Guide: How do you describe the CEO of an enterprise? Decisive? resourceful? "Bold"? Or something else? Our evaluation of enterprise leaders is generally as described above, and this mindset is hard to change. From this point of view, if business leaders want to create a people-friendly image in front of employees and customers, they have to make writing changes, which requires leaders to know how to ask questions and ask challenging questions.
When you are given the title of leader, you may think that you must be the source of wisdom. In other words, everyone expects you to be the person who answers questions, not the person who asks questions.
But that is far from the case. Great leaders, humbled by the recognition of their ignorance, go to a trusted advisor and quickly reach a conclusion. Just asking a few people does not get enough information. Successful leaders learn to ask questions of everyone and anyone else, and make this their priority. Sometimes, they also have to answer some difficult questions, some difficult questions that they don't know the answer to, or difficult questions that cannot be answered without obtaining confidential information, or the answer will be unpleasant.
It takes courage to ask questions. Because asking questions and admitting that they don't know the answer is not the kind of behavior people expect leaders to see. Most people use words such as "tough", "resourceful", "decisive" and "bold" when describing the image of a leader. Even if words such as "curious" and "easy to ask" are often put at the end, it is difficult to change the mindset. But for that matter, leaders have to make a change. If members of leadership are required to give correct answers to any question, only a few are qualified to be leaders. If members of leadership are required to ask challenging questions, then everyone is expected to take the lead.
Here are some key questions that every leader should ask themselves, their employees, and their customers. Use the answers you get as a dynamic starting point for action. Passionately create a plan to help your employees work better and promote your company to better serve customers.
Ask yourself first
1. What kind of development will the company have in the coming year? Leaders must talk about the future anytime, anywhere. What does your team of leaders talk about in meetings? Maybe you should talk about it together. Whether you are the head of the team or one of them, ask this question. If you are a middle-level leader, call other middle-level leaders together to talk about this topic.
Most of the time, people take it for granted that these things should be the "real" leaders of the company. In fact, true leaders exist at all levels of the organization, and their vision should enter into ongoing discussions about the future.
2. What is the future of our industry? Most employees do not have the opportunity to attend industry association meetings, or do not have access to and time to read industry reports, but they need information from both sources. This is when you have a role to play. As a leader, your job is to grasp the general direction. How does the company respond to industry-wide trends? How does it compare with its competitors? What changes are affecting the way you and your competitors operate? You need to know this information in order to make informed decisions and design a course forward. People at all levels of the company also need to understand this information in order to understand the context in which management decisions are made, to help clients understand changes in company policies and operations, and to think about their future. That way they will be full of hope.
3. How can I know what my subordinates do at work? This question is based on the concern that many people worry that leaders are confused about the daily work of their subordinates. Although the decisions they make affect the daily lives of their subordinates, their subordinates think they are ignorant of the content of their work.
What should leaders do? Here is a way for you, but also a challenge. Take a closer look at the company's organizational chart, identify 12 areas where you haven't had much opportunity to engage with employees so far, and make a plan to engage with an employee in one of these areas every month for the next 12 months. For example, spend a day with the installer, answer the phone with the customer service representative, try to make a few sales calls, clean the bathroom with the housekeeper, and check the accounts with the accountant. See how the company's policies and bylaws work in practice, and how they affect workflow, quality of life, and productivity. Experience the employee's day-to-day routine and ask a few more questions to determine what you experience on that day is representative.
Ask the employee.
Most employees are never told how the company works. This fact has given rise to the idea of transparent management. The following three elements reflect this philosophy: every employee can see and learn to read the company's financial statements; they realize that one of their job tasks is to move the numbers on the financial statements in the right direction; and the employee lives and dies with the company.
Even if your company does not implement transparent management, you can still ask the question "what do we make money on. Ask your team members this question, evaluate their reactions, and develop a plan to help the team look at the big picture. If you don't even know the answer to the question, it may cause panic. But don't use this as an excuse not to ask, but as a reason to ask someone who knows the answer.
Your team members may know what will help them improve their productivity, but they may not know how to make this change, and it is the leader's job to help them come up with solutions and remove obstacles that prevent them from implementing them.
6. What is the most important thing you know about customers? This customer-related question will guide, remind and encourage your employees to remain aware of customer needs. The answers obtained will provide an unlimited source of information for the company's future actions. If the employee is unable to answer this question, don't panic. This shows that you and your leadership team still have some work to do. Some employees need some help to understand how their work relates to the work of other employees in the company and ultimately serve customers.
This question is designed to collect ideas-ideas from many sources. Your job is to ask this question to as many people as possible. When it comes to creativity, the worst that can happen to you is getting very few ideas. This is why the main principle of brainstorming is to gather popularity, not to force quality. Unfortunately, many leaders forget this. If you want to hear ideas that will make customers happy, you have to collect a lot of ideas and consider them one by one, even those that are expensive or ridiculous.
Ask the employee again.
8. What obstacles have you encountered in your work? The answer to this question may be a department or an employee. Remember, the respondent may need some time to decide whether it is safe to tell you the truth. Describing an outdated policy or explaining an easily simplified procedure is a fairly safe answer. But to comment on a bottleneck department or an employee who hinders teamwork, the decision-making process is very different.
When you ask this question, you will have to consider the factors of time and place. Giving the other person time to think after asking this question will help you get a thoughtful and meaningful answer. Once you get the answer, the best response is to accept the information completely, clear up all the unanswered questions, and assure the respondent that you will take these valuable ideas very seriously.
9. Which recent management decision do you not understand? If a decision or a change measure has been announced to the outside world and internal employees are still aware of it, no matter how reasonable or practical it is, the employee's response will be poor and the company will suffer as a result. Many major decisions are passed on to employees without a carefully considered internal communication plan, and most day-to-day decisions are passed on to employees without explanation.
As leaders begin to take seriously the responsibility of interpreting decisions, they also assume the vital role of educators. In helping employees understand the decision-making process, leaders are also teaching them how to make their own decisions.
10. How does it feel to work in the company's internal team? The intention of asking this question is to understand the integrity of the company's team experience. If employees mention lack of support, lack of resources, underappreciated or endless time-consuming meetings, then you should pay attention. The team has no role here. You don't expect to put a bunch of smart people in a room and call them a team and they'll become a team. Teams need to be developed, and that's what leaders do. Based on the answers you get, review how you formed, developed, and rolled out your team, perhaps by looking at a structure diagram of an existing team, or by developing some project review plan that will check the progress of the team's work.
What have you learned in the past week? It's fascinating to know how employees learn. The advantage of a "do-it-yourself" learning environment is that everyone will find their own way of learning. You can provide support there. Is there a library in the company? Is there a writing board or flip chart that everyone can use? Did you know that employees mumbling and standing all the time during meetings can be signs that they are learning? It seems that there is much more to learn.
Ask the customer too.
12. Why do you do business with us? Asking the customer this question will help you get immediate feedback and insight into the future. Some of the answers may displease you, but all of them provide opportunities for you and your company to improve and grow. You will get reasons to celebrate, reasons to change, reasons to retest established policies and processes.
13. Why do you do business with our competitor? This question is the opposite of the previous one. This question is asked to understand the gap between you and your competitors in the eyes of customers.
You may be afraid to ask this question because of various worries. For example, what if you find that your competitor is doing a great job? What if the customer admits that they are turning to your competitor? You can actually think of it this way: What if the customer has those ideas and you don't know what to do? Wouldn't you be more worried about the fact that you don't have the opportunity to improve without the information you get from that question?
14. When did we do something that made it difficult for you and me to do business? The customer has never encountered a policy or process problem in the course of doing business with you? When was the last time you checked for such a problem? Every business requires some system, policy and process support. Employees must be aware of their job responsibilities, have knowledge of job-related support technologies, and understand their deletions. Leaders must make coherent decisions, anticipate future opportunities, and keep an eye on the organization's budget. Where can I hear the voice of the customer?
The only way to understand the company's system and procedures is to ask the customer. In the process of asking, you will be greatly inspired. These answers may point the way for you to revise your company's policies.
15. In what areas do you want our company to improve? You have to ask the customer what he thought during the ten-minute phone transfer process, what he thought during the process of pushing your company to revise the invoice, and what he thought when he was irritated by the cumbersome procedures. It's important that you get the customer to say what they really think. What matters more is how you deal with the answers you get. You need to listen and ask further questions, while also explaining to the client why they can't or won't adopt their advice.
