Questions in Leadership

A leader’s pocket tool chest for instruction, motivation, discovery and ownership There are times when the most helpful thing a leader can bring into a room is not an answer, but a question. That does not mean leaders should be indecisive, uninformed or reluctant to give direction. People have a right to expect clarity from those who lead them. But leadership is not simply the delivery of answers. It is also the work of helping people think, learn, contribute and take responsible action. A well-chosen question can do what an instruction cannot. It can uncover information the leader does not possess, stimulate an idea that has not yet been expressed and help another person discover that they are capable of more than waiting for orders. The question may not be the answer itself. It can, however, become the means by which the answer is discovered, understood and owned. Leadership, Management and Supervision We often use leadership, management and supervision as if they were interchangeable. They overlap, and one person may move among all three roles in the same hour, but each has a different emphasis. Leadership establishes direction, meaning and shared commitment. It asks, “Where are we going, why does it matter and who must we become to get there?” Management translates direction into priorities, plans, resources, systems and measurements. It asks, “How will we organize the work and know whether it is succeeding?” Supervision attends to the work being done now. It clarifies expectations, develops people, maintains standards, removes immediate obstacles and follows through. It asks, “What is happening today, and what do you need to do the work well?” All three require questions, but not always the same questions. The leader’s questions expand vision and invite commitment. The manager’s questions reveal patterns, resources, risks and alternatives. The supervisor’s questions clarify the assignment, coach performance and identify what is getting in the way. The Courtroom and the Conference Room Trial lawyers are famously warned never to ask a question on cross-examination unless they already know the answer. The lawyer is not opening a brainstorming session. The lawyer is controlling the flow of evidence and persuading a judge or jury. Direct examination allows more open-ended questions, but even there the witness and the territory have normally been prepared. Leadership requires a different posture. Leaders certainly enter conversations with responsibilities, values and goals. They are not neutral observers. Yet a genuine leadership question relinquishes some control. It creates the possibility that someone else knows something the leader does not know, sees something the leader has not seen or has an idea better than the one the leader carried into the room. That vulnerability is not a weakness. It is one way leaders increase the intelligence of the whole organization. If I ask a question only to maneuver you toward my predetermined answer, I am not seeking your contribution. I am staging a conversation. If the decision has already been made, it is usually more respectful to say so. Questions should not be used to disguise commands. Walking Around With Questions in Our Pockets Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard became associated with what was eventually called management by walking around—or, in some early HP language, “management by wandering around.” HP describes the practice in terms of personal involvement, informal contact, good listening and the belief that people generally want to do good work. The historical record gives us more of a posture than a canonical HP list of questions. Hewlett and Packard did not become known for walking around with a laminated script. They became known for being present, accessible and attentive. That is important. Management by walking around is not surveillance with comfortable shoes. It is not an executive inspection tour designed to catch people doing something wrong. At its best, it allows leaders to encounter the work, the workers and the unfiltered reality of the organization. A leader practicing that kind of presence might carry questions such as these: What are you working on? What is going well? What is making the work harder than it needs to be? What are you seeing that I may not be seeing? What have you learned lately? What decision are you waiting for from me? If you could change one part of this process, what would it be? What do you need from me—and what do you not need from me? The questions are portable. The real tool is attentive curiosity. Questions That Have Shaped Modern Leadership Some of the most durable leadership and management practices can be summarized by the questions they teach us to ask. Peter Drucker: Questions of purpose and value Peter Drucker’s well-known five questions direct an organization back to its essential work: What is our mission? Who is our customer? What does the customer value? What are our results? What is our plan? These are not merely planning-meeting questions. They prevent an organization from mistaking activity for accomplishment. They also remind leaders that value must be understood from outside the organization, not merely declared from inside it. Toyota: Questions that move beyond symptoms The Toyota tradition popularized the practice of asking “Why?” repeatedly—often described as the Five Whys—to move beyond an obvious symptom toward a root cause. Why did the process stop? Why did that condition occur? Why was it not detected? Why did the system permit it? What underlying cause must be addressed? This practice is most useful when “why” is directed toward the system rather than weaponized against a person. “Why did you do that?” can sound like an accusation. “What conditions made this outcome possible?” is more likely to produce learning. David Marquet: Questions that transfer ownership Former submarine commander L. David Marquet became known for replacing a permission-seeking culture with intent-based leadership. Instead of having people continually ask, “May I?” he encouraged them to state, “I intend to…” That shift makes room for a leader to ask: What do you intend to do? What are you seeing? What makes you believe this is the right course? What risks have you considered? How does this serve our objective? The leader retains responsibility and can intervene when safety or mission requires it. But the person closest to the information must think, recommend and own the next step. Michael Bungay Stanier: Questions that deepen the conversation In The Coaching Habit, Michael Bungay Stanier offers a compact set of questions, including: What’s on your mind? And what else? What’s the real challenge here for you? What do you want? How can I help? If you are saying yes to this, what are you saying no to? What was most useful for you? “And what else?” may be the most deceptively powerful. The first answer is not always the fullest answer. A patient follow-up can move a conversation past the rehearsed response and toward the actual issue. The Leader’s Pocket Question Tool Chest Leaders do not need to memorize a hundred questions. They need a few trustworthy questions for the different kinds of conversations they encounter. To clarify purpose What are we trying to accomplish? Who are we trying to serve? Why does this matter now? What would a worthwhile result look like? To understand reality What is actually happening? What evidence supports that conclusion? What does not fit our current explanation? What are you seeing that I am missing? Whose perspective have we not heard? To stimulate ideas What possibilities have we not considered? If you were responsible for the decision, what would you try? What would we attempt if we could run a small, safe experiment? Who has solved a similar problem, and what could we learn from them? What would make this simpler? To develop people What do you already know about this? Where could you find the information you need? What options do you see? What is your best recommendation, and why? What skill would help you handle this more confidently next time? To uncover obstacles What is making good work difficult? What are you waiting for? What decision or resource would help you move forward? What should we stop doing? Is there a concern people are reluctant to raise? To create ownership What do you intend to do? What is the next observable step? What will you need to say no to? How will you know it is working? When should we review the result? To learn afterward What did we expect to happen? What actually happened? What surprised us? What should we repeat? What should we change next time? What did this experience teach us about our system—and about ourselves? Asking Is Not Enough The quality of leadership is not measured by the number of question marks in a meeting transcript. Questions help only when they are asked skillfully and received safely. Ask one question at a time A leader may ask five questions in one breath and leave the other person wondering which one to answer. Ask the clearest question, then stop. Allow silence Silence does not necessarily mean the question failed. It may mean thinking has begun. If leaders always fill the silence, people learn to wait for the leader’s answer. Listen for information, not confirmation Do not ask people what they think and then punish them for failing to read your mind. If candor is costly, the answers will soon become ceremonial. Use follow-up questions “Tell me more.” “What makes you say that?” “Can you give me an example?” “And what else?” These questions show that the first answer was heard and is worth exploring. Distinguish curiosity from interrogation Tone, timing, power and setting matter. A rapid series of “why” questions from a senior leader can feel less like problem-solving and more like prosecution. The leader must create room for reflection rather than merely demand a defense. Close the loop If someone raises an obstacle, offers an idea or takes a risk by telling the truth, respond. Not every suggestion must be adopted, but every serious contribution deserves acknowledgment. Questions without follow-through eventually breed cynicism. Questions as an Act of Leadership We sometimes assume that the person with the best answers should be the leader. In a crisis, expertise and decisive direction may indeed be essential. But no leader possesses all the information, experience, imagination and judgment available within a healthy team. The leader who supplies every answer can unintentionally train everyone else to stop thinking. The leader who asks thoughtful questions can help people become self-learners, self-teachers and responsible contributors. Those people learn where to look for information, how to test their assumptions, how to bring ideas to the table and how to act with increasing judgment. Leadership is not the absence of direction. It is direction with room for contribution. The best leadership question does not abandon the goal. It invites people to help find the way. This week, choose three questions from the tool chest. Carry them with you. Walk around. Ask them without rushing. Listen long enough to be surprised. The answer your organization needs may already be present in someone you lead. A well-asked question may be what brings it into the room. Sources and further exploration Hewlett-Packard, “HP Timeline—1940s”: https://www.hp.com/hpinfo/abouthp/histnfacts/timeline/hist_40s.html Hewlett-Packard, “The Way,” Measure magazine, July 1977: https://www.hp.com/hpinfo/abouthp/histnfacts/publications/measure/pdf/1977_07.pdf Peter F. Drucker, Frances Hesselbein and Joan Snyder Kuhl, The Five Most Important Questions You Will Ever Ask About Your Organization. Toyota Motor Corporation, “Our DNA Is Creating Ever-Better Cars,” 2014 Annual Report: https://www.toyota-global.com/pages/contents/investors/ir_library/annual/pdf/2014/p16_18.pdf Lean Enterprise Institute, “5 Whys”: https://www.lean.org/lexicon-terms/5-whys/ L. David Marquet, Turn the Ship Around! Michael Bungay Stanier, The Coaching Habit.