow for understanding the context as well as the content of the problem, which is critical in problem-solving Generate actionable strategies and commitments Questions build trust, collaboration and cohesion among team members Questions help in clarifying and reaching consensus on goals and actions Questions help members at different levels of authority and expertise to provide valuable contributions Only through questioning each other can a group gain a common understanding and agreement of the problem, acquire a senses of each other’s potential strategies, and achieve innovative strategies Questions, asked at the right time and in the right way provide the “glue” that brings and holds a group together Questions encourage and enable others to share and to “shine” We like people who ask us questions and allow us to ask them questions Questions open people whereas statements cause resistance and fear Questions allow us to show our interest, concern, care, and support Questions tend to unite whereas statements tend to create divisions Questions>Reflection> Learning>Improved Action Questions cause the brain synapses to open and they remain open until we get the answer Allows us to internalize and tailor the learning so that it is more permanent and relevant Questions focuses our attention and causes us to listen and reflect more fully Questions generate learning even beyond the intention of the questioner Become a better listener and communicator Build greater self-awareness and humility Become better team member and leader Create continuous learning and improvement Build systems-thinking and creativity Demonstrate patience and respect for others Improve the creation and sharing of visions Change the questioner as much as the person asked Every leadership skill can be enhanced through the use of questions
- We don’t know how, or when to ask questions. Questions can be perceived as “an invitation, a request, or a missile”. Asking good questions require 2 good skills: What questions to ask and How to ask the right questions effectively