A good business leader asks questions. Questions are powerful. They help us to learn. They prompt new thinking. They invite other to participate. Good questions are a vital part of the elixir of success. Here are five questions that you should try to use regularly to broaden your influence and help you achieve greater success.
What’s going on?
This is the quintessential open-ended status question. Too often leaders walk into a meeting and begin a series of status questions that focus on whatever assignment the group has been assigned. Status questions are important. They are a vital part of keeping projects on task. But, these questions are generally close-ended and even if they aren’t, the scope of their responses generally is. Have you ever been in a workgroup where the most critical challenge facing the team has nothing to do with project variables or constraints? Maybe there is some interpersonal roadblock or a concern elsewhere in the organization that has drawn the team’s focus to such an extent that progress has come to a halt. In this case, closed-ended status questions may not reveal the critical concern.
Whenever I visit a client or whenever I have a project status meeting, I start with, “What’s going on?” It’s such a versatile question. If the critical concerns are project-related, that information will come out, but if there is some other issue that I am not aware of, the use of the open-ended status question may be the best and potentially the only way to bring it to the surface.
Another part of the open-ended approach to starting a status conversation is that it invites people to tell the story they want to tell, not the one you are asking for. By inviting the other person to tell their story, they will be more grateful for the opportunity you gave them to tell it. This expands your influence and grows your relationship.
What am I missing?
I firmly believe that if you do not carry yourself like you know everything, no one will ever hold it against you if you don’t. The question, “What am I missing?” is an exercise in humility. When you use this powerful question, you are advertising the fact that you don’t believe you have all the information or understand the situation from all perspectives. You invite and enroll others to improve your understanding of things and honor those by telling them that you value their contribution and their perspective. Even those individuals who might be aloof or standoffish cannot help to put themselves on your team, because you are discretely asking for help by sharing their thoughts and ideas.
Can you help me understand something?
From a practical standpoint asking, “Can you help me understand something?” is a great way to unobtrusively express skepticism for the ideas of others or a group’s understanding of a situation. This question allows you to lay out your understanding of the situation and the conclusions you are drawing from it. By framing the discussion this way, you are not questioning the conclusions of others, you are laying out your thinking and inviting others to find your error or the missing piece of information. It sets up the critique of you and takes the pressure off of others. Because you imply that you think you have made an error, this advertises your humility and is ingratiating (or at least non-combative) even toward those whom you are challenging.
What has been happening over time?
It has been my experience that most people have a recency bias. This means that people have a tendency to attribute causes of events to recent phenomena. While looking at the recent past may be very informative, a recency bias often tricks us into thinking the most recent occurrence is the problem rather than merely the most recent manifestation of a deeper systemic problem. Taking a larger historical perspective, by asking questions like, “What has been happening over time?” can often bring to light longer-term trends that created the context that made today’s struggles possible or which make problems resistant to resolution.
Attempting to solve problems without historical context runs the risk of treating the symptom, rather than the disease. When the solutions developed with this impaired understanding inevitably fail, this is a recipe for disillusionment and cynicism.
When defining problems we need to think systemically. It is vitally important to observe trends in vital functional areas throughout and beyond the limits of the organization. All socio-technical systems are an integrated system of such diverse aspects as customers, technology, people, and external environment. Changes in one aspect necessarily impact other areas of the system. Effective leadership requires firms to adapt the organizational system to respond to those changes. Firms that cannot adapt—clinging to a structure adapted to the past—will increasingly find themselves unable to function in the present, much less the future.
By taking a larger, historical perspective in problem solving, we advertise that we think strategically and are capable of articulating a compelling vision for folks to follow. This perspective helps you earn a reputation of being a clear thinker who can rapidly zone in on the nature of problems and identify paths forward that give the greatest chance of success.
How can I help you with that?
Perhaps the most powerful question I routinely ask is, “How can I help you with that?” Everyone has a list of goals, challenges, and desires. Few of us have enough time, energy, and allies to help us achieve those items on our lists. But we can make other people’s lists a priority for ourselves. By doing this, we can engage one of the most powerful tools of influence, the Law of Reciprocity. If I help you to achieve a cherished goal, you are inclined to help me achieve one of mine. We so rarely find people who, proactively, find ways to be helpful that those who do can often stand out from the crowd.
I have long believed that the quickest path to success is to help as many people as possible. People are generally good and noble people and when we make the effort to help others, the mass impact of having so many people on our side gives us the power to transcend all sorts of obstacles that we couldn’t overcome alone.
Good leaders make use of questions. Questions allow you to gain more information, cultivate relationships with your team members, while still tackling organizational problems. Questions like these, will help you become a more credible, effective leader, while helping your cultivate a number of allies who are committed to your success.
