3 Dangerous Questions Leaders Should Ask Employees to Improve Engagement

13 05 2013

Guest Post by Joe Baker

The most powerful lever an organization has for improving employee engagement is their leaders.

CEOs

From supervisors to CEO, leaders are the organization’s primary ambassadors and energizers to its people. They set goals, clarify expectations, communicate direction, assign tasks, provide recognition, offer guidance, give feedback and clear roadblocks. All of these are important factors in helping people be emotionally committed to the organization and its goals as they get results.

But leaders too frequently approach these activities in a one-way manner (vs. a dialogue.) And while these activities are essential, they are not enough. Leaders who want maximum engagement from their people (and the higher financial returns that generally go along with higher engagement) need to be good at asking dangerous questions.

lever

Here are 3 questions leaders should ask regularly to help team members’ engagement:!

1.  “What do you like most about your job?”

I was in a project team meeting where the leader opened the meeting with this question. Not only did we learn some things about what was most engaging to team members. (By the way, everyone’s answer was different.) It was also incredible how this question helped each team member refocus on the positive aspects of their jobs. This question helped set a tone for the meeting and the entire team that helped engagement.

2.  “If you could change one thing about your job, what would it be?”

wayne-gretzkyOn the flip side of the last question, this one is difficult for many bosses to ask. After all, “what if they raise an issue that can’t do anything to change?” While this is a possibility, the words of hockey legend Wayne Gretzky ring true: “You miss 100% of the shots [at improving engagement] you never take.”

And even if an empathetic leader can’t fix the situation, he will still get credit for caring enough to ask – if he genuinely listens and shows a willingness to help.

Incredible how this question helped each team member refocus on the positive aspects of their jobs

3. “What do you want your career to look like 5-10 years from now?”

This question doesn’t have to be reserved for a job interview. When a trustworthy leader asks this in a way that gives permission for a team member to answer openly – even if the answer may describe a job in another department or another company – that communicates genuine care and commitment to the person. And that builds engagement.

When given the challenge and the permission to answer this question honestly, people recommit to roles, switch roles, and leave companies. Leaders need to be ok with all three of those possibilities, realizing that what is best for the person is best long-term for the organization, too.

One company I know incorporated questions like these into their annual performance review process, and this was a key part of efforts that ultimately increased engagement by 10%.

One final dangerous question for you: Is there an opportunity for you to help leaders in your organization (and yourself!) ask questions like these to more effectively engage the people they lead? 

Joe Baker Jr

Joe Baker is a partner with PeopleResults, a consultancy that guides organizations and individuals to “start the wave” of change. They have advised major clients including PepsiCo, McKesson, Microsoft, and many others on how to realize results through people. Previously an executive at Accenture, Joe is an executive coach and consultant specializing in leadership and team effectiveness, career development, and employee engagement, and he writes frequently on these topics. Contact him at jbaker@people-results.com or on Twitter at @JoeBakerJr.

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THREE QUESTIONS ALL LEADERS SHOULD ASK

6 05 2013
Guest Post by Jody R. Rogers

It is easy to lead…..poorly. While leadership content is easy to understand, implementing leadership concepts can be extremely challenging and, unfortunately, too difficult for some.

Becoming an effective, if not great, leader takes focus, a well thought-out plan, and determination. It requires a strong foundation of self-knowledge—e.g., personal values, principles, vision, and goals—and a clear understanding of one’s strengths and weaknesses in addition to a solid understanding of one’s emotional intelligence.

As important as the leader’s foundation is, creating or strengthening it isn’t that difficult. It starts with asking a few critical questions, engaging in introspection, and through consistent feedback. When facilitating or coaching leaders wishing to enhance their skills, I always start by asking them to take several days to answer: Who am I?, Who are you?, and Who are we? Answers to these basic yet powerful questions will go a long way to solidify a leader’s foundation.

Who Am I

Who Am I?

The importance of answering the first question, “Who Am I?”, cannot be overstated. Without a clear understanding of who the leader is, future leadership effectiveness is often short-lived and superficial; the ability to accomplish great goals will be severely weakened. Do you know your passions? Your vision, values, and beliefs? Your level of compassion for the organization and mission? How much are you willing to sacrifice for the organization? Answering these questions helps leaders understand their future role and the potential difference they can make.

The recent edition of Leader to Leader magazine (Spring 2011) reinforces the importance of self-discovery and introspection in developing our effectiveness as leaders. Included are two articles: one written by Richard Daft, the other by Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner that addresses the importance of leader authenticity. Both articles focus on the importance of knowing yourself and advocate for one of Jim and Barry’s key tenets of leadership development: one’s leadership journey starts with an inner journey.

Who Are You

Who Are You?

The second question aspiring leaders must ask is, “Who are you?”. Once leaders have a solid understanding of who they are and what they plan to contribute in their leadership role, they must turn to understanding those they are leading. The most effective leaders know their people intimately, not superficially. They remember names—including those of family members. They learn what their colleagues’ goals and desires are. They understand everyone’s roles, and they work hard to ensure everyone knows the importance of their contribution to the organization. While it is often not advised to become friends with those we lead, a leader must always strive to be friendly with co-workers, direct reports, and all others with whom they work. Being “friendly” means getting to know people and working to support the dreams and aspirations of others.

Who Are We

Who Are We?

The third and all-important question is, “Who are we?” Once we know who we are and who our colleagues are, as effective leaders we must begin the process of creating a team capable of meeting and/or exceeding job requirements. Leaders must see where everyone fits to form a highly functioning team that together accomplishes far more than what anyone could do individually. Creating such a team requires a leader who clearly articulates a vision, helps everyone understand their role, demonstrates what it will take to do the job well, ensures that all team members know how they will be held accountable, and determines how the team will be recognized and rewarded when the mission is accomplished. Team members who know their work matters and that their leader appreciates their contributions will work harder and longer than someone who thinks their contributions are not appreciated or valued.

Jody Rogers Web

Dr. Jody R. Rogers is a Visiting Professor at Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas and Program Manager for the Army Medical Department Executive Skills Program. He is a Board Certified Healthcare Executive, a Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) and has over 30 years of administrative and executive healthcare experience.  Dr. Rogers retired as a Lieutenant Colonel from the US Army as the Director of the US Army-Baylor University Graduate Program in Health Administration and has extensive experience in leader development among a variety of industries.  Dr. Rogers is an enthusiastic and experienced educator, facilitator, consultant, and speaker working with executives and administrators seeking to enhance their leadership effectiveness.  As a faculty member with the ACHE, Dr. Rogers has worked extensively with healthcare personnel in developing their leadership potential. Prior to becoming a Certified Master Facilitator for The Leadership Challenge®, Dr. Rogers’ presentations and workshops, entitled The Courage to Lead have been highly rated by participants. He can be reached at Jrogers5@satx.rr.com.

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Curiosity: Asking the Right Questions to Motivate, Manage & Lead

2 05 2013

Guest Post by Claire Laughlin - First posted on March 17, 2013 at www.managingamericans.com

Don’t you love the feeling of being curious? I associate it with awe, wonder, interest and spark. Imagine a company culture where this feeling exists at all levels, what a great tool to motivate, manage & lead employees. Unfortunately, as we develop our expertise and take on greater levels of responsibility, we often lose the natural instinct or ‘desire to know and learn’. There are three steps you can practice to develop this skill, but first it’s important to understand why it’s worth your time.

When we are children, curiosity is easy to come by. All things inspire curiosity. We are open to the natural world and to other people’s feelings, needs and experiences.

As we grow up, we learn that it is “knowledge,” not “questions” that earn us respect in most situations. So- curiosity competes with “expertise.” “Seeking” gives way to, “telling.” The learner and the expert go toe-to-toe in daily life.

Company NewbieIn the business world, eager curiosity is often associated with being a “newbie.” If you are a newbie, then asking lots of questions is expected. But after a short time, questions can give the impression that we are unprepared or less knowledgeable than we should be. “Expertise” becomes the standard expectation, and it gently guides us toward being less open and less curious. (Less of a seeker, and more of a teller.) Do you remember thinking to yourself, “I can’t ask that question. I should already know the answer.” It is this pressure that convinces many of us to assert ourselves convincingly, even when we are unsure. We tell, when we should seek.

Furthermore, as we gain power in the workplace, we are called upon to know more. This is to be expected. But, the collateral damage is often that we dampen our sense of curiosity (our desire to know or learn) in favor of becoming an expert.

Let me give you an example.

A newbie will ask, “Can you help me with this problem?” Or, “Why do we run the meetings like this?” Or, “Who is that person in the sweater vest?” Or, “I don’t understand why we made the decision to use that vendor. Can you explain it to me?”

A few months later, that newbie (who is no longer a newbie) may be giving another newbie the answers.  “Of course I can provide guidance.” “We run the meetings like this because it has always been done this way.” “The guy in the sweater vest is the CEO’s nephew.” “We use that vendor because we have been buying their products since the 80s.” Questions are replaced with answers. The expert has replaced the learner.

Leading by Telling

This pattern translates across many roles and situations. In my work with supervisors and managers, they sometimes tell me that their teams look to them for direction. They say, “If I don’t provide answers, nothing gets done.” Or worse, “my people wait for me to tell them everything.” They believe that their expertise is indispensable, and that it saves, time, money and effort to simply give direction rather than to ask questions and seek solutions. “If I don’t provide answers,” they think, “someone else might, and I might lose my credibility and authority.”

Similarly, directors and executives tell me, “I am supposed to set the direction of the organization. I’d better have the answers because that’s what they are paying me for, right?”

The answer may well be, ‘yes,’ but there is a tremendous cost. What is lost when the “teller” wins out and the “seeker” gets buried?

First and foremost, when supervisors, managers, directors, and executives provide all the answers, new ideas and creative solutions get lost.If you tell me what to do, I will comply. But if you seek my expertise- if you ask me questions that require me to think, create and solve, then I can come up with a new solution, and our organization can evolve.

Further, motivation is wasted. Telling someone how to do something may provide the technical pathway that the person needs in order to complete the job, but it will not provide enough motivation to sustain the effort over the long haul.

Finally, time is wasted. Most of my clients tell me, “I can’t afford the time to ask more questions. My business moves too fast. I just need to tell others what to do and get on with it.” While I can empathize with that feeling and I have succumbed to the pressure myself, I always say, “Pay now or pay later.” You may save some time up front by telling rather than seeking, but you will pay for that later when motivation wanes, ideas are not “fresh,” and people are not engaged.

I don’t know of any organization that will earn or keep it’s competitive advantage without harnessing the ideas, energy, talent and experiences of all of their people. The people at “the top” simply cannot be expected to provide all of the expertise that is required. It is a colossal waste of talent.

So- we know why it is so important to rely on our “inner seekers,” but sometimes we forget how.

Sure- it’s easy to cultivate our inner seekers during a Saturday trip to the museum, or in a role that we are unfamiliar with, or when there is plenty of time… but what about those other challenging situations? The ones in which we are convinced that we already know all there is to know? Like when we have to address a performance problem, or when we are locked in a dispute with someone else and our emotions run high? These situations pose challenges for our inner seekers. We find stability and comfort in being able to tell, command and direct rather than ask.

But there is hope. Practice the three habits described below, and you will find that your curiosity gets piqued and your inner seeker becomes much stronger.

Three Habits to Develop Your “Inner Seeker”

Step 1: Pause

When faced with a challenging situation. Train yourself to take 1 – 3 deep breaths. Check in with your body and your thoughts. Are you feeling tense or nervous? Are your thoughts racing? Are you desperately seeking ground to stand on? Then breathe again and remind yourself that you will be fine, even if you are not the expert.

Step 2: Ask One Question

My favorite isn’t really a question at all, but it helps tremendously. I always say, “tell me more about that.” This gives me a longer period of time to quiet my mind and to allow my natural curiosity to surface.  It allows my conversational partner to elaborate and provide more information, which helps ease the discomfort of the moment.

Step 3: Ask More Questions

Yes- it’s true. Ask one, and then ask more. Ask for clarification of details. Ask about the person’s feelings or interpretations. Ask about the implications of the situation. All of these questions give rise to our natural sense of curiosity and can put us in the right frame of mind to solve our problems with ease and creativity.

Cultivating our sense of curiosity can be very rewarding. It can spark awe, wonder and interest, and it can strengthen our relationships while broadening our experiences greatly. Give it a try! You won’t be sorry!

What do you think?  Do you approach situations with questions to empower your team to find the best solutions?  Or does your team accept the direction you set whenever a situation arises?

{#/pub/images/ClaireLaughlin.jpg}
Claire Laughlin, Consultant & Trainer, Leadership 4 Design
As an independent consultant and trainer with 20 years of diverse experience, Claire Laughlin brings a passion for improving relationships, experience in management, and a relentless dedication to transformation to all of her work. She is fully committed to working with individuals, teams, and organizations as they learn and cultivate the habits and practices that make their organizational dynamics healthy and highly productive. Claire’s experience spans Leadership to Communication Essentials to Project Management & Customer Service and has designed and taught over one hundred courses at over 60 organizations and seven different colleges and universities. In addition to her consultancy work, Claire directs Cabrillo College’s Corporate Training Program.

Do you have a question for Claire?  Please visit Workplace-Communications Skills Community, she will be happy to help: Ask an Expert

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The Problem with Giving Advice

29 04 2013

Guest Post by Mike McGervey

“Ask, don’t tell” is the underlying theme of coaching. It is the fuel that drives empowerment.  Asking open-ended probing, expanding, and closure questions increases self-awareness and enables the person you are coaching to discover their capacity to face issues and solve problems. That equips them to begin taking greater responsibility for the choices they make and the actions they take.

The caveat in all this is letting go of our habit of giving advice, of telling those we coach what we believe they could and should do. It even sneaks into our efforts to ask – in the form of leading questions. Why go through all that open-ended question stuff; why not simply give advice?  If you want a clearer answer to that question, please read on.

Christopher Witt - Communication MattersIn his blog Communication Matters, Christopher Witt reflected on his experience with giving advice:

“I often think that the world would be a happier, saner place if everyone followed my advice. Sadly, I’ve learned over the years that an alarming number of people disregard the advice I give so freely. Then I recall all of the advice people have given me and how much of it I’ve resented, rejected, or ignored. The meaning of advice, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is ‘the way things are looked at or regarded.’ That’s what I have to keep telling myself: the advice I offer is simply how I see things.”

robert-boltonRobert Bolton, author of People Skills, describes the advice-giving problem this way:

“Advice is often a basic insult to the intelligence of the other person. It implies a lack of confidence in the capacity of the person with the problem to understand and cope with his or her own difficulties.  The advisor seldom understands the full implications of the problem.  When people share their concerns with us, they often display only the ‘tip of the iceberg.’ The advisor is unaware of the complexities, feelings, and the many other factors that lie hidden beneath the surface.”

David_RockDavid Rock, CEO and author of Your Brain at Work, explains why the brain’s threat system gets activated when receiving advice:

•Status: We constantly assess how social encounters either enhance or diminish our sense of status. When someone, and especially a superior, offers advice, our limbic system focuses on their perceived superior knowledge and experience – not on how we can benefit from the advice.

•Certainty: We all crave a degree of certainty. When unsure how to resolve a problem, our memory decreases. We disengage from the present moment and focus on what could go wrong in the future. At that point, we are less likely to hear and neutrally appraise advice.

•Autonomy: We need to feel some control over our lives and thus be able to choose. When offered advice, the limbic system can trigger an emotional threat response, making us feel that our options are being narrowed to only what the advisor is telling us.

•Fairness: When someone, especially a superior, gives advice, it triggers an inner dialogue that sounds something like this: “What, you don’t trust me to figure it out? I bet you wouldn’t tell (name) what to do.”

The opposite of all that occurs when you take a coach approach to helping people deal with issues and solve problems. Your questions help them become more aware of what they are experiencing, and what is going on around them. You help them tap into their knowledge and experience to set goals and search for options. You significantly reduce their emotional threat response as their options expand. You show and communicate complete trust in their ability to figure things out.

What’s wrong with unsolicited advice? In addition to all of the above, it often comes across as judgmental.  It says, “You’re obviously not as savvy as me because if you were, you’d have already figured out what I ‘m telling you.”

And consider this. If you supervise others and constantly tell them what they should do, they will keep coming back to ask you the same “What should I do?” questions over and over again. Coaching, however, empowers them to unlock their potential, take greater responsibility and come up with their own solutions.

Special Note:  You’ve just read an Applied Coaching Strategies whitepaper from the Grace Bible College Center for Empowerment Coaching, 1011 Aldon SW, Grand Rapids, MI 49525   http://www.gbc-cec.com    616-443-9190   http://www.gbcol.edu

Mike McGervey Center for Empowerment Coachingcoaching-based-ministry-transforming-through-empowerment-mr-mike-mcgervey-paperback-cover-art

Mike McGervey is the Program Director - Center for Empowerment Coaching.  Mike directs all of the program development for the Center and is the co-author of Coaching Based Ministry – Transforming Ministry Through Empowerment Coaching.  He wrote and designed the 2-day workshop: Empowerment Coaching: Developing the Heart and Skills of a Coach, and is also the author and designer of the Center’s online Certified Professional Empowerment Coaching program.  You can reach Mike at: mmcgervey@gbcol.edu

The Center for Empowerment Coaching is a ministry of Grace Bible College with the mission of creating and sustaining cultures of empowerment through coaching.  Grace Bible College: where every graduate will know how to coach.

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HINDSIGHT

22 04 2013

Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go Book Cover

Bob:  It has been said “You shouldn’t judge a book by it’s cover,” but when I saw Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go on the shelf at Barnes and Noble I was captured by the title alone!   And when I started reading – it was a “Page-Turner!”

I was so impressed with the book that I connected with the Co-Authors – Beverly Kaye and Julie Winkle Giulioni – just to say “Thank you!”   They generously gave me permission to use the following and other excerpts from their book for my blog!

Helping others pursue their career goals involves facilitating an exploration of three key areas: 

Hindsight Insight Foresight Graphic 2.0

HINDSIGHT is a look backward to develop a deep understanding of such things as where employees have been, what they love, and what they’re  good at.  This backwards glance is essential for moving forward!

HINDSIGHT Questions: With the employee, create a list of the various positions, roles, and jobs she has held. For each position, role, or job, ask the following questions:

  • Which parts brought you joy, energy, and a sense of persistence?
  • Which parts led to boredom, disengagement, and a sense of just going through the motions?
  • What have you always been naturally good at? 
  • What can’t you keep yourself from doing?
  • What kind of work have you typically gravitated away from?

You don’t have to have all the answers!  But what’s not negotiable is that you have the questions!    Questions are a powerful tool!  Add a spirit of curiosity and you’ve got an unbeatable combination.  People recognize and respond to genuine curiosity on the part of their leaders.

Bob:  How might you use HINDSIGHT  questions to shape some of your future conversations with those you are leading/mentoring/coaching?

Buy Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go today!  You will be adding a valuable tool to your “Leading with Questions” toolbox with over 100 questions that you can use to engage your associates/friends in their “Career Development.”

Bev and Julie

Bev & Julie each have their own independent companies that offer an array of specialized products and services.
Beverly Kaye founded Career Systems International more than three decades ago to offer innovative ways to help organizations solve their greatest talent challenges by engaging, developing and retaining their people.
Julie Winkle Giulioni is the Co-Founder and Principal of DesignArounds, a bi-coastal consulting, training and development firm, committed to maximizing individual and organizational results through learning.
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How Do You Do Success?

21 03 2013

Guest Post by Greg Stoughton 

An approach to coaching that I have found effective is to help a person explore how he or she does success? We each have patterns and preferences for how best we work to get things done. But most of us haven’t made time to give thought to our most effective practices.

Let me provide you a bit of context for the narrative of a coaching time that follows. Many colleagues and I are part of a mission organization where we have the privilege of recruiting a personal ministry partner team (individuals, families and businesses) to pray, finance and come alongside us in ministry. Sometimes, that can be of some challenge. The colleague I coached was in a season of support need.

Our coaching session that day went something like this.

listening5_full

Me:  Thanks for your desire to meet. Let’s pray and see what work God would have us to do today?

Colleague: Sounds good. (Prayer)

Me: Ideally, what would you like to see happen in this time? Where are you feeling stuck?

Colleague: I want to see us our family (in ministry) at full financial support. With our daughter two years of age, another child due soon, and then sensing God’s call toward a two-year overseas assignment, our felt need is creating some stress. It feels overwhelming. We need about $2,000/month of added funding. I want to trust God by faith, and do our part, but lately we haven’t been too successful in seeing results.  

Me: Great. Not that I ‘m excited to hear that you need support and that you are struggling. I’m sorry for that. But that your focus is clear of what you need to do. Would you grant me permission to come alongside you and to ask some questions, making a couple of observations along the way?

Colleague: Absolutely. That’s why I am here.

Me: Great. Let’s get started. In order to move forward, I’d like first to take you back some.  Clearly, you’ve experienced some past success. You’ve graduated. You’ve found and kept a job. You’ve found a wife. You’re in pretty good physical shape, and you’re fruitful in your service of the Lord. Well done.

Colleague: Thanks. That feels good to hear.

Me: Can you think back to a time when you faced a big challenge that with God you experienced success—a time when you overcame a challenge of some significance (allow wait time). Take a moment to identify one of those times.

Colleague: I got it. Do you want me to tell you what it is?

Me: You can if you’d like, but you don’t have to. Your choice; just be sure that you have a clear picture of the situation, or event or season, in your mind.

Colleague: I can share it with you. I brought a $10,000 debt, and some IRS complications, into my marriage. Three years later, we were debt free.

Me: Fantastic. That’s great! Now let’s think as to how you went about taming that beast. That’s a big goal. Where did you begin?

Colleague: My wife and I got away for a weekend to plan. We prayed and talked about steps that we would need to take to bring about the desired change.

Me: Great. It’s good to pray, and it sounds like you started with a plan. What could you tell me about that plan?

Colleague: It was a pretty detailed plan. We stated our vision. We identified a number of goals that we then broke down into smaller steps. We had a timeline of how much debt we hoped to eliminate—how and by when. 

Me: How then did that work for you? Did it help you to experience success?

Colleague: It did. 

Me: Super.  So what else besides a plan guided you toward success?

Colleague: You mean, like where did I work?

Me:  Sure.

Colleague: I focused best on this task at my office at home. I needed a quiet place where I could think lots and focus. I remember many nights going up to the office and closing the door. There I would open an Excel spreadsheet on my computer where I could remind myself of the vision, see where we were in the process—what we needed to do next. I tracked our progress on the Excel spreadsheet.

Me: Great. What else?

Colleague: Most evenings I had a cup of decaf coffee with me in my favorite mug. Does that count? And most nights I listened to some background music—a little 80s rock, on low, of course.

Me: Of course; perfect.

Colleague: We tried to just take it one bite at a time—not do it all at once. My wife and I both knew it would take some time, and I think that we gained confidence as we were able to note small steps of progress.

Me: Great job. So now, let’s picture for a moment your family being at full support.  What would that feel like?

Colleague: Fantastic. I think we would feel much peace as opposed to the constant pressure that now surrounds us both.

Me: It sounds like you really want to see this happen. (We took a little time to brainstorm some of what he felt had led to recent “stops” and “starts” to get to this goal. I then shifted his focus.

Me: You have a mountain to climb. But you have climbed peaks before. To move forward, let’s once more look back:  What can you draw from your prior “success” (eliminating debt) to this challenge? Give thought to the way you work—to your patterned preferences of what most often is part of how you do success.

Colleague: Well, I would guess that my wife and I need to get away and develop a thorough plan. We need a plan with some specific short-term goals.

Me: Definitely. That’s where you start. What else? From having his computer open to an Excel spreadsheet (goal in sight) to closing his home office door for greater privacy, to having fresh decaf and soft 80s music in the background, we cited many items common to how he best works. We seemed nearly done, when God’s Spirit provided him one last, huge “A-HA.”

Colleague:  I have been going about this all wrong, haven’t I? 

Me: You tell me. What do you mean?

Colleague: I have totally cut my wife out of this process. We solved that financial crisis together. She tells me that she wants to help with our support, and I know that she has great strengths in areas that I don’t, but I have kept her on the sidelines.

Me: Wow! Now that’s quite a revelation. So she’s part of your personal success strategy. That’s terrific. What do you think it might look like for her to be more involved? With fresh enthusiasm, he shared some specific roles that she played to help cancel their debt. He began to see how they could leverage her strengths, too, for greater success. But to do so, they would need to get away to plan and clarify their roles.

Post Script About six months have passed. They have both expressed repeated thanks as together they are now making progress toward a goal that they now both own. She casts big-picture vision of the ministry, and she writes all of their newsletters and notes. He dials the phone for the appointments, schedules the trips, and closes the deal on their face-to-face meetings. Today, they are close to being at full support.  And I get the joy of knowing that a colleague in ministry is retained and re-energized—not by me telling him what he should  do, but by simply helping him to discern some personal practices as to how best he does success.

Conclusion To help another determine their personal “success” strategy, lead with questions:

  • Questions of the challenge itself (The plan? The statement of vision? Specific goals? Benchmarks?)
  • Questions of what motivates?
  • Questions of process or sequence (What first? What next? Then what?)
  • Questions of the environment (Where is it that he or she works best? Is music present? Food? Beverages? Room temperature? Technology?)
  • Questions of resources, systems or helps? (Is there a preference for working alone, with a spouse, or in groups that helps maximize success? Books? Web? Mentor or Coach? Accountability structure?)
  • Questions to help another identify—and then leverage—their personal strengths.

Why not give it a shot? Coach a client or colleague of yours toward discovering his or her personal strategy for success. Why not start with yourself? Pause long

 Greg Stoughton Family
Greg Stoughton has served with the ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ/Cru for 21 years. He presently provides communications support to Cru president Steve Douglass and the Executive Leadership Team. You can read more of his personal story and life experiences at MyMissingFingers.com
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9 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR FINDING INNOVATIVE LEADERS

24 01 2013

Guest Post by Matt Monge

Most interviews are pretty boring, so it stands to reason that most interview questions are also boring. There are certainly exceptions, of course, but by and large interview questions are some of the most predictable and inane questions we ever ask other humans. Seriously, you’d almost have to be an idiot not to answer some of these brain-busters correctly:

Are you a team player? What are they going to say? No?

Tell us about your attitude. If they’re dumb enough to say they have an awful attitude, hate people, and occasionally kick cute puppies, you don’t have to hire them. But most folks aren’t dumb enough to give you anything other than what you want to hear.

What are your leadership strengths? Really? You both know what the candidate’s going to say. He encourages collaboration. She likes to empower her employees. He’s an “innovative problem-solver.” She happens to have just the right mix of “big-picture thinking and attention to detail.”

What are your weaknesses? “Guess what–I have flaws. What are they? Oh, I don’t know. I sing in the shower. Sometimes I spend too much time volunteering. Occasionally I’ll hit someone with my car…”

And somehow, through questions like that we’re hoping to discover whether this person is truly innovative, imaginative, creative, and so on. So we’ve got to think about framing leadership interviews differently. I’m actually in favor of scrapping traditional interview formats altogether, but that’s for a different post. Most of us still have to think of ways to ask questions and spark discussions that really help us get to know that person sitting across from us that we just met. Perhaps if nothing else, example interview questions like the below might help get your creative juices going…

1. What wild cards do you see emerging in our industry that could pose a threat to our business? What would you do about them?

2. If you had one month and $25,000 of budget space to tackle any project your little heart desired, what would you do?

3. What situations or environments seem to make you most creative?

4. If you had ten minutes to talk with CEOs across our industry, what would you challenge them to do differently?

5. Tell me about a time you attempted to solve a problem with a completely unorthodox approach. What was the problem, what was your approach, and how did it work out?

6. In concrete terms, please explain the last creative idea you had to improve your own work performance or that of your team.

7. What are some specific things that your organization changed and/or implemented as a result of your ideas or ideas generated by a team you led?

8. What previous professional failure are you most proud of? Why?

9. Say you’ve come up with a crazy idea that you think could have a huge, positive impact on your organization. You pitch your idea to your executive team, but they don’t buy what you’re selling. What do you do? Can you give us an example of a time you did this?

Obviously these aren’t terribly profound. (I mean, really–if I can think of stuff like this, almost anyone can.) I just think we need to ask more targeted questions if innovation–or any other quality, for that matter–is something that’s important to us. If nothing else, try changing up the phrasing or wording in your current questions. Try to nudge the candidate off-balance a little bit. After all, the life of a leader is lived off-balance, right? See how they can adjust to questions they might not have anticipated. Press them for specifics if necessary. The bottom line is that with interviews, like many other things, you’ll only get what you ask for. So ask for more.

Matt Monge – Credit union executive by day. Workplace mojo maker by night.  Matt’s primary passion is his work as Chief Culture Officer at Mazuma Credit Union, but he also does speaking and consulting work on the side to help other organizations with what he’s passionate about: developing awesome culture, organizational identity, and leadership.

Matt’s blog:  themojocompany.com

You can follow Matt on twitter @mattmonge

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Leverage Gripes and Complaints

17 01 2013

Guest Post by Barry Rush

coaching-revolution-how-visionary-managers-are-using-david-logan-paperback-cover-art

One of the profound lessons I learned from the book, Coaching Revolution (David Logan & John King) p.121, is that we need to turn complaints into requests and requests into agreements.  The idea is that some of the gripes that people infest the organization with as they gather in the break room can become damaging to the working environment and to the organizational culture.  The constant gripes that usually bring laughter … “we spend hours in evaluation but nothing ever changes” … can be cancerous.

What is the solution? Answer:  Leverage those gripes! 

We as leaders can harness the learning behind those gripes.  Leaders who listen, rather than react, will hear the request behind the complaint and ask questions to find the root issue. 

As a team member, I have used this several times and before going in to meet my director, I listed my complaints and turned them into requests and wrote down some of the issues surrounding that complaint.

The leader may say, “I hear your complaint.  What is your request?”  Or, she might say, “Tell me more about this problem you have surfaced.”  Once the request is made the next step is to get to agreement.  For example:

Team member: “Would it be possible to schedule our meetings to end at 4:30pm instead of 5:00pm.  Many of us are in carpools and sometimes people have kids to take to sports or school functions.”

Leader: “That is doable.  That means that we need to make sure every team member is on time to begin the meeting and we need to start meetings immediately after lunch in some situations.”  “Is there anything else?” (Asking for more in order to learn)

Team member: “Actually, several have said that we have a lot of time wasters in our meetings, lack of clarity on the goal of the meeting, the process for getting the work done.  Is that something we can get a group to work on and make recommendations to our facilitator?” (Clear Request)

Team leader:  “Yes, I will look at your recommendations and work with the facilitator.  I just need you to be patient as we are just breaking him in as a meeting facilitator, so give him some time to learn the role.” (Compromise and Agreement)

Here’s my suggestions for you:

  • First, as a team member, list your complaints and turn them into requests (decide which are most crucial to bring to your boss).
  • Second, as a leader, listen aggressively to your people and their complaints/gripes … take time to turn those into requests … or say, “I hear your complaint.  What is your request?” 
  • Third, follow through!

Hope it works as well for you as it has for me.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Barry Rush has been in leadership with CRU for the last 35 years, 20 years in the U. S. and in the last 15 years has been serving the CRU VP for Leader Development as a Geographical Representative focusing on Eastern Europe and Russia, North Africa Middle East, Central Asia and West Africa. He has spent the last 8 years helping build a strategy used on campuses overseas, the EQ Workshop – A Two-Day Emotional Intelligence Workshop that has been pioneered in the above Areas.  You can connect with Barry at:  barry@theeqworkshop.com

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The Discipline of Asking

14 01 2013

Guest Post by Tony Stoltzfus

Asking questions is one of the key disciplines for a coach. Posing questions instead of dispensing answers is a tangible way of honoring a person’s capacity to run their own life. It’s saying, “God gave you the gift of your life, and I believe you can steward it well.”  Coaches ask because they expect you to be able to arrive at a great answer—probably a better answer than the coach could give. Asking questions is an unmistakable way of saying, “I believe in your capacity and your ability!”

By contrast, when I “tell” instead of ask, the message I am sending is, “You aren’t an adult. You aren’t capable of living your life without my help.” As it goes in the classic song, “You need someone older and wiser telling you what to do.” Often in our eagerness to help we end up actually sapping people’s confidence by sending the message that they aren’t capable of doing the job. When we treat people as less than what God made them to be, they tend to live down to our low expectations.

The more I ask the more convinced I am of the power of asking. When I discipline myself to ask, I embolden my clients and honor their abilities. As their confidence grows, their ability and their performance grows with it. At a recent speaking engagement, one of the leaders in the congregation I was addressing shared his own coaching experience with his church. He stated, “I have grown more in the last year and a half than in my previous 14 years combined, I believe in large part due to my involvement in [coaching].” He felt that what was most transformational for him was reflecting on the questions he was asked.

I’ve never gotten those kinds of results by giving advice! The more I ask, the more I see the potential and the destiny I’ve believed in become reality—and the more I grow in my capacity to believe in people.

Tony Stoltzfus & Leadership Coaching

Tony Stoltzfus is an author, leadership coach and master coach trainer.  Additional information on the role of questions in the coaching relationship can be found in Tony’s book, Leadership Coaching.

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Four Goal-Setting Questions

20 12 2012

Guest Post By 

Here are four critical goal-setting questions to ask:

              What do you want?

              When do you want it?

              What are you willing to give up getting it?

Yes, I know that is only three questions, and no I don’t have a problem with math. But the fourth question, if uncovered at this stage, would not allow you to properly focus on the first three. Be patient.

How many times have we been told to set goals? We know about SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time Sensitive). It’s not enough to want a new pair of tennis shoes. Rather, you want a new pair of size 9, blue, Nike running shoes with white laces–and you want those shoes by 5p.m. this Friday. My daughter just got a pair of those shoes so I thought that it would be a good example. It’s also a lot more specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time sensitive than, say, curing world hunger or eradicating polio.

Blue Nike Womans Running ShoesSo, we have answers to the first two questions: A new pair of size 9, blue, Nike running shoes with white laces (What do you want?) and this Friday (When do you want it?).

Now, what are you willing to give up getting those shoes? Time, money, or going without the Starbucks’ venti skinny caramel triple shot latte for the next three months? Really, what are you willing to give up? Maybe your goal needs for you to get “out of balance” for a period of time. This takes a sacrifice that could eat into family time or add a few strokes to your handicap. You have to decide but decide you must. This stage and the next stage (that elusive fourth question) are critical to the goal-setting process.

I worked with a guy for a while who would make phone calls to customers and keep track of every sale for the day.  He would not stop making calls until he hit his commission goal for that day. He knew what he wanted (commissions), when he wanted it (by the end of the day), and what he was willing to give up (he literally would not leave his office until he hit the goal).  Sometimes he was still dialing well after the others in the office had left for the evening.

Did he always meet his goal? Certainly not. But every day he made sacrifices in the pursuit, and he didn’t let fear of failure stop or slow him. And that is where we get the fourth question:

              Are you willing to fail?

Let’s return to our goal–the Nike shoes. It’s a SMART goal, but is it a smart goal for you? The key to goal-setting is that you really have to stretch to reach the goal. I used to have a coffee cup that said, “What would you attempt today if you knew that you could not fail?” Real goals–big hairy audacious goals (BHAGs)–mean failure could happen. You don’t meet the sales goal for the year, the new cancer drug is a bust, and you got 20,000 feet up Mt Everest but had to turn around due to a storm. Still, you tried. And while the goal may not have been achieved, you stretched yourself in the process. You learned more about what you’re capable of, and that will serve you well and bring you confidence in the future.

Be willing to fail.

guyer-calvin

Calvin Guyer Executive Coach - developed his unique frame of reference as an executive coach through nearly three decades of military and corporate service. He has worked on highly complex engineering projects, as a financial advisor with Piper Jaffray and Merrill Lynch, and most recently in executive leadership as Resident Director for a Merrill Lynch office and Vice President of Think Mutual Bank where he led the Investment Services Department.   You can connect at Calvin Guyer

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