The Power of a Good Question

Leaders sometimes feel like they have to tell others what they need to know and what they need to do. But, it is far more important for a Legacy Leader to be able to ask a good question! The best question for a Legacy Leader to ask always starts with what. You might think “why”questions would be better but most followers hear “why” questions as accusations. Some leaders think “how” questions reveal the best results but when followers hear how questions they too often get lost in processes and procedures from their past. “What” questions tend to require followers to think more about where to go in the future.

Not just any “what” question will do, however. The “what” questions that help the most are questions like: what do you think we should do? What do you think might happen if we did X? What does this mean to our team? And questions of this type. These questions are asking followers to explore possibilities and dreams. These questions begin to lay the ground work for action. They also tell the followers that the leader is interested in their ideas. The power of these questions is amazing and the Legacy Leader realizes how much this engages the team and energizes team members.

Here’s an exercise for you try. Think of things that you want your team to do or plan and then write down a few short, open “what” questions that will get them to start thinking about what you need them to plan or do. Open questions can’t be answered with a few words. They require thought and explanation. Some examples of these types of questions are: 1) What do you think is the most important thing for us to get done in the next 90 days and what about that action do you think that will make a big difference for us? 2) What 3 obstacles do you see holding us back and what do you think will help us reduce the impact of those obstacles? 3) What gaps do you think exist in our processes and/or personnel? What should we do about that? When we get people to engage in thoughtful reflection regarding how our organization functions, we increase the probability of engagement and ownership. With greater engagement and ownership, we increase commitment, and this leads to more focused and higher energy actions. This is usually the foundation for improved success rates and higher satisfaction.