Boost employee development by asking further questions in response to an employee’s query
In last week’s video instalment in our ongoing series on specific ideas for employee development and growth, I told you that getting your staff to train others is a very powerful way to improve their skill level. Here is another. Answer questions with another question.
Answer questions with another question
As leaders, employees often come to us with questions, and our natural instinct is to answer. After all, we’re the leaders, right? But in fact, we can significantly boost employee development simply by choosing to instead ASK questions of our employees instead of just answering them. Let me explain.
When an employee comes to you with an issue or challenge, just giving them an answer may seem like the most expedient approach, particularly if you happen to know the answer. But you will be losing out on a perfect opportunity for employee development. Instead, if you make it a point to ask open-ended questions, you will actually help the employee think through the situation and arrive at an acceptable solution, all the while, helping them grow in skill and confidence.
So what are open-ended questions? Continue reading
If you’re a leader, then you’re responsible for decision-making. Which is why it we have
The sorites paradox: if individual grains of sand are removed one at a time from a hypothetical heap of sand, what is the point at which the heap can no longer be considered a heap? At first glance, you may think that this is merely a philosophical question, but the metaphor has great applicability if you carry it into the workplace. Consider this: if minor seemingly harmless problems or changes go unnoticed and do not individually attract attention, is there a possibility that eventually the sum total of these issues over time will result in a major setback? And what if the significant outcome is one that, if it would have happened all at once, would have been regarded as negative, undesirable or objectionable?
The self-serving bias is a concept that has been extensively studied in social psychology. Essentially, it is people’s tendency to attribute positive events to their own character but attribute negative events to external factors. It’s a common type of cognitive bias that exists in all aspects of life, including in the workplace.
“Worry is like a rocking chair: it gives you something to do but never gets you anywhere”
“We need to wait until we have all the facts …” is something I hear many managers and supervisors say. It’s often in response to an issue that needs to be dealt with or an unexpected problem that has occurred. Usually the situation is a difficult one and because the manager has no prior experience with making decisions in an identical or similar scenario, s/he is stalling for time. The unfortunate reality of course is that if you wait for all the facts, you might be waiting for a really (really) long time; perhaps even an eternity.
In 1626, King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden ordered the building of the Vasa, a new warship that was intended to become, for that era, the most powerful marine vessel in the Baltic Sea. As was common in warships then, the Vasa was to have a rank of cannons on each side of the boat so that soldiers could easily fire at their attackers, no matter what direction the assault came from.