Leading high performance teams

A leader stands out more by the questions asked than by the answers given

It is real the story of the participant in a training program who complained that the instructor didn't know the subject because she kept asking the participants questions.

How foolish. Little did he know that asking questions is one of the most excellent ways of teaching and exercising our leadership, as it awakens in others the opportunity, the curiosity and the effort to discover an answer.

We cannot encourage mental laziness, unwillingness, lack of initiative, or even the courage to try - and eventually make a mistake, in every member of our team.

If we promptly give them all the answers, they will become forever dependent on us.

When we ask questions, we bring the other into the sphere of analysis and decision, so they become a protagonist in the scene instead of a mere supporting actor/actress.

Your great challenge as a leader is to risk losing the all-knowing, oracle image, as it happened with that instructor, but this decision is very common to every true leader: we either focus on what is best for our team or only on what’s best for ourselves.

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