Supervisor’s Tip of the Week – Three questions you should ask those you lead

by | Nov 2, 2004 | Positive Workplace, Union Avoidance

It is often repeated that nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care. This is definitely true for managers. Being a good manager is challenging, especially in today’s high-pressure business environment. We ask our people (including managers) to do more and more, often with fewer resources. Even when new resources are added, it usually means additional job tasks and responsibilities. Add to this the increased demands for time outside of work and it is easy to see how managers (and their employees) can get overwhelmed. In this environment managers spend most of their time putting out fires, giving orders and responding to complaints – and very little time on developing their people. Even when development discussions come up, they are often formal “performance reviews” that can end up being negative and de-motivating experiences for both parties. If you want to be an effective manager, you need to ask each employee you lead the following three “Engagement Questions”: 1. Where did you come from (or, what’s your story?) 2. Where are you going? (or, where does your story go from here?) 3. What can I do to help? (or, more concretely, what one thing could I change to make your job/life better?) These questions get you beyond the day-to-day pressures of work, without the built in pressure of a “performance discussion” that is often tied to pay increases. If possible try to meet in a quiet place, without a lot of distractions. Give yourself a half-hour to talk (sometimes the conversations can last even longer, especially if you’ve never talked to your coworkers about this stuff). Who has time for this, you ask? You have to MAKE time for it. Asking these questions makes your job easier and, in some cases, may be the only way you can be successful. There are several reasons. First, these questions get to the core of what motivates a person to work. It gives an effective leader a prism through which to put daily work demands in perspective. Someone whose goal in life it to start an art studio is going to have a very different motivational track than someone who wants to be CEO of the company. This does not mean the first person cannot be engaged (in fact, they might be much more engaged than the latter) but it definitely changes how you engage them. Second, you will begin to see relationships between what motivates your team and the job tasks you must complete – it allows you to make effective assignments based on the skills, desires and motivations of your team. You can achieve much higher levels of performance this way. It also will help motivate you as a leader – you will see common relationships between what is important to you and what motivates your team members. It enriches your job as much as it does your team. Finally, it can significantly improve your work systems. The input you receive will give you a checklist of projects you can implement that can transform your work environment. It is better in many ways than any opinion survey or consulting intervention you can buy, and it is all there for the asking. Do yourself a big favor and schedule one of these meetings with a coworker this week. Then add one a week until you’ve gone through your team.

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