Back in October we took a group of our staff and volunteer leaders to the Catalyst One Day conference in Pennsylvania. The last time this conference was in the area I took a smaller group and the entire time I kept kicking myself for not bringing more people. The content from Andy Stanley and Craig Groeschel is that good!
Anyway…one of the sessions by Andy Stanley, was on how great leaders ask great questions. The big take away for me of that session was that stories and questions are the best way to reinforce values. So I started a list of questions that I gathered from that session and from others to get me thinking. I put them in the back of my journal and have been adding to them as more questions come to mind.
Here is the start of my question list:
What values do we want to reinforce?
What made you feel that you were successful in fulfilling our mission this week?
What did you do to make it (Sunday) better?
What stories are we telling on Sunday that reinforce our values?
What do you see as a problem that you think no one else does?
What would you eventually like to do here?
What are our S.W.O.T.? (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats)
What do you think I need to hand off?
Who is not performing that you need to deal with?
What are we doing to gain/lose credibility with your (younger) generation?
What is your hard stop time?
Are you praying with your spouse?
What questions would be on your list?
Obviously these are not the only questions to have or even the most important ones. But I do think they are ones that rarely get asked in an organization…especially a church. Wouldn’t you want these questions asked behind the scenes at your work or church?
The questions you ask let others know what you think is really important instead of what you say is important. The analogy was used that if you tell your children the only thing that matters is for them to do their best, but then only ask, “What grade did you get?” It communicates that doing your best isn’t the most important thing to you.
Listen to yourself this week and see what questions you ask your direct reports, your kids, and your spouse. Great leaders ask intentional questions that reinforce the values they strive for.
