Ask questions and listen. These are important skills for managers. But what are good questions? My bookshelf, notes and the internet contain endless lists of discussion questions. One opening question is even more creative than the other. For example: “If your ten-year-younger self saw you today, would she or he be proud of how you’ve developed?”
Nicely conceived. But most people will not see it as the start of a sincere conversation. More like some sort of management trick. So here’s a selection of very common questions to start a dialogue about important topics.
1. Questions about strengths. The work becomes more fun and better when people know their strengths and can use them. So ask: what are you good at that you also enjoy? Do you have the opportunity to use your strengths in your work every day? What can we do to make that possible?
2. Questions about concerns. Are there any issues you are facing right now? Are there things that frustrate you at work? What do you need to solve this problem? How can I help you with that?
3. Questions about growth. How would you like to grow in this organization? Great opening. Also nice: what qualities do you value in colleagues? And what would you like to work on yourself? How could you handle this? What do you need from me to do that?
4. Questions about your performance as a manager. This is a little more exciting. Try a question like: What do you think I should pay more attention to? What do you need from me to function properly? What are you trying to explain, but I don’t quite understand, do you think?
5. Questions to stimulate creativity. If there were no barriers, what would you invest in? If you were in charge tomorrow, what would you improve first? What is going so well that you say: we should do more with that? What risk should we take?
6. Questions about meaning in the work. What do you experience as the most useful aspect of your work? What aspects of your work do you enjoy talking to others about? What does it take to make even more of a difference with your work?
7. Ask about what the other wants to discuss. With the above questions you determine the direction of the conversation. Sometimes you may prefer that your colleague directs the conversation. What then works is to ask questions such as: what would you like to think about together? What do you think this conversation should be about? What keeps you busy?
Ask questions to employees. And then listen. That sounds simple. Yet it often falls short, learns research by Gallup† More than half of people who leave an organization say that in the three months before they left, their manager did not ask once how work was going. And they indicate that they might have stayed if there had been good conversations.
Ben Tiggelaar writes weekly about personal leadership, work and management.
A version of this article also appeared in the newspaper of 11 June 2022