How can you ask questions that help team members overcome obstacles and challenges?

Open-ended questions can be transformative in the right context, and their impact multiplies when combined with learning agility and humility. From my experience, I can share that people seek coaching from leaders who embody the principles they preach. Mastery in questioning demands practice and discipline. Leaders must resist solving problems for others, instead trusting their coachees to find their own solutions. What I have experienced my self is that establishing credibility as a coach is a journey of consistent self-improvement over time. Achieving excellence in the art of questioning necessitates rigorous practice and a disciplined. I believe that all coaches must actively seek feedback on their ability to ask impactful questions.

As leaders, people are often inclined to help others by giving their opinion and experience - they've spent a great deal of time in their field, and are a wealth of knowledge. However, it's important that leaders empower their team by teaching these members how to think on their own - how to problem solve, think outside of the box, and build their own opinions. Leaders can do this by asking questions about what the person is trying to solve, what they've tried so far, what ideas they may have, and what they need help with. By "teaching a man to fish", the leader is guiding the team member through a process of teaching themselves how to answer questions - versus answering the question for them.

Questions that focus on past challenges help person identify what worked in the past, reminds them of their agency- that they have in fact solved problems and challenges in the past. Helping them be curious about what they learned. Was there ever a time you felt defeated and somehow muddled through, and now looking back on it, you realize it was of great benefit? How could that be? How did you muddle? Is any of that helpful now? How do you identify resources and resource people in hard times? I don't need to know the answers, just need to resist the urge to give my answers, only their answers have a chance of solving the problem.

I love the power of questions because they can be transformative. We ask questions to create insights and therefore the chance that is needed. What I love the most is when people understand and are courageous enough to ask the questions for which they do not have the answer. Asking from the curiosity and non judgmental place. Those are the questions that must be valued.

Cuando eres líder y estás impartiendo o adquiriendo junto a tu equipo un conocimiento nuevo o una metodología por lo general las personas tienden a no hacer preguntas por diversos motivos. Un verdadero líder de manera natural rompe el hielo y se sacrifica por su equipo, si reconoce que ese conocimiento es vital para lograr los objetivos y metas, haciendo las preguntas él hacía el moderador o preguntando directamente a los presentes, incluso aunque el mismo ya hubiera asimilado el conocimiento. Todo de manera positiva y procurando no ser ofensivo, no despectivo, ni haciendo mofa, sino siendo humilde y mostrando siempre empatía al buscar internalizar el conocimiento al equipo.

Creo que hay un aspecto importante que no se menciona en el artículo: la importancia de hacer preguntas que generen aprendizaje y crecimiento en los miembros del equipo. Cuando hacemos preguntas, no solo estamos tratando de resolver un problema actual. También estamos intentando ayudar a nuestros equipos a desarrollar sus habilidades y capacidades. Las preguntas que generan aprendizaje y crecimiento son aquellas que invitan a cada miembro a pensar de manera diferente, a cuestionar sus supuestos y a explorar nuevas posibilidades. Estas preguntas pueden ayudar a los miembros del equipo a: Desarrollar su pensamiento crítico Mejorar sus habilidades de resolución de problemas Ampliar su perspectiva Ser más creativos Ser más autónomos.

Set yourself up for success as a trusted challenger. Decide in advance that your task is to help the team achieve the greatest possible success given the available time and resource allocation. In order to do that, take these few steps: 1. Adopt a mindset, approach and tone that signals support, respect for their work, and curiosity 2. When you like something, respond in a way that is authentic and natural to you and share your impression. 3. When something could be better, be aware: Here's where you show your true intentions. Only ask questions: I'm curious about how you selected...? What would be the impact of shifting x to y? It will take self-management and a conscious decision to be humble.

Asking questions is such a great way to get your team members to discover their own “a-ha moments” it’s a better help them to not just get through the current challenge, but to develop them in their own critical thinking and leadership skills. So as you are asking questions, have that goal in mind. What would you need to know and understand to get to the solution and help coach them through questions that will help them get to that information.

One of the most common pitfalls is the tendency to fall into the "advice trap" where the questioner thinks that they know the answer or have the magic advice that will solve the problem for the team member experiencing the challenge. My life is not your life, so what works for me might not work for you, and vice versa. A great way to avoid falling into the advice trap to remain open and curious, with no desired outcome in mind. This detached involvement (involved in the conversation but detached from the outcome) helps our team members arrive at their own solution, which also injects accountability and credibility to the actions they are about to take towards resolving their challenge. Be supportive from there, and watch them succeed!

To excel in asking focused questions, one must practice and strive for continuous improvement. Understanding how to ask creative, open-ended questions is foundational for engaging team dialogues. Equally critical is the trust engendered by leaders who serve as coaches. A leader's expertise in posing unbiased questions is undermined if they are not viewed as honest and dependable by their team. Without this perception of integrity, it's improbable that a trusting work environment can be established to surmount obstacles and challenges. From my experience, having adept questioning abilities is useless without the underpinning of genuine leadership and trustworthiness. Ultimately, these elements must converge to create a cohesive whole.

Skills to practice for a manager involve: Active Listening: Pay full attention to understand the issue thoroughly. Open-Ended Questions: Encourage detailed responses and exploration of the problem. Empathy: Connect emotionally to grasp the team member's perspective. Clarification: Seek specifics to pinpoint the core of the challenge. Reflective Summaries: Recap the problem to ensure mutual understanding. Solution-Oriented Queries: Prompt ideas for potential resolutions. Patience: Allow time for contemplation and response, avoiding rushing the conversation.

In my experience people respond to feedback very differently. Some: well, internally angry, humiliated, bamboozled. Wait till everyone is calm. Then simply ask 1-1. 1. How do you think that went? 2. What would you do differently next time? 2. How can I support you better? Will be all that’s required. People don’t usually want to communicate badly they simply don’t know they are doing it. They only find out when others react, and so the ping pong of words happens.

Agregaría que manejar no solo empíricamente, sino que también teóricamente: la comunicación efectiva; conocer también sobre neurociencias; capacidad de comunicación verbal, lenguaje físico y profesional; analizar qué tipo de interlocutor tienes en frente para que no mal intérpretes o realices conclusiones de alguna información que te pueda siministrar de manera errada por falta de no tener estos conocimientos. Los líderes que exige la sociedad hoy en día debemos estar más preparados que nunca en todos los campos que son vitales para ayudar y colaborar con la sociedad.

In my view, the success of this coaching process hinges on the focused engagement of both the coach and the coachee. A significant obstacle to overcome is the inability to concentrate and maintain attention. A coaching challenge lies in creating a secure environment that fosters meaningful dialogue with concrete results. The quality of the dialogue significantly improves when the coachee senses the coach’s sincerity and genuine desire to assist. It’s crucial for the coach to seamlessly integrate into the process, avoiding any semblance of artificiality. Through the years, I have witnessed that a coach’s influence is largely derived from a combination of effective coaching skills and authenticity.

Se deben hacer preguntas que busquen desarrollar el pensamiento crítico y analítico; donde se pueda evaluar todo el contorno y matices, por ejemplo: actores protagónicos y antagónicos, procesos, objetivos, metas, problemas, herramientas, árbol de resultados, evaluación de posibilidades y tendencias para la toma de decisiones, entre otras.