Without a doubt, good questions lead to personal improvements. That’s because they bring to the surface important understandings and neglected insights. They push our buttons to pause, and consider.
For leaders, a good question helps us reevaluate ourselves and our methods – assessing the ways in which we think and act – and stimulating our desire to make changes for the better.
So what’s a good question to ask?
Here’s one: “What if you only had the people tomorrow whom you were thankful for today?”
That’s my take on the most powerful question I’ve heard in a long time, because the implications of this inquiry are significant to our ability to be effective in harnessing the energy and effort of the people we lead.
It points out the necessity to truly appreciate ‘all’ of the people in whom we are entrusted – because they are the means to accomplishing the objectives of our organization. And if we’re only appreciative of a small segment of our workforce, everyone else gets the hint and withdraws something from their contribution.
It’s tough to do, because working with some people can be so difficult, as we wade through a lot of ‘stuff’ that impacts their level of production and cooperation. But, that’s the work we’ve been given; the work of relating to people.
How well we do with that determines how well we lead.
Good relationships all the way around. It’s good and necessary – so good luck with that.
– Jerry Strom
Twitter: @JerryRStrom.
For more information about our leadership and team development programs, please visit http://www.JerryStrom.com . Join the mailing list to receive new articles as they are published. This article is based on research conducted for the *‘The Relationships Report: The Linkage between Leadership and Relationships,’ by Jerry Strom & Company, Inc. Find ‘How Leaders Build Relationships at Work’ at http://www.jerrystrom.com/research/js_relationships.html short insights on Twitter at #RelationshipsRPT