Just Ask

Great leaders share many of the same characteristics. You’ve read them or heard them before. Hopefully, a leader you follow shares them, and you probably share many, if not all of them, as well. Leaders are great communicators, trustworthy, influential, decision-makers, loyal, technically proficient, confident, and on and on. Based on lists like this, one could get the impression that leaders can do it all, know it all, and be all things to all people.

Fact – This could not be any further from the truth.

Leaders do NOT know it all. And the greatest leaders KNOW they don’t know it all. I am convinced that one of the greatest gifts of leadership is to know just enough to ask the right questions.

Asking questions increases the leader’s knowledge. It also keeps the leader engaged, and helps the leader’s team to see humanity and humility in the leader, while building value in team members. So how does it work?

1. Admit to yourself that you really do not know it all and you do not have all the answers. I’ll let you in on a secret… your team knows this to be true anyway. So, the sooner you admit it, the more real and honest you will appear to your team. The kind of pride and arrogance it takes to believe you can know it all and do it all by yourself can be destructive to you as a leader.

2. Increase your overall awareness of the issues at hand. You need to have a clear understanding of what is going on and how it relates to the vision and direction you have set in place. Know your team; their strengths and weaknesses; their areas of expertise. As important as all of this, you also need to know what you don’t know.

3. Ask the right questions. “Asking the right questions takes as much skill as giving the right answers.” – Robert Half – The wrong questions lead to the wrong answers. The right questions can carry the conversation forward and lead to additional good questions and the RIGHT answers.

4. Check your motives. Asking questions of any kind for reasons other than genuine interest and a desire to learn and engage others in finding solutions will come off as fake and insincere. Ask questions with sincerity and a genuine willingness to learn and to use the answers to improve. Whether a team member, a colleague, a friend, or anyone else in your life, people want to be taken seriously and to be appreciated for their contributions. Make sure they know how much you appreciate their willingness to help.

“I don’t need any help.” “I know what I’m doing.” “I’ve got this.” “Yeah, I knew that.” These are statements that great leaders avoid saying at all costs. They know how valuable those around them are and that the wealth of knowledge they contain will be an invaluable asset to the team’s, and subsequently, the leader’s success. If you’re ever in doubt about the positive impact you can have on your team by asking the right questions, just ask them.

Your Turn:

• How is NOT asking questions a sign of pride?
• Any additional tips on asking the right questions?

Kevin Owens

Kevin serves as a key leader at The Church at Chapel Hill. He’s a father of 4 and an overall great guy whose blog can be read on Posterous. You can follow Kevin on Twitter.

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