You don't have to be a professional coach like me to ask compelling questions to connect, clarify, focus, discover, activate, facilitate insight, and build commitment.
Conversations are the lifeblood of a healthy organization. They fuel ideas, collaboration, and innovation. When these vital exchanges dry up, your team's heartbeat flattens.
Avoiding discomfort is a silent killer. When leaders avoid tough questions, teams become complacent, leading to groupthink and superficial analysis.
Powerful questions are the antidote to stagnation. They help teams address root causes instead of just symptoms.
Leaders should master the art of asking compelling questions, not just any questions. The good news? You don't need to be an expert coach to ask powerful questions.
What Makes a Powerful Question Powerful?
"I went for the jugular question."
– Arno Penzias, Nobel Laureate
Powerful questions are open-ended questions that encourage different perspectives. Examples include: "What is possible?" or "If we are saying 'yes' to this, what will we say 'no' to?" These questions provoke thought and are open-ended, allowing team members to shape them as needed.
Powerful questions significantly and positively impact everyone's thinking. They position team members, not just leaders, as the experts.
Leaders should avoid "gotcha" questions to test their teams. Powerful questions invite reflection – there are no perfect answers.
Why are powerful questions important for your team?
- They move conversations beyond yes or no answers
- They are short and simple
- They support personal discovery
- They promote creativity and curiosity
- They unlock individual and collective potential
Experiment with a few and see what happens. Use these powerful questions as a system rather than in isolation.
For example, start with a personal question like, "What elements of your job do you find the most fulfilling?" Then ask everyone to collectively reflect on, "What does great work mean for our team?" or "How can we encourage people to disagree or think differently?"
1. Powerful Questions to Drive Alignment
What's preventing us from fully aligning on our purpose?
We often think of alignment as convincing team members to get on the same page – to get all ducks in a row. But alignment is more than just compliance. Instead of persuading people to align on the 'what,' wise leaders emphasize the 'why.'
Purpose alignment is more impactful than people alignment, as I explain here. Use this question to address what's getting in the way of achieving your purpose rather than focusing on who's not aligned.
What are we not aligned on?
Ask your team if they're aligned with your strategy and vision, and I guarantee everyone will say yes. It's a natural response. First, people want to please their bosses. Most importantly, alignment is a generic term – people often share an overall assessment.
However, focusing on what they're not aligned on is more specific. It forces team members to address the gap – that's where real conversations about alignment should focus.
How can you support every decision and fully commit, even when you disagree with it?
Arriving at a good decision isn't the hardest part – getting buy-in is. It's impossible to get all team members to agree all the time. Instead of seeking consensus, look for commitment. There's a time for debate and a time to go all in and support what's best for the team, even if you disagree.
What are the top three things we should be focusing on right now?
If you think this isn't a powerful question, think again. Most senior managers can't name their company's top priorities.
A survey of 11,000 senior managers from more than 400 companies found that only one-third of senior managers remembered their company's top three goals. Moreover, only about 50% agreed on the top priority. Even worse, half of the senior managers who actually defined the company objectives couldn't recall them.
Where do our department's goals conflict most with the company's broader objectives?
Conflicting priorities pull people in different directions, especially when organizations reward individual goals over collective ones. Identifying misalignments is just the first step. Leaders must tackle the norms and systems behind conflicting priorities.
2. Questions to Increase a Sense of Belonging
What makes you feel most connected to this team?
The strength of a team lies in the strength of team members’ relationships. Exploring what binds us opens the conversation to what we can do to make them stronger, too.
What does great work mean for our team?
Doing fulfilling work is the new engagement. 76% of executives who completed our culture survey believe that doing amazing work sets the best cultures apart. This question will help you pin down what drives your team – what awesome work means for everyone.
What's getting you frustrated?
Frustration is often a signal that something important is being overlooked or ignored. It could also indicate a gap between reality and expectations. This question makes it okay to feel frustrated. It also sparks a conversation about recalibrating expectations or being more realistic.
What's a deal breaker in our team?
Every team has a code – a set of norms that defines what is or isn’t okay. These written or unwritten norms set clear expectations but also draw a line. They help create a consistent environment while clarifying what's not acceptable.
How can we encourage people to disagree or think differently?
Visionary leaders tap into collective wisdom. They not only encourage but also expect people to speak up and share their unique views. Creativity results from divergent ideas, requiring team members to have high intellectual humility scores. They must be open to different perspectives and willing to change their minds when receiving new evidence.
3. Powerful Questions to Address Conflict
What's the cost of avoiding conflict, and are we willing to pay the price?
Conflict doesn't vanish as an act of magic. On the contrary, the more you avoid it, the more conflict debt accumulates.
Just like financial debt piles up, unresolved issues compound over time, leading to more costly problems. Encourage your team to address this before the emotional and financial cost goes through the roof.
What perspective are we missing that will help us solve this conflict?
Sometimes, the key to resolving a conflict is hidden in the blind spots. Finding that hidden angle can be the breakthrough needed to shift the entire conversation. For instance, the Drama Triangle can help your team see problems from the perspective of a victim, hero, or villain – or as a challenger, facilitator, or creator.
How can we find common ground without compromising?
Solving conflict doesn't mean colleagues have to agree on everything. It's about finding common ground – a common problem they face. Teams should focus on the best outcome rather than getting bogged down in the details.
Finding common ground doesn't mean compromise or settling for the lowest common denominator. It's not about winning an argument, either. The goal is to open people's minds and recognize that multiple opinions can coexist, shifting the discussion from an "either-or" to a "yes, and" mindset.
What's emerging underneath the different opinions?
Opposing opinions often mask a deeper, shared concern. This question helps uncover the common thread, guiding the team toward a unified understanding and a more effective solution.
What is this issue telling us about our team?
Most teams I’ve worked with suffer from recurring issues. The discussion might look different, but the underlying cause tends to repeat itself. Asking this question can help you understand the real issue and why the team can't resolve it.
4. Questions that Promote Ownership
What elements of your work do you find the most fulfilling, and why?
The secret of a successful organizational culture lies not in just meeting goals but in allowing employees to do meaningful work. Research consistently shows that ownership skyrockets when employees love what they do.
How much freedom do you feel you have to make decisions in your current role?
Organizations often want people to take more responsibility without giving them the power to make decisions. Wise leaders let those closest to the work call the shots. They know those on the ground have the drive and knowledge to solve things faster.
What's holding us back from owning our mistakes?
Blame is a natural human reflex. When things go wrong, colleagues feel the impulse to defend themselves and default to blame or scapegoating. This question is a vital first step to building a blameless culture.
How does our culture support or discourage going above and beyond?
Showing appreciation to team members who have initiative builds a sense of ownership. Give a shoutout and reward those who step up – and pick up the trash. This question also addresses how organizations, on purpose or not, allow those who slack off to get away with it.
What does true ownership look like in our team, and how can we embody it?
Accountability, like innovation or agility, has become a cliché – it fails to motivate people because it lacks meaning. This question invites people to figure out what ownership means to the team. Nothing drives ownership more than when people define, by themselves, what ownership is all about.
5. Use These Questions to Overcome Obstacles
What assumptions or beliefs might be making this problem seem bigger than it actually is?
Reality is perception, and perception is reality. Sometimes, the biggest obstacles lie within our imagination. Ask this question and see what happens.
What would you love doing if you knew you wouldn't fail?
Fear is both a powerful emotion and a significant barrier if you don't address it. By (temporarily) removing the fear of failure, you can help your team reconnect with their dreams and potential.
What would you do if you had infinite resources?
Not having enough resources – such as budget, time, or employees – is a common excuse for not doing one's job. This question removes the limitation – and the excuses. It helps people realize they need fewer resources than initially thought, reducing the gap between ideal and reality.
How can we succeed despite [a constraint your team has]?
Limitations can stop us from winning – but only if we let them. Use this question to invite creativity, just like Audi did. Instead of trying to build a faster engine, engineers asked, "How can we win without having the fastest car?" The rest is history.
What's the biggest obstacle standing in our way, and why does it persist?
The issue isn’t with the obstacle but rather how we respond to it. Reflect on why your team has allowed it to become an excuse – an easy way out from addressing a challenge.
6. Questions to Improve Decision Making
What is everyone seeing that I'm missing?
Most leaders are too detached or too far from the frontlines to understand what's happening. The Iceberg of Ignorance shows that while staff see 100% of problems, team managers see only 9%. Even worse, senior executives see just 4% of the issues affecting their organization. I don't need to explain what makes this a powerful question.
What question(s) are we not asking?
Decisions love a good challenge, so take a look at them from different angles. Instead of judging a decision, try seeing it from another perspective by asking the question nobody else thinks to ask.
What perspectives do we need to consider before making this decision?
This is not about pleasing everyone but understanding critical views before making a call. Subject matter experts, outsiders, people affected by the decision, or devil's advocates (to name a few) can better inform and improve decisions.
How can we speed up decision-making?
Speed is a competitive advantage. Explore ways to act faster – from replacing consensus with consent to decentralizing decision-making.
How can we avoid groupthink and make the right decision instead of just the popular one?
Being too nice can hold your team back. The role of a leader is not to win a popularity contest but to drive teams to do what's best for the organization. This question reminds people of exactly that.
7. Powerful Questions to Unlock Potential
What self-limiting mindsets are holding us back?
Whatever we believe can block our potential. Our mindsets filter our reality: We see what we believe. It's vital that the team can identify – and overcome – ingrained, limiting mindsets before it's too late.
How can we sink our own ship?
I've used this question for years to help teams identify their weak spots, where disruption can come from. Recently, I started using it to spot harmful habits that could damage the team. When I then ask team members to link real behaviors with those that could sink the ship, the answers are eye-opening.
Where do you fear we'll end up if nothing changes?
Teams complain about what's wrong but then do nothing to improve their situation. They get fixed on the worst things that can happen. Inaction is more harmful than imperfect action. This powerful question will help your team overcome procrastination.
Are we solving the right problem?
Often, organizations get stuck solving the wrong problem, fixing symptoms or the most obvious problem instead of the right one. For instance, if you think an elevator is too slow, your team will try to make it faster. However, reframing the problem will help you uncover more relevant solutions, If you instead address that "the wait is too annoying," then new solutions will make the wait feel shorter.
What am I doing to build other leaders?
The role of leaders is not to fix all the problems but to grow new leaders. This seems obvious, but reality shows otherwise. Most leaders are addicted to being the hero, constantly fighting fires.
That's why I saved this question for last. Of all the powerful questions leaders can ask, the most important one to ask themselves is: Are you helping others become leaders or just trying to be the hero?
Check out a related post: Leaders Who Ask More Leverage the Power of the Brain to Ignite Employee Ownership (5 min read)
To your greater success and well-being,
Peter Mclees, Leadership Coach, Trainer and Performance Consultant
SMART DEVELOPMENT
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