THE UNOFFICIAL GUIDE TO
When working with young leaders or doing some leadership development activities, I sometimes get asked “what is the best way to build support for your ideas?” They have great ideas but feel like they are struggling to be heard or can’t generate support for their ideas. I’d encourage you to read a great article on a similar topic by Jim Schleckser, CEO at the Inc. CEO Project. “Why Great Leaders Ask Great Questions” https://www.inc.com/jim-schleckser/why-great-leaders-ask-great-questions.html However, here are my two cents on the topic. I can still remember back to the first executive coach I worked with almost 10 years ago now, and this is one of the topics we talked about. Sometimes as a leader, your thoughts and ideas are already well formulated and ahead of your team or colleagues. Your job in meetings and conversations is not to jump straight to the conclusion but instead build up your support and form a guiding coalition towards the end goal. You may know what’s best or have the best idea, but you have to give people time to follow you there. So how can you do that? Sometimes, the best question you can ask in a meeting is the question you already know the answer to. I know this sounds counter intuitive….why would I ask a question If I already know the answer? Well the answer is that others in that meeting may not know the answer. By asking that question, it helps you lay down the foundation and path for you to help guide others towards an end goal or idea. The big difference however is that by asking it as a question, instead of just telling people, is that you are encouraging the thought and dialogue to increases participation in the process! Those people answering or talking through your question have now been made a part of the process. Once they are involved in the process, they become more engaged and invested in the outcomes! As the team members start to answer the question, they start to discover the thoughts you were already thinking about. Hopefully they think of things you haven’t to help enhance it. They begin to build upon those ideas and move the ball forward. At the end of the day, as a leader it’s important to remember that the goal is to work down the path towards success together, and not whose idea it was! As you get more confident with this technique in your toolkit, it can be extremely effective at increasing engagement and growing your team members. Earlier in my career, I found this to be very effective in increasing my own impact in meetings, not only with my own team but also when engaging with more senior company leadership. The thought provoking, but on-point questions helped steer conversations toward solid ideas. It helped bridge the knowledge gap, especially if people in the meeting weren’t as familiar with the topics we were talking about. When you can increase your impact, performance, and engagement with your team or other leaders, people will take notice.
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About Shawn:My philosophy as an IT leader today is that I believe you must first and foremost be a business leader. It is my goal to be a strategic partner with the business to help it make money, save money, and be the absolute best in the industry at what we do. Having the technology competencies and experience is just your entry fee to sit at the table. Every day, I am bringing 20+ years of IT experience to the table in the areas such as:
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