Great Leaders Ask Questions | Book Review

Do you know the three of four events of their lives
that have shaped who they are today? (p. 26)

Asks Cheryl Bachelder in Dare to Serve. How well do we know each other, or how do we gain insights into someone's instinctive or motivational needs? We learn from our Energize2Lead (E2L) profiles that without understand our hardwired tendencies, we're unlikely to make fundamental leadership connections.

Bob Tiede's concise work gets right to the heart of the matter: Leaders coach. Leaders listen. Leaders do this by asking questions. Unfortunately, active listening is not natural for many of us, and even when attempting to hear others, we're often waiting to speak rather than shifting our focus from what we want to what others are saying.

Consider the mindset leading to the three forms of feedback: Appreciation, evaluation, and coaching (thanks to Shiela Heen). When we feel thankfulness or gratitude, appreciation is a very natural response. In our modern, technical world we're comfortable with measurable processes. Engineering is a great example. It naturally follows that if we can readily measure something, it's easy for an evaluative mindset to form. That leaves us with coaching. What leads to coaching? Perhaps coaching is an expression of agape love, which may sound soft and squishy. We seem less comfortable with this less objective, less measurable mindset.

Consider a spectrum of questions: Passive, Active and Trigger (see Marshall Goldsmith) or Power, spanning from ineffective to possibly life changing.

Passive Questions

An easy way to think about passive questions are those which may be simply answered ''yes' or 'no.' More significantly, no mental energy or reflection is required to answer. Similarly, the question frequently results from a passive or uncaring mindset. A thoughtless, wasted exchange of words.

Active Questions

Active questions, on the other hand, are not readily answered 'yes' or 'no,' requiring consideration and thought by the respondent. When in a leader role, we should replace passive questions with active questions. If we're used to passing along orders or evaluating, this may feel uncomfortable at first. Here's several of Tiede's questions we may consider active.

How can we do this in a way that will guarantee its failure? (p. 7) A very fun question, a pre-mortem question useful for identifying key success factors in advance.

What can I do to help you be more effective? (p. 16). A classic coaching question, and an expression of caring and support. We may receive tough, yet sincere feedback when asking this.

I hear your complaint? What is your request? (p. 19). Coaching judo. This question redirects negative energy to a positive approach for improvement.

What are three things that you could do in the net ninety days that would make a 50% difference in where you'll end the year? (p. 33). A more focused coaching question, utilizing the Pareto Principle (20/80 Rule), or what we call High Payoff Activities (HPAs) in our Setting Leadership Priorities workshops. This very active question usually requires one to challenge assumptions, especially how much control we really have over a given situation.

Trigger/Power

Trigger questions go beyond an active response are are intended to spark insight or inspiration. Tiede uses an equivalent term - Power Questions. Here's a couple good ones:

Would you please tell me your story? (p 8) Great question for a new leader. Create the right setting allowing for an extended answer. Take notes.

What's on your schedule? Who's on your heart? How can I pray for you? (p. 15) These questions, especially the latter two, may require strong relational capacity before asking. In a safe environment though, the response could be transformative.

Who has opened doors for you? What doors can you open for others? (p 31). Pay it forward. When we challenge others to develop others, we're forming a leadership pipeline, and creating an environment of continuous improvement and likely, innovation. A most powerful leader question.

A very tough question regarding toleration & accountability: What is the one thing you know you need to do to remove this energy drain, and when will you do it? (p. 45) This is a question that may require repetition, especially if addressing an organizational sacred cow. First rate coaching.

Maybe my favorite: What are your dreams? (p. 52), like the Personal Dreams and Goals assignment from our Aligning and Accomplishing Goals workshop.

Summary

One of Tiede's favorite questions: What do I believe is impossible to do in my field but if could be done would fundamentally change my business? (p. 59). Imaging yourself launching a series of follow-on coaching questions allowing someone to turn their own impossible dream into reality. That's powerful. My parting question:

What triggers gratitude in you? 

Note: Bob Tiede generously provided a copy of his book for review.