For decades, our leaders were expected to have all the answers.

Unfortunately, this "all-knowing" persona more often than not translated into a dictatorial, autocratic "Do as I tell you" type of leadership style. Sadly, at the time, this style was not only accepted but, in most cases encouraged, and even valued at all levels of an organization. As a result, we often found the level of personal accountability was lowered to the point where not only the power, but the ultimate responsibility lay at the top rather than dispersed throughout the entire organization. This limited creativity and ownership has led to many of the problems and challenges faced by organizations today.

Nowadays, this type of leadership is largely part of a bygone era.

The global business world is simply moving too quickly and is far too complicated for any one leader to possibly know it all. As Michael Marquardt writes in his book, "Leading with Questions" - "We need to be able to resist the impulse to provide solutions and learn instead to ask questions".

We totally agree with Professor Marquardt's belief that the key to effective leadership in the coming decades will be the ability of the leaders to ask the right questions, not have the right answers.

Leading Questions

We have known for some time that as leaders rise within an organization, their technical skills become more and more irrelevant while their success is tied to their increasing ability to develop a well-rounded suite of leadership competencies – including the ability to ask great questions.

According to the Harvard Business School, becoming a more effective listener is one of the most valuable tools a leader can develop and the great news is that a leader can develop their listening ability by asking the right questions. In short, great questions provide the leader with important additional listening opportunities and, as a result, can expand their sphere of influence and understanding.

The leader who is able to ask an ever increasing number of questions in order to expand their listening opportunities will find numerous other side benefits including the ability to better understand the "mood" of the organization and the state of the culture as a whole.

Question the Answers

Thanks to Jack Welch and others, the value and importance of "candour" in business and in business relationships has been put on the front burner.

Organizations are coming to realize that the level of straight forward, candid discussions among their people has reached an all time low and that something needs to be done about it. This realization is a great thing.

The goal is candour.

The tool is great questions.

The outcome is increased confidence, responsiveness, collaboration and accountability.

Now is the time to break the back of the "superficial congeniality" within your organization. It takes a certain amount of guts, but leading the process of promoting greater candour is far more effective than having the process rear its head when you're not ready for it.

Ask tough questions - get honest answers.

Get honest answers - get better results.

Pass the Monkey

One obvious and very important competency required of the modern leader is the ability to coach and develop their people. Every great coach knows that at the end of a coaching conversation, there is one and only one goal - to anchor the responsibility and ultimately accountability - to pass the monkey squarely onto the shoulders of the employee. The coach knows how to ask questions that allow this transfer of accountability to take place.

The Art of Inquisition

In 2001, Tom Kelley, CEO of the world-class design firm IDEO wrote a groundbreaking book called "The Art of Innovation". In it he details how time and time again his team have strived to become masters in asking questions and challenging assumptions. This is one of the elusive keys to IDEO's success.

In order for an organization to develop their art of innovation, they must first become masters of the art of inquisition. Your organization must develop an ethic which makes each and every employee "greedy for new things". This greediness derives from an insatiable amount of questioning.

Keep in mind this does not involve employees questioning your organization's direction, rather they must question your organization's environment. They must want things to be better. They start asking "Why?" and, as they develop their confidence, they move to "Why not?".

This is where true innovation happens.

In Our Opinion
The Beacon Group's Keys to Developing "The Inquisitive Organization"

New Mandate - As the "Do as I say" mentality of leadership fades into the past, the modern leaders must publicly establish a reverse mandate ethic for their team. In other words, they should ask their team what they as the leader should be doing, be it acting as the Chief Door Opener or Roadblock Remover, or as the Cross-Functional Liaison. Ask your team to set your mandate.

Question Marks - Having a metric that will help you measure the number and quality of questions being asked is a must. As questions develop candour, creativity, and confidence, using tools such as employee engagement surveys and focus groups (both of which are questions, by the way) will help you assess the "health" of your organization.

Develop - For years, management training has taught managers how to define their future, and tell their team how to get there. In order to get the organization to where it needs to be, managers must be taught to use the "wisdom of the crowd" to make more effective decisions.

Ask - In this case, as a leader, don't ask questions, rather ask your team members to pose probing questions that will ultimately help you determine whether or not your frames and assumptions are accurate and relevant.

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In "Leading with Questions", Marquardt describes how, as customers, suppliers and employees, we are more likely to shy away from a direct question when we believe the feedback will be negative. As a result, leaders have to take a harder stand when they feel that they are not getting a straight answer to a blunt question.

This involves the personal confidence to be prepared for bad news, coupled with an ability to assure the employee that there will be no negative consequences for straight talk and simply telling it like it is. Candour is a terrific business performance enabler and leaders need to set the tone from the top.