Benefits Of Asking Questions
Are you the curious type? Do you have conversations with colleagues or employees that end in one sentence? Do you ask open ended questions or do you ask questions that simply require a yes or no answer? Asking yes or no questions doesn’t offer the participant a chance to interact or truly respond. Asking questions is a fine art that entrepreneurs should hone.
Here are some of the reasons that asking questions just might make you a better leader.
- Even though you are the owner or manager or leader, asking opinions of your staff and other managers on the team shows everyone that you value their input. Asking for opinions and insight makes for a more open working environment and you just might hear an answer to a solution that you’d never imagined. Give your staff a voice!
- If you’re looking to delegate, you need to talk with those to whom you want to delegate. This will be a way to engage with them and more importantly, gauge their interest in a possible increase in responsibilities. Talk to staff members before you simply hand out new work tasks.
- If you’re moving your company toward a particular goal, ask questions of those involved to see whether they need more resources, whether there are any snags in the process and what other resources they may need from you to take the project to fruition.
- If you’re in the habit of coaching your staff toward higher levels of success, you need to not only talk with and to them, you need to listen to their needs and whether they are on the trajectory they imagined they’d be.
- You’ll be more approachable if your employees know that some of the ideas they suggest are truly taken into consideration. We have all worked with employers who listen and nod but immediately forget what we’ve said once the conversation is over. Don’t be that kind of leader.
Are you a good “asker of questions?” Do you take time to build relationships and have conversations with colleagues, staff and vendors? If you can’t remember the last time you had a productive conversation with them, take a look at your own conversation style to see if it needs to be changed.