Three Essential Principles and Four Skills Every Great Manager Needs
Workplace Inquiries 2024: 3 Principles & 4 Tips for Team Potential
A great manager doesn’t need to know everything or be the best at their job. They should be good at managing people. They should encourage and guide their team. Asking the right questions helps employees learn about themselves and do better. This brings out their best.
The key to managing well is knowing how to ask questions. I have 3 rules and 4 ways for managers to ask good questions.
First, how do you know if your questions at work are good? It’s easy. If your question makes the other person ask more questions, it’s a good one.
Don’t ask questions that are too broad or complex. Your employees won’t know what you need. They can’t work well.
But don’t make your questions too narrow either. This stops employees from being creative. They can’t do their best.
It is important to ask effective questions. There are three principles for this:
1. Be clear and direct to avoid confusion.
2. Ask open-ended questions, but focus on one issue at a time.
3. Be specific. Use the “Golden Circle” approach: what, why, and how.
There are four techniques to put this into practice:
1. “Follow the leader” questioning: Ask follow-up questions based on the other person’s responses.
2. “Stack and slice” questioning: Ask general questions first, then get more specific.
3. “Time rule” questioning: Ask about the past, present, and future.
4. “Reframing meaning” questioning: Look at the issue from different perspectives.
4 Tips
When someone asks you something, avoid saying “no” right away, even if you don’t get their point.
Listen and follow their thoughts first, like good customer service. Figure out what they need, then guide them. Look at the problem from their side. Offer solutions. They will listen better. This is called “follow first, then lead”.
The second method is “top-down, bottom-up” questions. Good questions have layers, like a pyramid.
The bottom is the setting — when, where, what. Next is actions — what they did. Then skills are needed. Above that, beliefs — why it matters to them. The identity — who they want to be. The top is the goal and purpose.
From top to bottom: Goal, identity, beliefs, skills, actions, setting. Higher questions find agreement. Lower questions get details.
Now, let’s look at the third technique: the “Time Rule” questioning.
A person’s question is linked to their thoughts and situation. Asking different kinds of questions can make the issue clearer. You can ask about the context, how long it’s been going on, and what could be better. This helps you see the big picture and think ahead.
Another method is “Meaning Reframing.”
Good questions can fix narrow thinking and improve self-awareness. For example, if a worker says they missed a goal due to a bad market and low budgets, ask if anyone did better. If yes, then the market wasn’t the main issue. This changes their view indirectly. Letting people find answers on their own works better than just telling them. It helps them think more about the problem.