Question-based leadership only works if managers don't provide all the answers. Here's how to focus on being a facilitator, not an oracle.What are the right questions for leaders to ask?Like notorious law school professors who interrogate their students until the "truth" appears, many business leaders hold meetings where they pepper employees with rapid-fire questions. But too often managers' questions are designed to show...

I have spoken to many leaders and the consensus is that listening to the answer is more important than asking the perfect question. Listening intently builds trust between you and the speaker. With that in mind, here are some tips to improve your listening:Don’t let your mind wander. Zen masters can keep their minds completely focused on one thought or conversation, but most of us can not. We might, for instance, latch onto...

Why is it important to lead with questions? Why this strategy over others?Organizations are made up of people. Like you, every employee has his/her own goals, aspirations, concerns, experiences, and dreams. And each of us has an ego. The ego allows us to believe that we are capable of performing many tasks successfully. In all likelihood, your ego iswhat propelled you to a leadership position. Your great effort and desire t...

How do I generate a sense of urgency?When the Spanish conqueror, Cortez, ordered his crew to fight the Aztecs in Mexico, he met resistance. After all, his crew was grossly outnumbered. What was the incentive? Once they were ashore, Cortez set fire to his own ships. With that act, he changed the question from “Why should we attack the natives?” to “How will we win the fight?” The incentive was now eminently clear to crew mem...

Due to the power differential between leaders and their team members, leaders must learn not only how to tolerate criticism, but also torestrict their criticism of others. When we are criticized, we feel like our bodies are under attack. This fear or panic causes our prehistoric, reptilian brain to flood with blood. Rational thought is restricted, and, instead, we concentrate on our bodily impulses: fight or flight. A “floo...

“Ohm........” Meditators use sounds like this one to help them find peace, harmony, and direction. These sounds are repeated over and over again until they become ingrained. In the meditation process, the day’s irritations-sirens, horns, slips, spills, criticisms, etc.-slip away.Guiding questions can have a similar harmonic effect. They can make sorting through distractions and options much easier. Not surprisingly, many le...

“Be helpless, dumbfounded, unable to say yes or no.” This line is from Jalal Al-Din Rumi’s poem, “Zero Circle.” As leaders, we are expected to have the answers. A quick answer, though, is not always the right answer. Give silence and thought to questions. In the process you will open yourself up to possibilities.Oftentimes we want so badly to remove the discomfort that others feel from not being able to solve a problem. We...