“Ask More Questions” — Listen to Win a Free T-Shirt
Phil Dourado is our guest on this 8 minute Management Tips Podcast. Phil’s tip – Lead by asking questions.
Listen to the podcast, post a comment, and you’ll be entered into a drawing to win a free Be Good Ventures T-Shirt featuring Joe and Wanda. Three T-Shirts will be awarded.
UPDATE: Congratulations to Mike, Kate, and Dolas. You are the lucky winners of a Be Good Ventures T-Shirt. Thanks to all those that participated.
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Comments
Comment from Kate Moor
Time: November 30, 2008, 1:15 am
Thank you for posting this Nick. Like Mike, I like the comment that leaders don’t ask questions because they don;t want to hear the answers. This point has arisen in my world twice in the last week. I like the idea of a day where you only ask questions – this would be tough but I think I might give it a go. Great tool to use when developing business plans I suspect.
Comment from Administrator
Time: November 30, 2008, 5:06 pm
Thanks for the insight and for the pointer Mike. Kate, I’m anxious to hear how it works for you. Thank you both for dropping by.
Comment from Colin Scowen
Time: December 1, 2008, 2:47 am
This works backwards too. A leader who is perceived to ask questions is one who is more likely to be followed in most situations. One of the people who inspired me would often start off with ‘This may sound like a silly question, but…’. This showed several things.
1) His fallible human side. (No one gives the power of their followership to a robot.)
2) The fact that he was willing to put aside the ‘I must look like I know what they are talking about’ facade. (How many people have sat in a meeting, and then made a note to themselves to ask a question or two outside of the meeting, so that they don’t appear, to others in the meeting, to know less than they think that the others know.)
3) It showed also that he thought that the subject was important enough to make sure that everyone was on the same level of understanding during the discussion. This makes the conclusions all the more useful.
One of teh things that people forget is that when you ask a question in front of a group of people that is larger than he group of people that have the answer, is that the fact that you asked a question will be remembered. If you ask a question, from your human side, that shows that you care about those that you are leading, (be it getting a realistic understanding of the workload involved, or being able to explain the strategy behind the decision to them based on actual knowledge, rather than inference and guesswork), then the team, or certainly myself, that marks a person out as one that I would like to follow.
Regards,
Colin.
Comment from Bruce Lewin
Time: December 1, 2008, 4:51 am
Hi Nick, nice podcast – thanks for pointing it out to me 
Comment from Administrator
Time: December 2, 2008, 9:59 pm
Well put Colin. There are tremendous benefits to asking questions. Phil offers us a great tip. Hopefully those that have listened to the podcast and read the comments above will heed the advice. I know I will work to do so.
Pingback from Listen to a podcast, win a t-shirt
Time: December 4, 2008, 7:35 am
[...] Frequent commenter and Slacker Manager super support Phil Dourado shared his management tip on Nick McCormick’s Management Tips podcast. His tip: Ask More Questions. [...]
Comment from Dolas Slattings
Time: December 5, 2008, 12:22 pm
I loved his idea that asking questions empowers others. I know that it will help them find the solution that works best for them and for you. This is a fantastic management tip. Thanks for bringing it to our attention!
Comment from Tapan upadhyay
Time: December 12, 2008, 9:01 pm
Hey Nick, that’s a great idea and I love it because it will give those the strength to speak up in meetings who normally hesitate to do so.
Thanks again.
Comment from Ann
Time: April 21, 2009, 7:56 am
Great listen. Really enjoyed it! I liked the question that leaders don’t ask because they don’t want to hear the answer. That just sums up leaders attitudes…
Comment from Administrator
Time: April 21, 2009, 10:19 am
Thanks for dropping by Ann. I don’t think it’s a universal attitude, but it’s definitely too widespread.
Comment from amy
Time: May 4, 2009, 3:56 pm
just found your blog and bookmarking now.keep up the good work.
Comment from Henry
Time: December 13, 2009, 11:13 pm
I love your blog ! Thank for this.
Comment from Administrator
Time: December 14, 2009, 9:53 pm
Very pleased to hear you enjoy the blog Henry. Thanks very much for taking the time to comment.
Comment from Mike King
Time: November 28, 2008, 10:57 pm
I like the comment that leaders don’t ask because they don’t want to hear the answer. I think this is a HUGE reason as many leaders are not really leaders as enablers like was mentioned, instead they are leaders only because of some expertise or power trip, but not real leadership. This is also the type of leader that often gets recognized.
I’m amazed how well one CAN lead by asking questions. I had a challenge one time to only respond for a whole day with nothing but questions and when I’ve done it, it felt even more like leadership than usual. It was very hard to do as well and I wanted to ask leading questions instead of open questions. It is a great way to practice this technique though, whether it is just one conversation, an hour, or a whole day where you do nothing but ask questions.