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Leaders’ Questions

To become a good leader, you must ask questions. That holds true throughout your career and during your first leadership assignments. The more questions leaders ask, the better they are at leading. Never worry about looking foolish or ignorant when asking a question; instead be surprised that people will respect you for doing so because it shows that you don’t know everything.

Motivational speaker and self-help author Anthony Robbins says, “Great questions create great lives.” Great leaders ask important questions for eight different reasons.

  1. “Asking questions is the path to self-education. Don’t worry about looking stupid when you ask a question. As Richard Thalheimer said, it’s better to look uninformed than be uninformed.”

  2. “Questions unlock and open doors” – by asking questions, we can learn a lot about the subject.

  3. Questions are the most effective means of communicating with people. Asking the right questions will help you identify who is best able to answer them and get a discussion going. Great talk show hosts use questions in order to engage their audience. Questions also help strengthen ideas as more feedback can be provided by asking questions of others.

  4. Asking questions is important. Asking people for their perspectives can help get you information that will inform your assumptions and give a different perspective on things.

  5. To get new ideas, you need to ask the right questions. This will open your mind and allow you to discover things that are not yet known.

Questions Leaders Ask Themselves

Socrates said that the unexamined life is not worth living. An amendment to his point of view might assert that the leader who isn’t self-aware and doesn’t examine himself or herself is not worth following.

John Wooden, a legendary basketball coach from the UCLA Bruins, developed seven questions you can ask yourself to assess your leadership skills. The questions are:

  1. “Am I investing in myself?” – An investment like this is the most important one you can make. Your confidence will determine your success and happiness.

  2. When leaders are effective, they make sure their people come first. A leader can be successful if he or she is able to answer questions such as “Can you help me?” and “Do you care for me?”. Leaders must also remember that they’re only human; otherwise, they’ll get carried away by the power of their position.

  3. Coach John Wooden would ask himself, “Am I adding value to my team?” He would then try to figure out how he could make his team better. He encouraged and supported his players by finding ways to improve them.

  4. To be successful, you should focus on your strengths and not try to improve your weaknesses. You must also concentrate on the day at hand and make it count.

  5. “How can I tell if the people on my team are good enough?” – Choose your teammates based on their personalities and skills. For example, they should be able to grow personally and professionally, have strong values, etc.

Questions for Team Members

The questions leaders ask their employees affect the company culture. If you ask the right questions, your employees will be encouraged to dream about what they want to accomplish and improve their work ethic. They’ll also be more productive in doing so.

As a leader, you need to understand your team members. You can do that by asking the right questions. Ask them what they think and how they feel about certain things. Demonstrate that you care for them and their well-being by showing concern for any issues or problems they might have. Always communicate with your team so everyone is on the same page. Make sure to go above and beyond what’s expected of you because it will win others’ approval in the long run.

Good Leaders Ask Great Questions Book Summary, by John C. Maxwell