I have made a lot of mistakes.

Some of them were pretty spectacular. While formal training, my master’s degree, and supplementary reading have taught me the theory of leadership, my mistakes have taught me more than I care to admit.

My first leadership lesson happened when I was barely six or seven years old. I was a voracious reader, devouring comics, magazines, superhero books, and war stories. The best of all were the Hardy Boys books. I wanted to read every single Hardy Boys story. One day, I went into the drugstore in our small farming village and spotted a Hardy Boys book I didn’t own. I didn’t have the money for it, so I slipped it under my shirt and walked out. On the surface, it was a small act—but however you slice it, it was stealing. 

When I got home, of course, I got caught. A shiny new hardcover book couldn’t just appear in our house without everyone knowing about it. I was taken back to the drugstore to confess to the store owner. My dad waited outside while I went in. I made my way to the rack of books, returned the stolen book to its rightful place, and left. Dad asked if I had spoken to the owner. Keeping my backside in mind, I told him the truth. 

I was turned around on the spot and, once again, escorted back into the store to “face the music.” I admitted my wrongdoing and apologized. To my surprise, the store owner only scolded me gently. More importantly, he thanked me for owning up, returning the book, apologizing, and acting “like an adult.” 

The trip back home felt like my own green mile. I was sure I was heading to the gallows, but it was over—my dad left it at that. Looking back now, I cannot recall ever hearing about the incident again. 

The lesson I learned from that ordeal was this: when something is over and dealt with, it’s done.

Managing Issues Effectively

As a leader, your most frequent challenge will be managing the issues that inevitably arise when dealing with people. Try to remember—and consistently encourage others—to cooperate. Ultimately, your value as a leader will be judged by the performance of the people who make up your Team. And their performance will reflect your total personality, attitude toward life, and particularly your approach to people. Your success or failure will be a direct result of how well you align your organization’s goals with the career goals of your people and deal with any friction caused by misalignment.

The following suggestions will help you achieve results:

1. Focus your attention chiefly on results rather than the activities you think will get you there. Everything should be about results.

2. Plan and organize effectively.

3. Communicate objectives properly, with time targets, established measurement systems, and designated accountability.

4. Establish performance expectations so all concerned will be focused and will know how their performance will be measured.

5. Communicate a “results-oriented” attitude to encourage people to develop self-reliance and confidently achieve their goals.

6. Motivate people to their peak achievement.

7. Be creative and help others develop their creative potential.

8. Track all progress so that what is planned is achieved.

Get eight suggestions to improve how you motivate

How Do You Measure Up When It Comes to Issues Management?

Read each statement or question below.

On a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 meaning “never” and 5 meaning “always,” mark an “X” where you think you are today.

Then, mark an “O” where you would like to be.

Consider the above article and commit to one thing you can do to improve your score.

How many open-ended, idea-prompting questions do you ask every day?

Do you ask more questions than you give orders or provide answers?

Recently, I worked with a client, and we explored the vital topic of curiosity as a leadership attribute and questioning as a behaviour.

At the start of the work, most individuals assumed their ratio of questions-to-orders/answers would be high.

Read about why leaders need to be curious.

It was their belief they were curious and used open-ended, provocative questions about customers, markets, competitors, processes and so forth. One manager offered, “It’s my job to help them think about the possibilities, not provide the answers.“

Imagine their surprise when a survey of their direct reports demonstrated that their directives and answers significantly outnumbered questions.

I was once called out for blathering instead of listening. I was disappointed to admit that I tended to opine and answer rather than stimulate thinking through listening and questions.

Moving the ratio in the right direction became a developmental exercise for me.

And here’s why I believe this is so important.

Questions are the Seeds of Ideas and Innovations

In a world drunk on the speed of change and filled with uncertainty, the right questions provoke thinking and give way to actions, experiments, and ideas that provoke more questions and beget more ideas.

As the leader, you set the tone for curiosity in your team. Questions free people to think, speculate, and follow threads to strengthen some aspect of the business.

Read about the power of silence in conversations

What Is Your  Ratio?

For the next few days, keep a log of the number of times you ask open-ended, exploratory questions (“Did you finish that work?” doesn’t count!) versus issuing answers or directives.

If your ratio is skewed toward the questions, keep it up. If not, here are some question prompts to put to work as part of your developmental activity.

7 Questions to Stimulate Curiosity on Your Team

1. “What if?”

• “What if we develop a new product that eats our old one in the marketplace. Will it eat the competitor’s as well?”
• “What if we changed this process to empower our employees to make decisions directly with customers without seeking approval from a manager?
• “What if we changed our view of who our real competition is in the marketplace?”

 2. “What do you know that is new?” Former GE Chairman and CEO Jack Welch, upon first meeting someone would ask, “What do you know that is new?” and took the time to listen to the answers.

6 essential questions that are good for children & employees

3. “What do we need to know to make this decision?” Most decision-making processes are fraught with incomplete data, opinions, and biases. This simple question challenges groups and individuals to consider a problem before making an informed choice.

4. “What does this mean for us/our customers?” I use this question liberally when changes in the external environment, industry, or competitor announcements send everyone into panic mode.

5. “How would you approach this situation if you framed it as an opportunity instead of a problem?” This question forces people to move beyond their defensive mode and into the world of possibilities.

6. “What events in markets and technologies will change everything? This question moves people beyond the four-wall and inside-out thinking.

7. “What are the real burdens our customers hire our products to remove?” Reframing questions about what your products and services do to resolve customers’ problems is a great way to rethink your innovation efforts.

 Read about leadership regrets.

Closing Thoughts

If you ask more open-ended, thought-provoking questions, the number of ideas people and teams generate will grow.

Of course, you have to bring those ideas to life.

But for the moment, focus on asking more and directing less.

And see where it takes you.

Remember, your curiosity is contagious.