Entrepreneur and author Scott
Fay shares that the quality of answers we get in life depends on the quality of
questions we ask! This sage advice comes from a leader who knows how to lead
diverse work teams and turn struggling business around to ones that focus as
much on people as they do profits. Such advice has me thinking out loud about
what would happen if we change our approach to leading teams from telling to asking?
If you are like me, I often
had to conduct the annual performance evaluations with direct reports year
after year. Granted, I would implement the “good news/bad news” method of
pinpointing areas of performance where I believed the team member was excelling
as well as areas for development. It finally occurred to me that whereas such
methods may be effective in justifying annual raises, it did little to increase
their actual performance or increase their potential for development since such
feedback only occurred once a year.
Further,
such evaluations addressed only their current job performance. The trick, I
decided, was to provide on-going feedback and discussion. Launching pads for such
discussion was usually when the staff member had a significant win or when they
experienced a challenging situation. We would deconstruct both to determine
what we could learn from either scenario. Here’s the thing, instead of me just
stating my observations, I would ask questions similar to what a
performance or executive coach would ask in order to bring important learning
and needed course corrections to light.
Such an approach, often
described as a coaching style of supervision has gained a great deal of
attention and traction in the private sector. Such a style has been demonstrated
as particularly effective with millennial staff members according the 2015
Gallup Report on how Millennials want to live and work. Specifically,
millennial workers who experienced a leadership style that focused on them as
both individuals and employees reported higher levels of workplace engagement
and retention. This is especially important in light of the fact that
Millennials now compose the largest generational cohort in the workplace.
So, if such an approach is unknown
or unfamiliar to you, what types of questions could you apply to your own
supervisory practice? Below are some general categories but I encourage you to
expand upon my own ideas and customize to your industry and the type of people
you supervise.
Mattering
Questions – Perhaps the most important work of leadership is helping
people know that they matter! These are questions that let a team member know
you are interested and care for them as a person. Listening to their answers as
well as sharing your own is guaranteed to strengthen the working relationship
and, often, proactively address any potential misunderstandings that so often
permeate the work place. Mark Cole, CEO of the John Maxwell Company, offers the
following to get you started. At minimum, you should ask and understand the
following for each member of your team:
- What are the present contexts of their work in terms of what they do and the physical, social, and organizational environment they do it in?
- What is their background in terms history, education, where they grew up, career path, etc.?
- What is their temperament in regard to dealing with clients, co-workers, vendors etc.? Are they a morning person? What “pushes their buttons” or pet peeves? Do you like social chit-chat, or do you prefer to get right down to business when we meet?
- What are their abilities in terms of job skills, competencies, communication skills, talents, etc.?
- What are their dreams in terms of what matters to them now and in their future?
- What are their hurts in terms of things going on in their life that may distract them or impact how they come to work?
- What are their joys in terms of hobbies, community involvement, or what they do for fun?
- What are their priorities in both their work and personal lives?
- Who are the significant people in their lives in terms of children, pets, significant others, mentors, etc.
Obviously,
some of these questions are more personal than others so you may need to gauge
if the working relationship has developed to the level of trust where they
would feel comfortable answering. Also, you need to assure the staff member of the
confidentiality of their responses. Going first and sharing your responses will
go a long way in establishing a level of comfort with such questions.
Performance
Questions – This category of questions relates to their performance
in the workplace. Again, your first priority is to have them share their own
thoughts and ideas before offering your own.
- What is working well?
- Tell me about a recent accomplishment that you are proud of? Why was that a “win” to you? What did you learn that you can replicate in all aspects of your job?
- Tell me about a loss or challenging situation that you have recently experienced. Why do you think it turned out that way and what could you do to avoid such an outcome in the future?
- What are their Maintenance Goals (i.e. projections for certain day to day or incremental goals or benchmarks to achieve)?
- What are their Innovative Goals (i.e. projections, accomplishments, improvements, and/or aspirations tied to new projects, initiatives, etc.)?
- What do you contribute to the organization that rarely gets noticed?
- What aspect of your current job do you find tedious or unrewarding?
- Are there any co-workers or their own team members that they are struggling with? What can be done to help improve that situation?
- What resources do they need to do their job better?
- What do they think would make the organization better, more efficient, healthier, etc.?
- How can I help you in your work?
- What do you need me (as supervisor) to do more of, less of, start doing, or stop doing?
Development
Questions – This category of questions has a specific focus on professional
development and eventual career trajectory. As per the Gallup Report referenced
earlier, professional development and growth opportunities are especially
important to Millennial workers. In fact, the presence or lack of such opportunities
is a major element of whether or not they will be retained by the organization.
In my own practice, I often shared that I considered it part of my job to
prepare a team member for their next job if they so wanted such advancement.
- What are you learning right now?
- What are some of the present skill and knowledge gaps do you want to fill sooner than later?
- What professional development opportunities have you taken advantage of and what else would you like to experience?
- What would you like to improve upon in terms of knowledge-base or skill areas?
- What additional responsibilities would you like to be offered and when?
- Is there an organizational committee you would like to join or, at least, observe?
- Have you sought out a mentor in this organization or elsewhere? Do you want me to broker that relationship with someone?
- Is there someone you would like to “shadow” in the organization?
- What self-development activities are you currently or could implement? Are there some authors, topics, videos, etc. that you would like me to recommend?
- How are your current professional development opportunities and efforts aligning with your career goals?
Again, the ONLY way this will
work is if you ACT upon what you learn. If they want more responsibilities,
give it to them. If they want to serve on a committee so that they can meet
other members of the organization, find an opportunity that will help them do
just that. Also, do not feel you have to ask ALL the questions in one meeting.
During one-on -one meetings I would space out such questions so that after the
business was discussed, I would ask about holiday plans with parents, further
education goals and timelines, a conference they attended and what their
biggest “takeaways” were, or inquire if they had the resources or cooperation
they needed for a certain project. There will be natural entry points to ask
these questions as time in your role increases.
The
point of all of this is that leaders need to lead in an authentic and sincere manner.
You can still get work done but you can also do so in a way that pulls people
toward you versus pushes them further from you. Dianna Kokoska, is a senior
leader with Keller Williams, one of the nations leading real estate companies.
She shares that people grow into the
conversations you have around them. Having rich conversations based upon
carefully crafted and intentional questions will help any leader who is
responsible for others mine the gold that others have within them! The additional
benefit is that you are demonstrating and modeling how a team member can adopt
this asking
vs telling approach with their own teams. When we get to know our people
as people first and employees second, it opens the doors of trust and creates emotionally
safer work places.
I
challenge you this week to pick one question from the categories above and ask
each of your direct reports one of them. Believe me, there is nothing more
inspiring than to work with someone who is interested in you and your success!
As
always if I can help you and the people you associate with Get
Better, Be Ready and LEAD OUT LOUD, I would invite you to email me or to visit
my website below and see if any of the training or coaching experiences I offer
can provide an impact, especially when it comes to creating better teams! I am
also pleased to announce the launch of my first book, Leading Out Loud: Strategies for
Raising Your Leadership Voice! available on Amazon.com. Also, as a
bonus, if you go to my Out Loud Strategies website (www.outloudinc.com) and enter your
contact information, I will send you a FREE guide to establishing a mentoring
initiative program in your organization! Such an initiative would be critical
to add value to your organization!
Yours
in Leadership,
Bill
Faulkner
Principal
Consultant – Out Loud Strategies
Independent
Coach, Speaker, and Trainer with the John Maxwell Team TM
Email
= bill@outloudinc.com
Visit
our website at: www.outloudinc.com
For
more information on the John Maxwell Team, please visit
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