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Powerful Questions to Impact Change

Written by: Susana Lange

Article Overview: Questioning is one of the most common leadership tools. But, what is your intend when asking a question? Do you want to find out the progress status on a certain project? Or do you want to engage and motivate a team member to accelerate in their performance? Or is it both? Now ask yourself: How successful is your questioning in which situation?

Powerful Questions to Impact Change

Questioning is one of the most common leadership tools. But, what is your intend when asking a question? Do you want to find out the progress status on a certain project? Or do you want to engage and motivate a team member to accelerate in their performance? Or is it both? Now ask yourself: How successful is your questioning in which situation?


Are Your Questions Getting You the Results You Want?

Have you ever experienced that you are at the end of the rope, just not getting a clear answer no matter which way you ask? If yes, read on, you might find some answers that will help you get what you need.


Select Your Questions Carefully

Benefit from two kinds of questions:

The first set of questions are interrogation questions. They ask for content and facts and don’t consider the person who is involved in creating them. They target answers that relate to results, time-lines, completion dates, statistics and other facts. Some examples are:
- Did you complete the task I assigned to you?
- When did you complete the task?
- How far away are you from reaching your monthly sales goal?
- How many customer complaints did we receive this quarter?
- Did the numbers improve compared to last year?
- How much profit did this project bring us?
- How often was team member XYZ late this month?

The second set of questions are Discovery Questions. These are questions that ask for facts but also ask for the involvement of the person who is responsible for creating them. Discovery Questions explore attitude, motivation and initiate new solutions and behavioral change. Here are some examples:
- How did you complete the task?
- What is your biggest challenge?
- What do you learn from these obstacles?
- Who could you involve to get this done faster?
- What options do you have moving forward?
- What’s the real truth here?
- Can you tell me more about this?
- What will you do differently next time?

From now on start using at least as many discovery questions as you use interrogation questions. You will not only see more motivation in your employees but also you will be able to identify team members who don’t belong on your team. Overall employees become more self-accountable and motivated to excel in their performance.

Next time when you see yourself getting impatient with a team member you have invested a lot of time in but still doesn’t perform at their best, try the following: Instead of telling them where they failed once again, ask them several of the following questions:
- How effectively do you think you are performing this task?
- How important is this for you?
- How do you feel about this?
- What’s missing?
- What options do you have?
- What is your biggest obstacle?
- What have you tried already?
- What can you learn from people who do this task very well?
- What would help you most?
- What will probably happen if you don’t improve?

Email us at susanna@geniuscoaching.net how this simple questioning exercise worked for you.

Related Articles
  Are you asking questions that make your customers & prospects THINK?
  Seven Powerful Questions to Ask Yourself and Your Clients
  CHALLENGING MESSAGES
  Powerful Questions - are you asking enough of them?
  Achieving Your Goals Might Require This

Article Tags: attitude, completion dates, customer complaints, discovery, end of the rope, interrogation, leadership tools, motivation, new solutions, obstacles, progress status, real truth, results time, sales goal, statistics, team member, time lines, two kinds



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