How To A.S.K. Questions
Knowing how to ask a question is vital to your leadership ability. Let me give you a great acronym to use when you A.S.K. questions:
A = Articulate The Question
Be very clear and precise about the questions you ask. The quality of your questions will determine the quality of the answers you receive. Unclear questions get unclear answers. Be strategic and intentional about how you craft your questions. The vaguer your questions are, the harder it is for people to respond to them. Instead of saying, “How’s project x going?” which is a very vague and subjective question, ask something more specific, like, “What are the top two components that are causing project x to move forward?” Follow that up with, “What are the top two obstacles that might be causing it to move slower than it should?” These are much more specific and engaging questions that elicit authentic and objective responses. They also help prioritize the most important factors at play. The way a question is asked is as important as the answer you seek to receive. Remember: the goal is to engage the person with questions that draw out answers. Open-ended questions draw out answers. Lawyers are trained to ask open-ended question to friendly witnesses for that reason, and closed-ended questions to hostile witnesses.
S = Seek Out Appropriate Contributors
Asking the right question to the wrong person will give you the wrong data. Make sure that you are asking the appropriate people the appropriate questions. I witness many leaders who become misinformed because they counsel with the wrong people. Who you direct your questions to is just as important as the question itself. Getting to the right contributors will begin to direct you to the right information. Asking the wrong person the right question can be frustrating, both to you and to the person you asked. If you truly want to learn, seek out those who have the right perspective on the matter. And always seek out multiple sources.
Many senior leaders are blind to the truth, because they only ask questions of the person who directly reports to them. That direct report can easily be skewed based on the person’s perspective, attitude, and fears they may have concerning the issue. Only asking the overseer of a project how things are going can give you a one-sided answer. Make sure you get 360-degree answers by engaging various people, not just one person. A great leader asks several people the right questions to gain a holistic view of how things are going. Be very selective about directing the right questions to the right persons. Knowing who you are talking to and what you want to draw out from within them should guide the questions you engage them with.
K = Know What To Do With The Answers
Getting answers to your questions doesn’t mean much if you’re not going to do something about it. Sometimes you have to open up to other people’s answers even if you disagree; especially if the majority of your inner circle is agreeing on something that you are not. A leader can ask great questions, but then tune out the answers if they are not careful. This does not mean you, as the leader, must act on every suggestion you receive. But it does mean you need to explore possibilities beyond your current level of awareness. Don’t be too quick to shut down ideas and solutions just because you don’t understand them at the moment.
If you consistently never use people’s thoughts, ideas, and solutions, your team will begin shutting down. They will sense that you are only going to do what you want to do anyway, and that their input won’t be valued. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.”
It’s your job as a leader to take all the answers from your questions and mold them into a solution that is best. Sometimes, this requires you to trust others and do things outside your opinion, and sometimes outside of your comfort level. Author and civil rights advocate Lillian Smith said, “When you stop learning, stop listening, stop looking and asking questions, always new questions, then it is time to die.”
As leaders, we must be open to listen to our team and act on the suggestions they provide.
