Leading with Intention: Asking Questions & Delegating Effectively

Good leaders are always looking for a chance to develop their followers. Great leaders are always looking for a chance to develop more leaders. Questions are the best tool for developing others. Questions develop the thought process, expand the critical thinking skills, and allow you to delegate results, rather than methods.

As a leader, you often have the challenge of delegating to others. The higher up you travel as a formal level leader, the more you will need to delegate. And, how well you delegate determines your effectiveness.

Any task or project carries with it responsibility. How much of that responsibility should you continue to carry when you delegate? As a leader, the more you delegate effectively, the more you will be able to focus your attention on the things only you can do.

If you delegate taking out the trash to your 10 year old son, you may free up time to start cooking dinner sooner. But, if you delegate taking out the trash and provide him with step by step directions on how to remove the bag, tie it up, carry it to the large can outside, and insert the new trash bag every time it needs taking out, you haven’t freed up much of your time. More importantly, you haven’t helped your son learn to think for himself.

Instead, try this. Delegate only the results – keep the kitchen trash can from overflowing. You must start by delegating the result. Give him the project. Coach him using questions: What does this mean? What does success look like? What would it take to keep the trash can in the desired state? This is a stewardship delegation – you are delegating the results and the responsibility for making it happen. If it doesn’t get done, ask questions to help him think through what is required: Why is success important? How can you be sure to do it regularly? What resources do you need from me?

It takes more time to delegate this way in the short term. Long term, it develops the person at an entirely new level and frees up your time.

Unfortunately, questions are an underutilized tool for many leaders. Great leaders realize questions are a powerful way to connect with and develop others.

Whether you are asking the questions to your team members or your children, questions allow you to empower and engage them. Sam Walton stated, “Asking and hearing people’s opinions has a greater effect on them than telling them, ‘Good job.’”

Asking questions shows respect, allows you to learn how someone is thinking, allows you to see another perspective, and allows them to influence you, which increases your influence with them.

Thought provoking questions facilitate deeper communication. The key is to ask the question in the right way, and often, ask a follow-up question. When you are intentionally working to develop someone, answer a question with a question. It takes longer, but the rewards are huge relative to delegating responsibility, developing, and growing your team.

Ask for recommendations and solutions. Ask how they propose to do something. Ask why or why not. Ask what the barriers are. Ask what the pitfalls might be. Ask what the opportunities are. Ask what else you need to know or consider. And, listen to the answers. If you aren’t listening to the answers, there is no point in askingthe questions. As Bruce Lee declared,“A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can from a wise answer.”

This has been an excerpt from my book, Leadership Gems: 30 Characteristics of Very Successful Leaders.

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