Leading With Powerful Questions

Leading With Powerful Questions

In order to be an effective leader, you need to know how to ask powerful questions. Discover the difference between good and bad questions, and learn how to use them to your advantage.

It is not the answer that enlightens but the question. – Eugene Jones

“If you want to control the room,” my Comm’s prof insidiously remarked, “ask questions.” Of course, that can be abused and manipulated for your power. But, if you have a mindset ready for serving your team, you can steward a powerful culture where questions and ideas move a team towards solutions.

There are no bad questions – only terrible questions and powerful ones!

Good questions lead to effective action. Crazy questions lead to pitfalls, rabbit holes, incredibly long and boring meetings, being blindsided and costly mistakes. Understanding what makes a good question that will serve your team is essential. It’s a lie and a myth that there are no bad questions. Let’s stop saying that!

What makes a Good Question?

Good Question! Here are the top questions and why they are good.

1) Clarifying Questions

Questions that get underneath the surface and reveal what a person wants work. The whole team can gain perspective and awareness about each other “What is important here?”, “Who is in charge?” “What is happening?” and “How are we proceeding?” make good questions. Most teams get stuck when these questions go unasked. What good question do you have to bring clarity out of your team?

2) You already know about Open Questions but…

Open-ended questions are more than questions that can’t be answered with “yes” or “no.” Think about open-ended questions opening up the possibilities your team hasn’t thought of yet. These questions are open to what hasn’t been said, @Michael Bungay Stainer’s famous lazy question is, “What else?” You can’t get more open than that! What open-ended question do you want to try? ( open-ended question right there).

3) Short Questions with no Set Up are Great

Good conversations are those when you talk less than 15% of the time. When you ask good short questions you are steering the people you value and you prove it. You value their input and their ideas more than what is in your head. Imagine you are a detective, and what you know is not going to come out… but you want everything to come out of your team. You need to speak less and ask short quippy questions that create room for others to do this.

4) Ask One Question at a Time

I learned to ask better questions by observing when people told me, “I don’t understand. Can you ask that again?” Pay attention to that – it means you’re figuring out how to be a better FBI interrogating Question pro. When we ask “Stacked Questions?” we give people too much than what they can handle. If a question is excellent, you’ll remember it later. Have you ever been the person who can polish a stack of pancakes and savour every one? Probably not… Think about going to a fancy french crepe place where the variety of crepes is brought out one at a time. Let your people dive deep into a question.

5) Good Questions Produce Silence

The best questions may make you feel like you asked a poor one. Someone stops. They don’t say anything! They look up and to the left (seriously – there is neuroscience about this, but I’m too lazy to look it up). Sometimes you might be uncomfortable with silence. Take it as a gift. They are working and you have a chance to play “silence chicken.” When you notice silence play the game – who is going to speak first. Only you know the rules and the winner. You can win every time. When there is quiet your room or person is doing the hard work of processing. Don’t interrupt it. And then, when they say something, turn it around and follow it with an open question – “What else?” See if you can win your game again.

Cultivate a Leadership Based on Curiosity

The more you question, the more you lead.

You are the learner, and provide the space for people to see what a genius you are at listening and making future connections with what they already said, with another question. As you practice leading with powerful questions you develop a “learning team.” That pursues the growth and achievements of everyone. “Learning organizations are a space for generative conversations and concerted action.” Senge the organizational sage declares. “In them, language functions as a device for connection, invention and coordination. What they know takes a second place to what they can learn, and simplistic answers are always less important than penetrating questions.”

[1] Kofman, F. & Senge, P. M. (1995) “Communities of Commitment: The Heart of Learning Organizations” in Learning Organization: Developing Cultures for Tomorrow’s Workplace. Chawla, S. & Renesch, J (eds.) Portland, OR: Productivity Press, 33.