What is the nature of a great question?

We immediately notice when someone asks us a great question. The ideas flash, we become curious and we start to think on a new level. The question takes us on a search and the search leads us into new territory. We all have this ability to ask great questions and transform our business, work and life.

Why don’t most questions do this? It could be a closed question with a yes/no answer. The person asking the question may have an agenda or judgment about us. The question might lead us into the past, where we are asked to explain, justify or rationalize our choices. In business, such questions can stop all forward movement for a team.

What is the difference between asking and telling? Telling people what to do is part of business. Systems and procedures need to be communicated. However, you cannot tell someone how to be a great manager or business leader. Telling someone how to do leadership can lead to confusion or overcompensation. Giving advice often comes from the belief that a person does not have what is needed to figure out a solution on their own. This is not the message we want to give to future leaders.

Becoming a great manager or business leader is not a linear process. Telling people what to do won’t build great managers or lead to organizational transformation. How can we avoid the defensive, problem-oriented atmosphere that telling people what to do can lead to?

What is the structure of great open-ended questions? How do great open-ended questions stimulate the flow of ideas? How do great open-ended questions engage us to begin pondering and start a process of inquiry? What is the difference between open and closed questions?

A closed question can only be answered with a yes or a no. This leads to a dead-end conversation. By their nature closed questions tend to inhibit higher-level thinking and deeper reflection. In business, closed questions will reduce independent thinking, creativity and innovation.

Open-ended questions, on the other hand, stimulate inquisitiveness, resourcefulness and deep thinking. We find our own answers when we look into our own life and work. We create confidence and bring personal meaning to our lives. Great questions guide us toward our deepest purpose and strongest future. They open the door to inner learning. Most importantly, open-ended questions offer people an opportunity to move past fear and any limiting ideas they might have about themselves. This allows people to come up with their own integral insights and solutions. Open-ended questions build great managers and business leaders.

How can open-ended questions transform business? How can mastering the art of open-ended questions transform an entire organization? In business, asking a great question is like turning on a tap. The power of open-ended questions is that they lead to more open-ended questions. For example, we conducted the Art & Science of Coaching for Canada Post, an organization with 80,000 people. We could measure, through feedback, the powerful ripple effect as the questioning skillset moved out into the organization.

What are the key skills of a great 21st century manager? The key low-level skills are always operational: process, procedures and information about the business. What are the key high-level skills of a great manager? This book outlines the formula for asking open-ended questions, building relationships, having breakthrough conversations and creating structures of accountability. Building strong relationships is essential. Trust is the equity of teams. Having breakthrough conversations allows teams to create a shared vision for what they want. Designing effective structures of accountability allows teams to stay focused and make realistic promises. These are the key skills of a great 21st century manager.

What does it take to create great managers? Reading this book is the beginning. Asking the questions is the next step. Supporting managers and business leaders to build confidence and momentum in their coaching conversations is the third step. In our management coach training programs, accredited by the International Coach Federation, the first challenge is to immerse managers in the coaching conversation. The second challenge is to build momentum through practice and focus. The aim is to develop a simple bridge to get those coaching conversations into the workplace. This book perfectly illustrates that bridge. It provides a roadmap of everyday questions that naturally lead into powerful breakthrough conversations.

BusinessTransformed is your beginner’s guide to transformational conversations. It playfully encourages managers to move beyond ‘stall and stop’ habits that inhibit organizational transformation. It shows managers how to easily move beyond old habits and learn the essential elements of breakthrough conversations. It outlines a with quick brush strokes how people can move through breakthrough management conversations with power and certainty. It offers a powerful framework of open-ended questions. This book is also an attitude. It is the DNA of a new generation of managers and business leaders.

What will it take to create a truly competitive corporation? Having completed many Fortune 500 coach training programs for managers, I see on a daily basis the challenge that leaders face in bringing a corporation’s management culture to the next level. The BusinessTransformed approach and domain of breakthrough management and leadership coaching is developing rapidly. It offers organizations an ability to “leapfrog” forward with a rapid transformational shift. This book is alchemy. The 17 Questions are the formula for turning lead into gold.

How can we quickly and powerfully alter the management culture of an entire corporation? It is easy to think that the culture of a corporation is static and unchangeable. In reality, the culture of a corporation is always changing and invariably mirrored by the quality of the questions managers are asking. Ask a great question and the spill-over of ideas it creates will spread like wildfire throughout the organization. To build a great company ask a great question.

Marilyn Atkinson Ph.D., President

Erickson Coaching International http://www.erickson.edu