{"id":279,"date":"2016-02-22T09:38:10","date_gmt":"2016-02-22T17:38:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/encouragement.com\/blog\/?p=279"},"modified":"2016-02-22T09:38:10","modified_gmt":"2016-02-22T17:38:10","slug":"a-good-question-to-ask-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/encouragement.com\/wordpress\/?p=279","title":{"rendered":"A Good Question to Ask"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Without a doubt, good questions lead to personal improvements. That\u2019s because they bring to the surface important understandings and neglected insights. They push our buttons to pause, and consider.<\/p>\n<p>For leaders, a good question helps us reevaluate ourselves and our methods \u2013 assessing the ways in which we think and act \u2013 and stimulating our desire to make changes for the better.<\/p>\n<p>So what\u2019s a good question to ask?<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s one: \u201cWhat if you only had the people tomorrow whom you were thankful for today?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s my take on the most powerful question I\u2019ve 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.<\/p>\n<p>It points out the necessity to truly appreciate \u2018all\u2019 of the people in whom we are entrusted \u2013 because they are the means to accomplishing the objectives of our organization. And if we\u2019re only appreciative of a small segment of our workforce, everyone else gets the hint and withdraws something from their contribution.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s tough to do, because working with some people can be so difficult, as we wade through a lot of \u2018stuff\u2019 that impacts their level of production and cooperation. But, that\u2019s the work we\u2019ve been given; the work of relating to people.<\/p>\n<p>How well we do with that determines how well we lead.<\/p>\n<p>Good relationships all the way around. It\u2019s good and necessary \u2013 so good luck with that.<\/p>\n<p>\u2013\u00a0Jerry Strom<\/p>\n<p><em>Twitter: @JerryRStrom.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>For more information about our leadership and team development programs, please visit <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.jerrystrom.com\/\"><em>http:\/\/www.JerryStrom.com<\/em><\/a><em> . Join the mailing list to receive new articles as they are published. This article is based on research conducted for the *\u2018The Relationships Report: The Linkage between Leadership and Relationships,\u2019 by Jerry Strom &amp; Company, Inc. Find \u2018How Leaders Build Relationships at Work\u2019 at <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.jerrystrom.com\/research\/js_relationships.html\"><em>http:\/\/www.jerrystrom.com\/research\/js_relationships.html<\/em><\/a><em> short insights on Twitter at #RelationshipsRPT<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Without a doubt, good questions lead to personal improvements. That\u2019s 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 &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/encouragement.com\/wordpress\/?p=279\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-leadership-articles"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>A Good Question to Ask - Encouragement for Leaders<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/encouragement.com\/wordpress\/?p=279\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Good Question to Ask - Encouragement for Leaders\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Without a doubt, good questions lead to personal improvements. 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