Are You Asking the Wrong Questions? How Better Questions Create Better Leaders
Great leaders don’t have all the answers - they ask the best questions. -- John Maxwell
Think about the last time you walked into a situation facing a major challenge. Maybe sales had taken a sudden dip, the team seemed disengaged, you’ve just read a very negative customer feedback survey, or an inventory issue was creating chaos. As a leader, your instinct might be to jump in right away with solutions, offer quick fixes, or take control of the situation. But what if the real key to solving the problem wasn’t having the right answer but asking the right questions? Great leaders don’t tell people what to do. They create curiosity, uncover insights, and empower their teams by leading with better questions. The quality of your leadership isn’t measured by how much you know. It is measured by the outcomes over time.
Solving a problem once rarely is the answer to the larger issue at hand. In any of the instances mentioned above, sales, team engagement, customer issues, or inventory challenges have a root cause to them. Only by understanding why something is happening can you fully address it. And solving it once doesn’t help anyone in the future. We’ve all heard the saying, “Give them a fish and feed them for the day. But teach them to fish, and you’ll feed them for a lifetime.” That applies to nearly everything we do in leadership. Our role is not to put food on the table today; it is to ensure that our teams can support themselves in our absence every day. Asking great questions does that.
By asking open-ended questions and being curious, leaders can empower their teams to think critically and develop their problem-solving skills.
Foundations for Great Questions
The foundation of asking better questions comes from three critical components: curiosity, empathy, and courage. Let’s look at each of these a little closer to understand how you can put these to work for you in using questions to solve problems.
Curiosity - This is at the root of all questions. If you're not interested in what the answer is, good, bad, or indifferent, then why ask it? Curiosity is fundamental to good leadership, and it is unbelievable that it is not discussed more than it is. The best way to engage other people is to show interest and curiosity about a subject. In my article, “5 Ways to Build This Critical Leadership Skill – Curiosity,” I discuss how to further develop your muscles around curiosity. But, truly, it has to come from within. You have to want to learn more for curiosity to help lead you to better questions. When it does, you will begin to uncover a lot of new and different ideas and information.
Empathy - Without the proper levels of empathy, curiosity can quickly sound a lot like interrogation. Asking rapid-fire questions without trying to understand where the responses are coming from will lead to poor outcomes (in almost every way). See more below on How You Ask Questions Is As Important As The Questions You Ask. Empathy finds its way into nearly everything we do as leaders. Why? Because leadership is a people driven activity. Empathy is inherently connected to people, so they will always go hand in hand. Empathy will also power your listening so you can create those connections, which ties back to curiosity and the fuel that pushes better questions forward.
Courage - There is always a need to ask the tough questions that often go unasked. It takes courage to push through the difficulties of getting to a sometimes uncomfortable area. Good questions are meant to uncover problems, obstacles, and unconscious barriers. Naturally, you are likely to find yourself in a place that may feel uneasy for everyone involved. Again, this is where the weight of our first two components comes into play. Questions asked with true curiosity and empathy, while difficult, won’t result in shutting down or long-term negative impacts. But, the courage to ask the tough questions is what will set the very best leaders apart from others. They dig in, knowing that they are doing it in the best interest of everyone.
How You Ask Questions Is As Important As The Questions You Ask
“Why did that happen the way that it did?” Good question or accusatory? The answer probably depends on how it was asked, and who asked it. Right? On the surface, it is a simple question trying to understand how the outcome occurred. But I bet you are playing that same question over in your head with different people’s voices and demeanor, thinking about how different it sounds when someone you trust asks that question versus someone you know is looking to place blame. In one situation, the response will share the actual actions, conversations, and decisions that led to the result. In the other, protecting oneself, defensiveness, and deflecting immediately kick in. One question, different situations, and the future will also be wildly different.
In a trusting environment, where that question was asked out of honest curiosity and with empathy, the right changes will be made, and the team will be set up for success in the future. In the other, the real issues are not uncovered, and the risk of repeating those or similar actions in the future increases dramatically, limiting the success and adding time and expense to the equation.
Building a culture, an environment where questions can be asked without fear of reprisal is often the differentiator between large-scale success and slow decline. As with many things, it is not always about the what but the how that matters most. Asking great questions clearly falls into that category.
Questions are a powerful tool in every leader's toolbelt for developing people and the business. Done skillfully, they arguably are all a leader should need to do. Through curiosity, empathy, and courage, they will ask questions that elicit a thoughtful and meaningful response. They will cut to the core of the issue but not the person. Questions remove barriers and create the possibility of innovation. They will move you from the status quo to new opportunities. In short, asking great questions will always give you the answers you need to find lasting success for yourself, your team, and your business overall.
In the next article, we will cover the right types of questions to ask at the right time.
How will you think differently about asking better questions with your team?
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