Asking Hard Questions Causes Business Growth

If you are having trouble getting your business to grow, start asking your team harder questions.

I recently spoke to a group of 3^rd graders in Indianapolis for Career Day.  At the end of my immaculate presentation, I opened up the floor to the students to ask questions.

A tiny African American girl with braids quickly raised her hand and said, “Mister, how much do you make?”

Woah.  I wasn’t expecting that one.  I mean, couldn’t we start with, “what time do you get up in the morning”?  Or, “What’s the hardest part of your job?”

Nope, she went straight for the jugular and asked a brotha’ the money question.  I answered her in the most tactful way possible without giving her an exact number.  She approved.

This little girl taught me a lesson; it is okay to ask hard questions.  Questions challenge people to grow and force them to come up with creative solutions.

Reachmore’s founder, CJ McClanahan, always asks his small business coaching clients why they don’t hold their people accountable by asking hard questions.  The answer is always the same – asking hard questions is, well, hard.

Here are a few strategies to use to make growing your people and asking hard questions easier:

1. It’s not about you – The purpose of asking hard questions is not about stroking your ego or to make you seem bigger.  When you make the reason for asking questions about growing your business or your people, the pressure is taken off of you.
2. People like to be challenged – Why do you think board games, skydiving, and AP English are so popular?  People like to grow.  Growth is one of the main motivators of your employees.  Capitalize on that fact by asking them hard questions.
3. Use a qualifier – If you really need to make yourself feel okay about what you are saying, use a softening statement such as, “out of curiosity” or “I may be wrong”, before you ask the question.

Asking hard questions that challenge your staff is one of the best ways to take your people and your business to the next level!

Jamar Cobb-Dennard is the Vice-President of Business Development for Reachmore, which provides leadership coaching for small business and executives.  Email Jamar at jamar@goreachmore.com for the latest on Reachmore’s newest seminar, Launch.

Tags: accountability, coaching, delegation, Development, employees, growth, Indianapolis, small business, staff

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 18th, 2010 at 11:44 am and is filed under Business, Habits, Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.