How to ask great questions as a leader is a skill that you can absolutely build no matter where you are today. Asking great questions as a leader gives you knowledge, insights, action, direction, opportunity, feedback, trust, and more

Take these 8 actions to keep asking better and better questions as a leader at work

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How to ask good questions? What are great questions to ask?

Great questions get the other person thinking. There is a good pause before they speak, and you can see them deep in thought. Great questions give you the information or insights you seek. Ask great questions and you often get action in the other person, or you feel you can now take action. 

As a leader, you cannot and should not know everything nor be an expert in everything. Even if it were possible, it would be a long way from sensible. A leader harnesses the skills and expertise of others to create better results or outcomes for the group.

To enable the leader to harness the skills of others and do it very well, that leader needs to know a lot about the person, their skills and how best to use them in a given situation. Being able to ask great questions is how they gain all this information. Good leaders ask great questions all the time. 

Leaders and managers are ten times more likely to ask good questions if they develop a curious mindset. Be interested in everything going on in your team and you will naturally ask a lot of questions.

Asking questions is one thing. Asking great questions with a purpose is another. Make the time to figure out what are the main levers for business success or what are the main issue behind team member behaviour and actions. Then ask questions with these in mind.

Great questions are usually a series of related questions. One builds on the previous question. You are digging into the detail or situation so you can try to understand what is going on and more importantly why. 

How you ask questions matters. The words you use are important. Your tone and pace of voice, your facial expressions and body language are even more important. Be conscious of how your non-verbal communication is impacting the other person.

Asking questions is only useful if you listen to what you are being told. Listening is a lot more than just hearing the words being spoken. 

Finally, asking great questions is a skill and to get good at skills, you need to practice. 

If you have any questions on “How To Ask Great Questions As A Leader” please email me at [email protected] and I will get back to you.

Jess Coles

Enhance.training