Question

Imagine that you are a management coach and one of your clients, a new manager, says, “I’ve heard that about two thirds of managers fail within 18 months. I don’t want to be part of that statistic! I’ve heard that asking questions and really listening to people’s responses is key to success. But as a manager, shouldn’t I have the answers? Why should I be asking questions?” How do you respond?
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- Asking employees questions helps develop their critical thinking skills.
- Asking employees questions boosts their morale by helping them feel like experts, even though they’re not.
- Asking employees questions enhances their sense that the manager is the only person they should be in dialogue with, so they start talking less to each other.
- Asking employees how to solve problems empowers them to arrive at solutions to which they’re committed.

Answer 1

Answer:

✔ Asking employees questions helps develop their critical thinking skills.

✘ Asking employees questions boosts their morale by helping them feel like experts, even though they’re not.

✘ Asking employees questions enhances their sense that the manager is the only person they should be in dialogue with, so they start talking less to each other.

✔ Asking employees how to solve problems empowers them to arrive at solutions to which they’re committed.

Explanation:

A manager who asks questions with a sincere interest in the answers is engaging in dialogue similar to a “regular” back-and-forth conversation, and this authenticity builds trust and promotes the open exchange of ideas. Another key benefit is that having employees think about questions, rather than just telling them information or telling them what to do, engages their critical thinking skills—which are key skills for organizational success. Also, when employees are asked how to solve problems, they are likely to have more buy-in to the solution they arrive at than to a solution imposed on them. Many people are motivated by feeling as though their ideas make a positive difference.

Lower-level employees are often the experts in operational details and often have more direct contact with customers than higher-level managers, so they have tremendous expertise that can and should be tapped. Asking employees questions begins an organizational dialogue that can lead to a decentralized communication network, in which employees freely exchange ideas with one another and not just with their manager.