Asking the Right Questions
You got to ask yourself the right questions to get the honest answers.
If it is vision/direction issues, conflict, evaluation; personal or corporate; you need to ask the right questions.
Why? Because the facts become clear… and direction follows.
So, we got to ask ourselves: “How do we ask the right questions?” (Now that is a good question). Here are some of my thoughts:
Evaluation Questions:
Ask good questions to people you look up to – ask leaders, pastors, counselors, family members scenario questions, top 5 lessons learnt in leadership/life, “what would you do if you were in my context” questions.
Ask good questions to peers – ask friends and colleagues lessons learnt, what has God been doing in their life, what has been a joy/challenge in leadership/life in the last 6 months, books that have helped them in their leadership/life.
Vision/Direction Questions:
Leaders – what is the best direction for the organization (not my personally answer)? What do we want to accomplish in 5 years? 10 years? What are the growth engines in the organization and how are we fueling them? Ask contextual questions… both corporate and personal.
Followers/Members – what is the best direction for the organization in the next 5 years? 10 years? How can I/we lead this organization better? How can we serve the people in this organization better? What aspects need to be changed, adjusted, axed? How are we doing as a leadership team? What do you think is the most important needs in our organization in the next year? Again, ask contextual questions as every organization/church/ministry has unique aspects.
Conflict:
Personal – how can I learn from this experience? Have I been redemptive in this situation? How can I redeem the situation? What do I need to do for this not to happen again? As a leader, you and I are responsible to handle conflict redemptive. As conflict is contextual and Biblical, we need to be responsible enough to look inward before we ever address conflict otherwise. Furthermore, be encouraged that God gives wisdom beyond our own experiences and default responses in the midst of conflict.
For MORE good questions, check out Bob Biehl.