Asking good questions moves you from reacting to steering.
The Questions Every Director Should Ask
Great leadership isn’t about having every answer. It’s about asking better questions.
Directors who look calm under pressure usually aren’t calm. They’re curious. Asking good questions moves you from reacting to steering.
Every year, in that quiet week after Christmas, I find myself itching to get back to work. But I’ve learned that stillness is the best time for thinking, not just catching up. Put the kettle on, block out a few hours and ask the questions your business needs before the noise starts again.
Five questions worth asking
- What problem are we actually solving?
- What decision are we avoiding?
- What would make this 10% simpler?
- If this goes wrong, why will it go wrong?
- What would we do if we were brave and sensible?
Beware the monkeys
Here’s the trap. If your team brings you every problem and you hand back every solution, you end up with a monkey on each shoulder, and a few more queuing up. You become the bottleneck and the emotional recycling bin.
Instead, answer with questions that build ownership: “What have you tried?”, “What do you recommend?”, “What support do you need from me?”
Your job isn’t to carry every monkey. It’s to build a team that can handle their own.
Written by Sonny Cutting – The Directors’ Hub
