One of the keys to becoming a highly effective leader is learning to ask great questions. By most definitions, a leader will need to become comfortable with a certain amount of ambiguity or fuzziness around the edges. This is because leadership is constantly evaluating whether the current mindset is correct
Leadership thinking goes beyond simply doing a good job or working really hard (although these traits are still required). Some have described leadership development as working on the soft skills and this is true in the sense that developing a person’s character and outlook is not so concrete as teaching someone to account for company expenses or repair a power tool.
Making improvements as a leader requires learning process skills. Most of us grow up and go out into a work world where we are given tasks to carry out. Once the task is complete, we move on to the next. Workers that grow up in organizational systems like this remain dependent on being told what to do and often do not cultivate leadership thinking tools. Carrying out essential tasks at all levels of family, group or organization is not bad … it’s necessary. It is also incomplete. At some point, the person who wants to become a leader must also work on new thinking skills.
Here’s an example. Managing could be compared to doing the very best “inside the box” or existing set of rules, policies and cultural norms. The manager in the strictest use of the word does not question the box. Instead, he or she works to maximize efficiency in the box. It’s like a gardener who must use an existing mower no matter how much it degrades over time without maintenance.
Leading, however, can be compared to looking for and deciding on which box to use. Too often, poor outcomes are not the result of bad people in the system as much as the natural result of a bad system. Thinking about the overall system and suggesting or causing change is the bread-and-butter of a leader. This is like a gardener who has full authority to buy a new mower when needed rather than trying to just get along with a sub-par machine.
So let’s talk about great questions. Advancing in this skill of questioning means growing in self-awareness, maturity, systems thinking and curiosity.
Self-Awareness
A leader’s journey begins and matures from the inside out. This is because it is very difficult to question an organizational outlook without doing so inside first. Said another way, changing inside will cause the person to influence change in the external world of work and family. For example, if I think a particular food tastes bad because it looks bad, I will have a hard time persuading others to try it. If I have tried the food and found it good, it is much more convincing to encourage someone else to try too.
Lesson – I must ask great questions of myself before I can do so of others.
Maturity
One of my favorite definitions of maturity is by Stephen Covey. He defines maturity as the balance of “courage and consideration.” (Covey, 1989) This means courage to say and do the right thing combined with consideration to do it in a kind way.
Lesson – Great questions require I ask hard things in a kind way.
Systems Thinking
Dr. Deming was an insightful teacher on systems thinking. One of his teaching tools was “The Red Bead” experiment.* Deming called this a silly game but he was passionate about the profound implications for the systems thinking student. A leader in search of a “new box” must first understand the entire existing box, not just a little piece of it. Misunderstanding the current paradigm means the would-be leadership student will likely make the problem worse rather than finding real, long-term solutions.
Lesson – Great questions come out of viewing the individual trees AND the forest at large.
Curiosity
I believe all of us are naturally curious from childhood. Often this curiosity is silenced as we grow and try to become more adult-like. In reality, curiosity is a critical skill for a leader. Without this tool, leadership growth is severely stunted or non-existent.
Innocent curiosity allows the so-called sophisticated to uncover new ways of thinking which lead to new and better ways of doing. I don’t know about you but every so often my children have asked very simple yet equally profound questions because they were just curious. How about re-discovering that skill for the good of your part of the world?
Lesson – There really are no dumb questions in the leadership quest. If you think it, ask it … in a nice way of course!
Now just imagine the great questions that can come out of self-awareness, maturity, systems thinking and curiosity! Give it a try!
Reference
Covey, Stephen R. (1989). 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. New York, NY. Fireside Publishers.
* www.RedBead.com
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