Today’s leaders must rediscover an underappreciated skill: questioning. Leaders are often seen assuming that others turn to them for solutions. It probably boosts their confidence in their abilities. In fact, however, this strategy erodes trust, particularly at a time when so much is clearly unclear. If some leaders claim to have the answers to all the vital and emerging questions, they are either ignorant — that they are unaware of how quickly the world is changing — or they are lying. In any instance, they are not reliable.
Instead, leaders should pose compelling and inspiring questions, admit they don’t have the answers and enlist the assistance of others to find them. Great leaders are often concerned about this approach, fearing that it will make them appear inept. However, studies have shown that expressing vulnerability and asking for help sends a strong signal to others that you are trusting, and you are more likely to be trusted in return. In fact, learning to ask good questions can help you connect with others. Thinking together can help you solve difficult problems and spark creative thinking.
Ask Big Questions
To be clear, I’m not advocating asking difficult questions that put people in the position, such as “How can you achieve 10% more productivity?” or “Do you see anything lacking here?” Leaders should pose questions that inspire individuals to get together to explore huge new prospects that your company hasn’t yet discovered. Here are a few such examples:
- What fresh, unfulfilled demands do our clients have that we might meet with a whole new company?
- How can we best take use of other parties’ capabilities to meet a wider variety of client requirements?
- How can we make the leap from mass-produced items to individualized ones that cater to the tastes and preferences of each individual customer?
- How can we design supply chains that are more resilient to sudden changes in demand or supply?
- How can we utilize sensor technology to get insight into how consumers are using our goods so that we can better tailor our offerings to their needs and earn their trust?
If you’re worried that asking questions will be seen as a sign of weakness, you may put your mind at ease by directing them toward chances for growth rather than the organization’s current operations.
You can tell that you have ambition for the organization and a desire to take it further by asking such broad questions. You can add weight to your argument by demonstrating the existence of the long-term tendencies you’re bringing up in your inquiry, such as the emergence of new technologies that will likely present new opportunities or the emergence of significant unmet needs among customers.
Involve Others
The very nature of these questions inspires teamwork. To get the most out of them, avoid asking them in executive sessions. Share them with everyone in your company and beyond. When you ask a question of your community, you’re not just doing it for yourself; you’re also representing your company to its customers. Your business will advance more rapidly if you expand your search outside traditional academic channels in order to tap into the knowledge and insights of a more wide-ranging and representative group of individuals.
Consider Domino’s Pizza as an example. Domino’s heard complaints from consumers that their pizza was subpar over a decade ago. It’s possible that several establishments have attempted to bury this news or have been secretly working to fix the issue. Domino’s Pizza broke the mould. They invited the public for advice on how to enhance the quality of their pies and made public the comments they were getting. By leaving the door open to interpretation, the question prompted a flood of ideas that ended up being crucial to making the pizzas better.
But the effect went deeper than just open innovation: I think the corporation earned confidence from its consumers by showing its human side. At last, a business was prepared to admit it had an issue and seek outside assistance in fixing it. More businesses would succeed in regaining their consumers’ confidence if they were more humble enough to seek assistance from them when they hit a snag.
Change Your Culture
When individuals are feeling anxious, you may make them feel more at ease by asking them questions like these. According to the theory underlying group therapy, which has a long history in the area of psychology, being in the company of others may help alleviate anxiety. Feelings of helplessness may be conquered with the support of concrete accomplishments. Because of this, the questions you pose may help individuals centre their attention and calm down during a crisis by encouraging them to consider concrete steps they can do together in the near future.
As a leader, you may demonstrate the value you place on inquiry simply by asking questions. People will be motivated by you to look for chances and seek assistance when they are stuck. The institutions that will succeed in the future are the ones that encourage everyone to learn quicker and more quickly extend the value that they give to their stakeholders, and these actions contribute to a culture of learning, which is crucial.
This is particularly true if, instead of demanding definitive solutions, you instead promote the kind of investigation that yields novel hypotheses about possible solutions to your problems. This will motivate individuals to take baby steps at the beginning, which may rapidly add up to increased passion about the question as participants can fast begin to see progress. Share preliminary findings as they become available, even if they aren’t ground-breaking when solutions to your query emerge (via trials or study, for example). They’ll demonstrate to your stakeholders that your probing is yielding fresh ideas and adding to your culture of learning, which in turn will increase their trust in your procedures.
Leaders who are adept at asking penetrating questions are better able to seize opportunities and overcome obstacles, and their legacy will live on in the organizations they create.