When you ask a question a natural vacuum forms. Questions beg answers. Questions inspire thought, but questions can ruin resolve. Questions bring clarity, but questions can easily distract. Questions spark understanding, but questions can just as easily frustrate.
As a leader, you get to ask the questions. Your questions set the agenda for the work of your team, of your organization, of yourself. Be very careful with questions.
First, don't ask too many questions of your team.
The fastest way to paralyze an organization and turn it inward is for leadership to ask too many questions. 20 questions is a game - not leadership. Show some insight. Show some discipline. Show some pacing. It's your right to ask questions, exercise in moderation.
Second, direct questions to the right person.
Ask the wrong person, get the wrong answer. Ask the wrong person, generate a lot of unnecessary effort. If you don't have enough insight into your organization to know who to ask, perhaps you should start by asking who is in the best position to answer the question. I've had bosses who think it's clever to ask several different people to answer the same list of questions. I'm sure this occasionally generates a novel idea, but at what cost?
Finally, ask insightful questions.
Any hack management consultant can ask big broad questions of the organization. How can we reduce costs? How can we generate more revenues? Ask a big vague question, get a big vague answer. Ask a big vague question, send everyone on a wild goose chase. Show some insight into the business and keep your team on strategy by asking insightful, directed questions. How do we reduce Asian sourcing costs for the outer shell of the XJ product line? As an employee, this tells me you have a grip on cost components for the XJ line and an informed opinion that we are either overpaying in Asia, or that the parts from Asia are the lever for improving line profitability.
Most teams face two or three critical questions that, if answered correctly, could lift them to the next level. As a leader, one of your most important roles is getting those questions framed appropriately and answered.
So what questions are you (and your team) trying to answer in 2012?
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