Ask More Questions
May 9, 2008
Ask More Questions
By Gene Swindell
The Voice of Change™
Rather than answers, leaders must have more questions.
“Am I providing the leadership you need?”
“What can I do to improve your skills?”
“How can I help you get promoted?”
“Where can you be most effective?”
Leadership is serving. The law of reciprocity continues to be prominent … if you give, you get… and the art of probing is an overlooked communication skill.
The fundamental principle of leadership is understanding the people you lead. If you want to be successful as a leader, discover what people want and help them achieve it. Your success comes when you are helping other people achieve what is important to them.
In my leadership seminars, one of the most asked questions is “How do I motivate my people?” Two things every leader must realize: (1) People do things for their reasons, not yours, and (2) they do things in their time frame, not yours. So, we must learn to ask, “What motivates you?” “What do you really want?” “How can I help you get it?”
These principles will be dominate characteristics in effective leaders throughout this century. Leaders will have to remain flexible, to change instantly, and initiate action at blinding speed. Work statisticians report that approximately ten percent of people in the world are responsible for initiating 90 percent of productive action that occurs every day. That means about 90 percent of those people are content to follow where others lead … not as robots, but as stakeholders, as teammates, as partners in every aspect of business.
Gene Swindell works with companies that want to create a competitive advantage by strengthening the framework of their organization. Call 770-926-1395 or on-line www.geneswindell.com
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