In last week’s blog we discussed “thinking time”, which is really just the process of setting aside a specific period of time to contemplate a powerful question or two.  This week, I’d like to continue our focus on “questions,” but instead of questions we should be asking ourselves let’s discuss questions we can be asking of others, including our teammates, family members, and/or clients!

First, please note that a couple of years ago we blogged around “Asking Great Questions”, and we presented the “Question Triangle”. I highly recommend reviewing this past post as it sets the stage for today’s conversation. 

In John Maxwell’s “Good Leaders ask Great Questions” Maxwell states that “Good leaders ask great questions that inspire others to dream more, think more, learn more, do more, and become more.” 

Wow.  

On that note, what questions are you asking of those most important to you?  Do your questions inspire them? Do they really make them think, deeply? Do your questions prompt them to learn more about a specific subject or maybe even more about themselves? Do you prompt them to do more and take action because of the power of your question(s)? And lastly, do your questions encourage people to become more?  

Did the questions I just asked above force you to analyze things a bit differently?!?!

Thinking around the power of your questions may seem a bit hokey to some, and I get it.  I mean, it’s a bit weird to contemplate how best to ask a question, how to structure its content, what tonality you should use when asking it, and how best to time its delivery, right?  Exactly. It is weird, and the best leaders on this planet are the best because they are abnormal.  They are outliers.  

So what are some questions you can start asking your team members today to prompt them to think differently and do more?  

Here are some good examples:

• What was the best thing to happen to you since our last meeting?
• What was your biggest insight this week?
• What did you discover about your thinking or habits?
• What do you expect from me as your team leader/coach/partner?
• How clear are you about this issue?
• What priority is this issue for you in your work or life right now (scale of 1 to 10)?
• Why is that important to you?  What will that do for you?
• Just suppose you did all of the activities you’ve committed to doing…what would happen to your business?  What would you do with all of the money?
• What skill, discipline, or technique do you need to work on to take your business to the next level?
• Can you visualize yourself at peak performance?  What does it look like?