Facilitating Collaboration

7 Ways Leaders Can Ask Better Questions

Collaborative bosses can use curiosity to escape the echo chamber of their own ideas.

David Marquet

Feb 04, 2020 • 8 min read

4.70 (10)

Read Article Review Share

Leadership

Agile Leadership

Communication

Product Leadership

Servant Leadership

Summary

David Marquet talks about how to enhance collaborative leadership in our organizations to build a good-decision making model. He notes that most leaders influence-decision making by the use of their power. They decide on what to be done, then seek validation from the board instead of letting the team play a part in the process as well. As a result, this promotes coercion rather than team collaboration. As a solution, he urges that leaders should be curious to know every board member's idea and ask them the right way for better collaboration. Let's go through seven common mistakes leaders make when asking questions and how they should phrase them instead.

Takeaways

Leaders should be curious about what the entire board is thinking as this is the foundation for asking great questions.
Most leaders fail to consider the divergent part of a solid collaboration but rather insist on the convergent part. Instead of considering everyone's idea in product development, they promote their own idea and the team coincides.
leaders are happy if individuals think differently from them. There is power and resilience in a diversity of ideas.