The Power Bank of Good Questions

I’ll never forget the sight of a FTSE 250 CEO, and a good friend, scratching his head at another tricky conundrum he was having to solve. It led to a conversation about how, whilst he loved problem solving, the only problems that reached him now were the really tricky ones. Which, I reminded him, was just as it should be - it demonstrated that he had good people and processes in place to make sure that only the right things reached him.

Problem-solving is of course as much about having the right questions, as it is having the right answers. If you get the first bit right, you dramatically increase your chances of fulfilling the second.

In my role as a leadership coach, one of the most useful functions I serve is to ask good questions. Providing the time and space for this helps people order their thoughts, structure their thinking, and face and consider the big, strategic issues. And not only does it help me to understand better their particular issue, it also ensures that the answers are ones that they can generate and own. Which is of course much more likely to make them ‘stick’, and lead to action. Whether I’m coaching a group of 7-year-old tennis players, facilitating a session with a senior leadership team, or coaching a CEO, this basic facet of human nature applies.

Over time, I have curated a list of questions that I have found to be of most use to clients trying to solve the inevitable conundrums they consistently face. And these are my top 10.

What are the reasons for doing ‘x’? And do they stand up to robust scrutiny and challenge?

What is the problem you are trying to solve?

What are the benefits of your proposed solution? How do you know this (and how much is just based on belief or feeling?)

What leads you to that assumption?

Have you tried to walk in their shoes to truly understand the situation from their perspective?

You’ve listed the advantages of your recommendation/decision. What are the disadvantages?

Who do you need to have in the tent, and in what capacity?

How are you going to communicate your solution?

Of all that you have listed out, what is the most important? What is the key priority here?

What are the main barriers and how are you going to overcome them?

I hope these can help those of you reading this with the conundrums you may be facing. And if you have any other awesome questions, do let me know…..

For more on this or any aspect of leadership, with a healthy dose of mindset, sport, and I hope usefulness thrown in, do feel free to browse through all the articles in the Huddle, or get in touch with me directly on catherine@sportandbeyond.co.uk