Most leaders these days appreciate that asking questions is a very powerful tool to engage and empower their teams.
Whilst many leaders do ask questions, unfortunately they are not empowering questions and so they do not then see the positive results that they would otherwise see. So, what do I mean by a disempowering question?
Some examples of disempowering questions are:
· Why are you behind schedule? (accusatory)
· Don’t you agree with me? (manipulating/controlling)
· Who isn’t getting results? (blaming)
· Do you think you could try x? (leading)
Too often, we ask questions that disempower rather than empower our team and then wonder why people aren’t feeling valued and engaged.
Is it time to be honest with yourself and tune in to the questions you are asking?
Maybe you are asking questions BUT are you asking the right ones?