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.

Which of your friends would thank you if you forwarded this post to them?

Would you like for these “Posts” to automatically show up in your inbox?  

Click Here to Subsribe Now

So what do you think of today’s post?


Comments : 3 Comments »
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Categories : Uncategorized

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.

Which of your friends would thank you if you forwarded this post to them?

Would you like for these “Posts” to automatically show up in your inbox?  

Click Here to Subsribe Now

So what do you think of today’s post?


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Categories : Uncategorized

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.

Which of your friends would thank you for forwarding this post to them?

Would you like for these “Posts” to automatically show up in your inbox? Please click this link to subscribe: Subscribe Now!

So, what do you think of today’s post?


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Categories : Uncategorized

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

Which of your friends would thank you for forwarding this post to them?

Would you like for these “Posts” to automatically show up in your inbox? Please click this link to subscribe: Subscribe Now!

So, what do you think of today’s post?


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Categories : Uncategorized

Stop Fixing, Start Coaching

17 12 2012

Excerpted from chapter 11 with the permission of the author & publisher of Work Happy – What Great Bosses Know by Jill Geisler

Work Happy

I’ve discovered among the many managers I’ve encountered:

There are too few coaches and too many fixers.

Most Important Question

Fixers aren’t bad bosses mind you.  They are responsible managers who care about quality, but they do far more telling than teaching.  If there were a Fixer’s Creed, it would be this:

Bring me your problems and I will give you solutions.  Show me your work and I will improve it, even if it means doing it for you.  It’s my duty as a boss.

Fixers get the job done, but through micromanagement and control .  Coaches learn to let go of all that and achieve even better results.  How do I know?  As I tell the managers in my workshops:

“I stand before you as a recovering fixer.  If I could learn to be a coach, so can you.”

Three Sins of Fixers

  • Your more capable employees are frustrated.  You take their good work and add your signature touches to it.  Is it better?  Probably.  But now it’s not really theirs anyone – and you’ve undercut their important motivators:  competence, progress, and autonomy. And don’t assume everything’s cool because  they’ve never complained.  It’s not that easy to criticize the boss..
  • Your less capable employees are protected.  They don’t have to grow because you’re always there to fill their gaps.  Their mediocre work actually looks pretty nice after you’ve tidied it up.  You’ve trained them to rely on you to rescue them, and now they assume it’s your responsibility.
  • You get worn down.  It’s tiring to be a fixer.  You spend way too much time putting out brushfires in the daily workflow and not enough on strategy, long-range planning, innovation – or even thinking.  And you just can’t figure out why some staffers still need help for the same issues, in spite  of all your hard work.

That last point is very important.  Being a fixer can lead to burnout.  I want you to take better care of yourself.  So I did just a little bit of editing ot hammer home my message.  I fixed the Fixer’s Creed:

The Coach’s Creed:

Bring me your problems and I will help you discover your own solutions.  Show me your work and I will improve it by coaching, but I won’t do it for you.  It’s my duty as a boss.

I think that’s a change for the better.  What do you think, coach?

Jill Geisler

Jill Geisler, as head of Poynter Institute Leadership and Management programs, guides managers from the novice to the veteran – toward success.  In Poynter-based seminars, offsite workshops and within organizations, she brings humor and humanity to her teaching and coaching.  She has conducted specialized training and coaching programs for scores of organizations in the U.S. and abroad and is in demand as a speaker on leadership issues, ethics, change management and the status of women in leadership.

You can find out more about Jill and her book at:  Work Happy.

Which of your friends would thank you for forwarding this post to them?

Would you like for these “Posts” to automatically show up in your inbox? Please click this link to subscribe: Subscribe Now!

So, what do you think of today’s post?


Comments : 3 Comments »
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Categories : Uncategorized

Unstuck in 5

13 12 2012

Guest Post by Pam Smith

Everybody gets “stuck” once in a while.  Even those who coach others on a regular basis can get stuck.

In preparation to instruct a group of counselors on how to use coaching as a tool in their profession, I used the letters in the word “STUCK” to identify 5 steps to getting “unstuck” and then provided a number of good questions to use for each step.

Here are the 5 steps:

  • Set the Focus
  • Talk about Options
  • Unleash a Plan
  • Check for Obstacles
  • Know Commitments

Why 5-steps and not 3 or 4?  Well, just like when trying to pick something up with one-hand, the true strength comes in using all five fingers.

Bowling 2

Here’s another way to think about it: I read an article by a pretty good bowler. He had three 300 games, many over 290, and a high three-game series of 790.  He stated that a 5-step approach is used by most of the higher average bowlers.  Here a summary of what that 5-step process looks like:

The first step is the speed step that sets up the entire shot.  Step two is the push out where the bowling ball is set in motion from its starting position towards the lane where the bowler wants it to go.  In step three the ball is allowed to fall into a natural swing motion. Step four continues the motion by ending the back swing and starting the ball back towards the lane. The final step is the slide and the all-important follow through.

Here’s how the five-step “STUCK” process compares to the technique used by high-achieving bowlers:

  • Set the Focus (like in bowling, this establishes where you are starting and where you want to go)
  • Talk about Options (this is where you push out the ideas to begin forward motion)
  • Unleash a Plan (now you frame a plan that feels both natural and achievable)
  • Check for Obstacles (like in bowling here’s where you make any adjustment needed)
  • Know Commitments (here’s where the all-important follow-through takes place)

When you read the 5-step process for bowling did you find yourself visualizing a bowler going through the process?  Since it is more difficult to visualize the “STUCK” process, here’s a copy of the front and back of the laminated cards I provided to the counselors:

S.T.U.C.K Front

Card(STUCK)BACK

Next time you feel “STUCK”, give it a try.

Pam Smith and 9 Ways

Pam Smith - VP for Student Advancement, Biblical Seminary www.biblical.edu

Author of: Nine Ways Woman Sabotage Their Careers

Which of your friends would thank you for forwarding this post to them?

Would you like for these “Posts” to automatically show up in your inbox? Please click this link to subscribe: Subscribe Now!

So, what do you think of today’s post?


Comments : 4 Comments »
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Categories : Uncategorized

Find Your “WHY” to Improve Performance

30 08 2012

Guest Post by Sean Glaze

What is your motivation?

“WHY” do you lace up your shoes in the morning?

One of the things every great performer does to improve performance, regardless of their field, is find their “WHY.”

Imagine if I told you about a hidden suitcase, across town, that  was filled with 800,000 dollars and I told where it was located, and that you could have the cash if you were able to get to the suitcase in the next three hours… would you find a way to get there?

Would traffic stop you?

Would you care about the weather or less important things on your schedule or other people wondering why you were so determined to get across town?

Would you waste time and complain about the obstacles along the way, or just get past them in order to reach the suitcase and get what was inside?

Now, imagine I told you the suitcase was full of “Monopoly money” instead.

Would that suitcase be your only priority and motivate you to overcome obstacles?

You see, the difference between the two suitcases, and what is likely your very different levels of motivation when considering going after them, is the why. When the “WHY” is big enough or important enough, the “HOW” normally becomes much easier to figure out.

But if the “WHY” in your life is just “Monopoly money” – if it isn’t really something you are passionate about – you will come up with excuses or busy yourself with distractions and be far less motivated to overcome obstacles in your path.

Some people are motivated by money – but that only lasts so long… Carrot and stick reward systems are the least effective of all motivators.

Some people are motivated by excitement or fear… they are either so excited about where they are going, or afraid to stay where they have been, that it becomes a powerful “WHY.”

But the most powerful “WHY” you can identify is loyalty to a person or cause that you love.

When you are motivated to do something for others, you rarely let anything get in the way of achieving your goal.

What is your “WHY?”

If you haven’t asked and answered that question, you will always be at a performance disadvantage when you face competition who has answered it.

Chris Paul was raised in North Carolina, and his grandfather had a large hand in raising him.

The day after Chris Paul signed his scholarship to play at Wake Forest, his grandfather was murdered at 61 years old… outside the gas station where Chris had grown up working with him.

For the next game his high school team played, he vowed to honor his grandfather by scoring 61 points… one point for each year of his life.

He had never scored more than 39 in an entire game before.

But Chris Paul scored 24 in the second quarter alone. He had scored 59 with 2 minutes left in fourth quarter – and after driving to basket and making the layup, he was fouled.

He missed the free throw on purpose and left the game with the 61 points he had pledged to score for his grandfather. His team won the game.

So how did he score so many points?

He had a “WHY!”

If your “WHY” is big enough your “HOW” becomes easy.

When you get tired, or frustrated, or begin to doubt… it is your “WHY” that will give you the energy you need to keep going. Your “WHY” won’t let you give up.

Galatians 6:9 says “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not lose heart.”

What is the “WHY” that will keep you focused and not allow you to lose heart?

Find your “WHY!”

As an experienced author, speaker, and team-building coach, Sean Glaze engages and influences audiences with a unique blend of dynamic content, interactive activities, and practical action steps. If you are interested in team development or need a team building speaker for an upcoming event, you can reach him at sean@greatresultsteambuilding.com.

(You can also follow him on twitter for teamwork insights and resources!)

Which of your friends would thank you for forwarding this post to them?

Would you like for these “Posts” to automatically show up in your inbox?  Please click this link to subscribe:                                                                       http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=Leadingwithquestions&loc=en_US

So, what do you think of today’s post?


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Categories : Uncategorized

The Answers are in the Questions

2 08 2012

Guest Post by Lyn Boyer

Leaders often find themselves in situations in which they coach others or they must get to the heart of very difficult situations so they can make better decisions. Their ability to ask questions and sometimes to help others clarity their own meaning are frequently key to their ability to function effectively. However, leaders often have not developed the skills required to ask productive questions.

Two recent conversations reminded me of the value and importance of questions.

A parent complained about one-word responses from his 14-year-old son. “How was school today?” …“Fine.”; “Do you have any homework?”… “No.”; “Where are you going?”… “Out.”

A coaching client explored how she could avoid some of the misunderstandings that occurred when she and a business partner discussed how to move their business forward. Each of them heard the same conversations, but each came away with different assumptions about what their conversations meant.

In these and many other situations, the questions one asks determine the responses. Three strategies help listeners and speakers understand situations more clearly. These strategies are clarifying, restating and summarizing.

  • Clarifying questions ask for more information. (Who is involved? What is the purpose? Why is this situation a concern? Can you tell me more about…? Why do you think this situation occurred? How did you react to her comments? How did others react?)
  • Restating is also called reflective listening. These questions repeat or reflect what the speaker said. A listener pauses after restating his understanding of previous comments to provide the original speaker an opportunity to reflect and clarify his meaning. (i.e. It sounds as if you were following company policy… The team seemed frustrated and angry… You were very confused about the situation… Your group proposed these options…)
  • Summarizing involves stating ones understanding of an event or situation once a speaker explains it. Summarizing allows the speaker to hear the listener’s perception and determine if the two perceptions agree. (i.e. After you met with the client you…. Then… ; You are concerned that he seemed… because… ; You have suggested the following options. Which seem most workable?)

After gaining a clear understanding of a situation, leaders often need to delve deeper and to explore different options or assumptions. This requires asking powerful or probing questions.

In normal conversation, many questions call for only “yes”, “no” or short factual answers requiring little thought. Short-answer questions include: Have you discussed this with your colleagues? Who is helping you with this? What approach do you plan to use?

Probing questions go beyond short answers; they require additional thought and consideration. They begin more often with how and why rather than who, what, where, and when. They are open-ended.

Probing questions challenge an individual’s or group’s thinking. They invite reflection and divergent thought. They can prompt a person or group to consider different options or points of view. They can also change the course of action.

Examples of probing or powerful questions are:

  • What assumptions are you making about his motivation? What if the opposite is true? What other assumptions can you consider?
  • What possibilities arise from this dilemma?
  • What options do you see? What other options are possible?
  • What do you fear? Why is this situation a concern for you?
  • How have you dealt with similar situations? Do you see a pattern?
  • How does this course of action serve you? What are possible negative ramifications?
  • What are possible roadblocks to your chosen course of action? How can you minimize them? How can you turn the roadblocks into stepping-stones?

As with clarifying, restating, and summarizing, asking powerful questions requires extensive practice and skill. As I observe the frustration my workshop participants express as they practice asking powerful questions, I understand that learning to ask questions that probe, explore and analyze a situation takes more than simple discussion about questioning techniques. Learning to ask powerful questions requires tremendous commitment and practice. It also demands genuine curiosity and concern.

However, asking powerful questions is an important skill that leaders (and parents) can develop. With practice, leaders can obtain tremendous results with individuals in their groups and organizations. As a parent and former high school principal, I recognize that with teenagers it may take a little longer.

What are the challenges you see to asking good questions? How do you overcome them? What other strategies do you use?

Dr. Lyn Boyer is a leadership coach, author and facilitator focusing on the emotional side of leadership—Affective Leadership℠. Her background as high school principal, coordinator of leadership development, and college professor provides a unique perspective.  Her website is:  http://www.lynboyer.net

Her book, Connect: Affective Leadership℠ for Effective Results, is available in Paperback and eBook in bookstores and online.

Which of your friends would thank you if you forwarded this post to them?

Would you like for these “Posts” to automatically show up in your inbox? Please click this link to subscribe: http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=Leadingwithquestions&loc=en_US

So what do you think of today’s post?


Comments : 2 Comments »
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Categories : Uncategorized

Mission Isn’t Important. It’s Everything!

19 07 2012

Excerpted with the permission of the authors from Chapter Five of Power Questions:

Years of helping to solve problems has taught me that when you listen effectively and empathetically, it shows you care. And until people believe you care, they won’t fully engage with you.

I am sitting with Rick Haber, who is CEO at Life Health.  It’s a $2 billion health care corporation.  This is our regular monthly coaching meeting.

Life Health is a large not-for-profit medical center.  The only other hospital in the area is St. Frances.  It is a much smaller hospital, located in the wealthiest area of the city.

“I’m making an intensive drive to take over St. Frances,” Haber tells me.  “They have the largest cardiac program in the region and several dozen top heart specialists.  I need to have them in my camp.  It’s the one area where we have a void.  I’ll take over the whole hospital if I need to.”

“I can see where you’re coming from, Rick,” I reply.  “You’re an ambitious guy.  Because of your drive and persistence, Life Health has become the market leader in this town. Can you remind me,” I ask him,  “What is the mission of Life Health?”

“That’s easy.  I talk to my staff about it all the time.  ‘To offer the most effective program in vital health maintenance and illness prevention and to deliver the most caring and responsive treatments available at the lowest cost possible.’”

I pause and am silent. I let it sink in. I ask Rick, “How would this takeover further your mission statement? Your core purpose?”

“Well,” Rick begins. Then he pauses.

“Well, I just saw an opportunity that I could move in on. You know, I’m a pretty aggressive guy.” My ears perk up. Whenever I hear the word “just,” an alarm goes off. (I’m reminded that Harry Emerson Fosdick said that a person wrapped up in himself makes a pretty small package.)

“Tell me, Rick, where in that Mission Statement does it indicate that hijacking the cardiac care of St. Frances Hospital is what your mission is all about?  You’re going to kill them. They’ll end up getting dismantled when it’s over.”

“What are you saying?” he asks.

“I’m not saying, I’m asking” I tell him.

Then I stop talking.  I am quiet.  It is a World Series Silence—like what happens when the visiting team has scored eight runs in the first inning.

I say it again: “Rick, I’m asking what your mission is and how this idea will further it. Is it consistent with what you stand for?”

He doesn’t have to answer—I can see it in his face. Rick knows that taking over the cardiac program from St. Frances has nothing to do with meeting Life Health’s mission.  He knows that even without the cardiac program, they’d still be the dominant force in the marketplace.”

“Rick,” I add, “we both know that bigger isn’t better—better is better.”

Mission is everything. It is your true North. When someone is making a big move—a significant decision—check to see if it is consistent with who they are. Ask: “How will this further your mission and goals?”

Great Excerpt, so:

  • What might you be planning to do that you need to ask, “How will this further our mission and goals?”
  • What might you be doing now that you need to ask, “How does this further our mission and goals?”
  • Who else should you ask, “How will this further your mission and goals?”

Would you like to know more about Power Questions?  Here is a really well done video overview Power Questions by Andrew Sobel:

Authors of Power Questions:

Jerold Panas & Andrew Sobel

Jerold Panas is the world’s leading consultant in philanthropy and the CEO of Jerold Panas, Linzy & Partners, the largest consulting firm in the world for advising nonprofit organizations on fundraising.  He can be reached at http://www.jeroldpanas.com

Andrew Sobel  is the leading authority on building long-term client and other professional relationships. He can be reached at http://www.andrewsobel.com

Which of your friends would thank you for forwarding this post to them?

So, what do you think of today’s post?

 


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Categories : Uncategorized

Are We Asking the Right Questions?

25 06 2012

Using Inquiry for Great Coaching Results by Karlin Sloan

(Selected excerpts used with the permission of Karlin Sloan)

Leadership in a corporate setting means answering difficult questions. Am I showing by example how to lead well? What do I need to change about my behavior to get the best from those around me? Where can I go to learn what I need to know? What are we doing right and how can we do more of it?

The best executive coaching focuses leaders on the power of questions and provides the time and space to answer them.

A recent survey by The Hay Group found that 25% to 40% of Fortune 500 companies now use executive coaches. As coaching in leadership development has proliferated, it has become even more important to define what good coaching is – and what it is not.

What Coaching Is Not

Coaching is not traditional consulting. The expert model is the one most often used in consulting. That is, the consultant is hired for his or her expertise. He is a teacher, not a coach, and he instructs leaders in ways to approach their business and personal issues. This is one-on-one consulting, and it can work well when an organization or individual lacks competence in the consultant’s area of expertise. It also models a traditional, top-down management style.

Didactic consulting doesn’t always work, however. And when it does not, it is usually because the approach fails to respect the qualities and experience the leader-client brings to the work.

As leadership development expert Marshall Goldsmith says, “Successful people have a huge need for self-determination, which means that if we don’t feel that we are personally committed to our own behavior change, we (typically) won’t do it.” The fact is that, without a framework that respects a leader’s expertise, coaching is much less likely to be effective.

Didactic consulting as a coaching model carries other risks. By its nature, it tends to encourage dependence on the consultant. This may be good business for consultancies hoping to create long-term contracts, but it’s not best for the organization or individual hoping to acquire new expertise.

What Coaching Is

Unlike didactic coaching, the inquiry approach makes respect for the expertise of leader-clients its starting place. It trusts that those on the receiving end have their own answers and that those answers are not only important in their own right but the very foundation for productive work with the coach. The inquiry model is built on a belief that real growth must come from within. It cannot be grafted onto a leader, as the instructional-consulting model suggests.

Consider the following two real-life engagements.

Sue, VP of operations for a large technology company, said: “I would ask my coach over and over again what she thought. Her answer was usually, ‘What do you think?’ Or, ‘I’ll tell you after you give me your own answer.’ The effect was that I began to notice how much I second-guessed myself in front of the rest of the executive team. I started remembering to check that behavior and be more confident in my opinions in the room with my colleagues.”

A leader in a Fortune 500 company recently told me this story. A coach was working with a CEO on how the CEO could become a more effective communicator and leader. The CEO is a harsh critic of her own people and has, on more than one occasion, cut someone down in front of the executive team. The coach told her she was not demonstrating leadership and needed to change her behavior. He then told her specific language to use with her direct reports. The CEO was insulted and defensive and fired the coach.

If the coach in the second case had been using the inquiry model rather than the didactic one, he might have asked the CEO, “Is your approach getting you the performance you want?” The outcome might have been different.

Excellent coaching is the artful use of questioning, listening and observation. It requires respect and trust on the part of the coach, not just the client. Trust is communicated because the very act of questioning and listening is a demonstration of respect.

When Coaching Works

Coaching may or may not be the right answer for the leadership development needs of your organization. How do you know?

Here is a short list of problems that one-on-one coaching won’t solve:

 Treating leaders’ psychological problems
 Delivering performance messages that should be delivered by senior management
 Addressing systemic breakdowns or failures, such as failure of the organization to address competitor strategies and innovations.

Here are the kinds of problems great coaching can solve:

 Developing leader self-awareness and awareness of one’s effect on people, process and strategy
 Cultivating stronger performance, confidence or presence, and flexibility in the face of change
 Developing problem-solving and decision-making skills
 Encouraging responsibility and accountability for results
 Integrating new material, assimilating feedback and developing core competencies after training.

Is It Worth it?

A 2001 study of companies that implemented coaching showed an average return on investment of 5.7 times the investment in a typical executive coaching assignment, or more than $100,000 each.Among the benefits cited were improvements in productivity, quality, organizational strength, executive retention, customer service, and bottom-line profitability.

What could asking the right questions do for your organization?


Karlin Sloan is an entrepreneur and Certified Executive Coach who has developed and delivered coaching programs for start-ups and Fortune 500 companies.

Karlin is author of:

http://www.karlinsloan.com 

Which of your friends would be grateful for your forwarding of this post?

What do you think of today’s post?


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Categories : Uncategorized


Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 2,377 other followers