Being a strategic leader starts with asking your team the right questions about their work, your company, and the big picture. Here are five questions to pose to team members on a regular basis:
- What are you doing today? This will bring to light any significant work that you aren’t aware is being done or that’s taking much more time than it should.
- Why are you doing the work you’re doing? This allows you to gain clarity on what’s important and why it’s important from your team’s perspective.
- How does what we’re doing today align with the bigger picture? This is a discussion about gaps and outliers. If your team is working on something that doesn’t align with the broader goals of the organization, challenge the value of doing that work.
- What does success look like for our team? This allows you to hone in on what’s really driving your team’s success, in terms of activities, behaviors, relationships, and strategic outcomes.
- What else could we do to achieve more, better, faster? This is where you push your team to be innovative. If you’ve done the work to answer the preceding questions, you are well-positioned to be strategic in answering this one.
Adapted from "Being a Strategic Leader Is About Asking the Right Questions," by Lisa Lai
