Have you the courage to ask?

“Managers of the past knew how to tell, managers of the future will know how to ask.”

Effective managers don’t just manage people; they support and challenge their team to achieve their best and overcome challenges. This is achieved by having frequent friendly, yet focussed conversations with their staff. To have effective conversations, managers must ask effective questions.

As a manager, here are 6 great questions to ask and answer regularly:

• 1. How frequently do you ask your team the question ‘what needs to be done?’
• 2. Are you aware of your own strengths and weaknesses as a manager, and are you honest enough with yourself to seek assistance and input when you require it?
• 3. Do you care enough about your staff to invest your time and energy in their development?
• 4. Do you have the skills and attitude to develop your team?
• 5. How frequently do you meet one-2-one with your staff?
• 6. When was the last time you asked your team the question ‘what can I do to support you more?’

Many managers fail to realise that just as customers voluntarily decide to do business with you, staff volunteer their dedication, motivation and enthusiasm. Employees are required to spend a specific number of hours a day at work, but they volunteer ‘who they are at work.’ By asking questions you will learn more about your staff and what motivates them. This gives you greater insight into how to lead them effectively. Think about it, in sales context, effective sales people ask questions of their prospects so they can learn more about them and their needs, enabling them to tailor their approach in generating business. The same principle applies when managing people.

Asking questions is even more important in today’s knowledge-based working environment. The term ‘knowledge workers’ is used to describe employees whose knowledge of the company, its products, services, systems, procedures, customers and competition is an inherent part of their role. In many instances, they know more about how to do their job well than their manager does. From the manager’s perspective it is no longer possible to tell people what to do and how to do it, when they already know what needs to be done. Managers therefore need to listen. Listening means having conversations, and how do you start conversations? You guessed it – by asking questions.

In research carried out in the US by Marshall Goldsmith and Howard Morgan involving 11,000 managers and 86,000 of their co-workers, they found that managers who ask co-workers to provide suggestions for improvement, listen to their responses, learn from the people around them and consistently follow-up, are seen as effective in their roles.

If it is common sense to ask more questions of colleagues, direct reports and even customers, then why don’t we do it? There are two reasons. Firstly, arrogance, as the manager we think we know best. That arrogance can be inherent in the individual manager, but it can also be a result of the culture of the company. Managers see staff from an ‘us’ and ‘them’ perspective and sure what would staff know about running a business!

Managers don't ask questions because they are afraid of the answers.

But arrogance is not the main reason why managers don’t ask more questions. The simple truth of the matter is that they are afraid of what they will hear. They don’t ask questions because they are afraid of the answers.

I recently worked with a firm who brought me in to boost staff motivation and morale. Of course low levels of staff motivation and morale are symptoms; the cause is often the person contacting me! When I spoke with staff during the training workshops, a common issue that they raised was that they felt management didn’t listen to them, that their opinions didn’t matter. They felt their opinions didn’t matter because their opinions were never sought. In other words management were ‘telling’ not ‘asking’ and as adults, instinctively we don’t like being told what to do.

So what can you do? Get into the habit of asking colleagues for their ideas on "What needs to be done?" Listen to them, thank them for their input and incorporate their ideas when possible, keeping a two-way dialogue going. You may not be able to act on all ideas, but staff will remember the fact that you have asked.

Remember communication is not just speaking, it is about listening and to listen you have to ask questions. So when are you going to start asking?

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