In my article about my leadership beliefs, I mentioned that you’ve got to have a high standard of excellence. How do you achieve that? Of course, you have to set that standard and invite your team to commit to it. But how do you verify that they indeed do? A big part of that process is accomplished by asking questions.
1. Trust but verify
A strong leader will of course give her team the benefit of doubt, but will never blindly take what she’s being told at face value. Trust is good, but back it up with evidence and facts. So when a statement is made, a strong leader may often ask some questions to clarify, understand the full context, and ultimately, verify that the statement is logical, reasonable and true.
The bigger the team becomes, the more important it is to ask these kinds of questions, sometimes by asking directly the right person down the chain of command. Not that we don’t trust our intermediate managers, but again, information flows and may lose its context and details in that chain, so asking the right person the questions with a deeper level of details can help the leader keep a pulse on what’s really happening. This keeps the leader grounded and down to earth.
The contrary would give some “mid managers” wiggle room to manipulate, sugar coat issues, only deliver good news but somehow hide the not so good news, and ultimately could lead to disastrous results. A strong leader will always listen to every one from different perspectives, as opposed to only listening to a selected few and believe in what they have to say at face value. Failing to do so opens the door to bias and deceit.
2. The five whys
Nothing is more frustrating than getting answers that are superficial, fluffy and don’t address the root cause. I learned this many years ago by working with Ram Fish. He would never allow his team to stay at the surface level and would always challenge them to dive deeper.
Later on, when I started working more closely on the supply chain, I discovered that this five why method has deep roots in the Kanban method. This framework forces the team to face what’s really going on and trouble shoot the root cause, as opposed to taking some surface level excuse and fail to address the real issue.
Sometimes I use this method with my children.
- I was late to school.
-Why?
-Because I didn’t wake up on time.
-Why?
-Because my alarm didn’t go off.
-Why?
-Because my phone was out of battery.
-Why?
-Because I forgot to charge it.
-Well, always remember to charge your phone. Also, should we get you a real alarm clock?
To this day, both in my previous leadership roles and now at my own startup, if any one gives me an answer that looks like a copy and paste, I would always challenge them to explain it in their own words. Once they start describing it, I would then follow up with a deeper level question that takes them down another level closer to the root. By doing this exercise, they learn to find out and present all the relevant information in a nutshell from the get go, as opposed to giving out shallow answers without thoughts or analyses.
3. Use questions as a way to teach
Of course, anyone that has gone through law school knows and is probably still terrified at the Socratic method. The method focuses on encouraging critical thinking and challenging the presuppositions. We are helping our team and ourselves to truly understand whether our assumptions, logic and evidence are sound.
We start off by asking the team a question as opposed to giving them the “right answer”. Once they respond to our question, we help our team examine their assumptions and hypothesis by digging deeper. It may not be a comfortable conversation, as we are constantly challenging their beliefs at the next level. However, once we guide them through this process, they learn by examining their assumptions and arriving at the right conclusions on their own, as opposed to being told.
Of course, the application of this method needs to be build on pre established premise that we are having an intellectual conversation for the benefit to learn, not to criticize or demoralize. Taken in the wrong light or without understanding the context, the team may feel intimidated or challenged. Establishing the right purpose from the onset and building the mutual trust before diving into this Q and A is critical.
4. No need to argue, just ask more questions
A leader that I respect and learned from a great deal taught me this one. In some conflicts or heated discussions, asking questions is a good way to draw people’s attention to the real issue without having a direct confrontation.
In this case, asking the right questions is a way to help the other party recognize that their point of view or thought process may be flawed, and help them see for themselves that they are wrong.
Instead of facing the conflict head on and fighting it out, this is a gracious way to engage in a dialogue and guide the opponents through a thought process, and let them arrive at the conclusion themselves.
This is especially effective if say, you are not inclined to engage in direct conflicts with people, for various reasons. Therefore, in a world where strong, outspoken women can still be perceived as the “B” word, asking questions graciously and calmly can be a very effective tool.
5. We learn more by asking and listening
Last but not least, of course we ask questions because we are curious and are interested in listening to what the other person has to say.
This is very motivating to many junior members of the team and they get the opportunity to shine and present their knowledge. By listening and observing their demeanor we also learn a lot about their performance, their strengths and sometimes their areas for improvement.
Ultimately, no one likes leaders who are arrogant and are only there to preach. Listening to the team and asking the right follow up questions keeps them engaged and motivated, and at the same time on their toes because they know whatever they say, you may follow up the next why.
Finally, a good leader must stay humble. They must not pretend that they know everything. This is the difference between the “know it all” and “learn it all” attitude that I wrote about repeatedly, inspired by the great Satya Natella. Stay curious and keep an open mind, and ask the right questions to the right people. This will make you a stronger leader and your team a stronger team.
コメント