Boost Your Leadership Skills By Disciplining Yourself In The Way
Of The Question Mark
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Word count: 735
Summary: The author contends that one of the most effective,
least understood and seldom used leadership tools is the
question mark. Here is a systematic way to use the question mark
in your daily leadership activities that will enable you to be a
much more effective leader.
Boost Your Leadership Skills By Disciplining Yourself In The Way
Of The Question Mark by Brent Filson
I'm often asked to come in to organizations and give a
motivational speech to their employees. I reply that I'm not a
motivational speaker. Never have been. Never will be. Don't want
to be. I do something else. I teach their people how to become
motivational leaders. That's a far more productive endeavor.
The concept and application of motivation are misunderstood in
most organizations. The motivational industry is based on a
fundamental contradiction; because the focus of motivation is
misplaced. After all, leaders (salespeople included) should be
motivated. If they aren't, they shouldn't be leaders.
Here's where the focus should be: not on the leaders themselves
but on the people they lead. Can those leaders transfer their
motivation to other people so those people are as motivated as
they are about the challenges they face?
Furthermore: Can those people who "catch" the motivation of
their leaders then go out and motivate others -- and those
others go out themselves and motivate still others ... and on
and on?
Finally, can people at each phase of this "cascading of cause
leaders" translate motivation into action that achieves results
-- and not just average results but more results faster on a
continual basis?
All my books, articles, courses, seminars, workbooks and
interviews are based on that simple sequence of ideas.
I have written many articles on motivation and how to transfer
your motivation to others.
But there is another way of transforming your motivation to
others that doesn't take much explaining. It's surprisingly
simple, easy to use, and effective. Yet few leaders I've
encountered use it, and those who use it, don't use it well.
It's the Way of the Question Mark. A "way" is a course of life
one undertakes to advance in a particular discipline.
So it is with the Way of the Question Mark. It is not simply a
technique; you'll find it is actually a disciplined course of
life. (I've been using it for years and am still a long way from
mastering it. Because the question mark is often particularly
appropriate in a highly charged emotional situation. However, in
such situations, when strong emotions are getting the better of
me, it takes practice and discipline to step back, gather my
thoughts, and ask a question.)
Practicing the Way of the Question Mark can enhance your
relationships with the people you lead so you get a lot more
results as a leader.
>From now on in all your leadership endeavors, make a conscious
effort to put a question mark at what would otherwise be
declarative sentences.
Asking the question rather than using a declarative is usually
more effective because it gets people reflecting upon their
situation. After all, we can't motivate anyone to do anything.
They have to motivate themselves. And they best motivate
themselves when they reflect on their character and their
situation. The question prompts people to answer, and when they
are answering, they may engage in such reflection. You may not
like the answer; but often their answer, no matter what it is,
is better in terms of advancing results than your declaration.
Also, their answering the question may prompt them to think they
have come up with a good idea. People are less enamored of your
great ideas than they are of their ideas, even if those ideas
are simply average.
For instance, your organization needs to have people to from
point A to point B. An order leader might say, "Go from A to B."
Practicing the Way, one might ask: "Tell me what you think about
going from A to B?" or "What's the best way for you to go from A
to B?" or "Tell me how I can support you going from A to B?" or
"How will you take leadership of others going from A to B?"
Mind you, I'm not talking about pandering to people's whims. I'm
talking motivation, motivating people to get more results faster
on a continual basis. (In fact, you can't order people to get
more results faster continually. Only motivated people can do
it.) I'm talking about challenging people to undertake
extraordinary things, to be better than they think they are.
The question mark, as opposed to the simple declarative, opens
up a world of results-producing possibilities. And it's a world
predicated on their choices.
Make the Way of the Question Mark your way. Discipline yourself
to ask questions rather than make statements. You'll start
getting more results.
2005