5 Questions That Will Enhance Your Leadership Skills

5 Questions That Will Enhance Your Leadership Skills

Often, we are quick to give answers when we would be better off asking more questions. Questions empower, both ourselves and others, to create, innovate, learn and grow. Isn’t that the role of a leader? Check out these 5 questions that can create amazing new opportunities.

1. What else is possible? This is my personal favorite because it gets me unstuck when I am overthinking things. We all have moments of tunnel vision where we either can’t see a path or solution to a challenge, or all we can see is what we’ve done in the past. This is the perfect time to ask what else is possible. If you are asking yourself, trust the answer that pops into your mind. If you ask others, listen intently.

2. What is the positive? Another favorite as I believe that anytime negative shows up positive is available. So, when confronted with what appears to be a negative situation, ask what the positive is. Negative can’t exist without positive, so look until you find it. As a group in my class this week found out, asking someone else can open your eyes to many positives that you would have never come up with on your own.

3. What is the outcome? (Ok, I guess they are all favorites, which is why they made it into this blog.) You’ve likely heard me say stop asking WTF and start asking WTO (What’s The Outcome?). It’s important to stay connected to our outcomes, and interestingly, when things get difficult, those are the first things we lose sight of because we fall back into old programming. When you come back to the outcome, the next step is usually quite clear because it’s the only one that leads you forward.

4. What if I wasn’t afraid? Asking yourself, or someone else, this question will lead to answers that probably wouldn’t surface otherwise. To do this means we will take a risk, and when we take a risk, there’s always the possibility we might fail. Guess what else though? There’s also the possibility that we may succeed. When we take the courageous route, we become the trail blazer, not the trail maintainer.

5. What would love do? The most powerful of them all. Taking a pause and asking this question will create a win/win/win answer every time. You win. They win. The world wins. When you examine every situation from a place of love, your energy will shift and the fuzzy will come into focus.

BONUS: When fielding questions from others, the best response is always “What would you do?” You’ll be surprised by the ideas they have that you never thought of. And when they give you the answer, they take ownership.

Do you have some other favorite questions? I’d love to hear them. Email me at Barb@High5Leadership.com.