Leaders: Please Stop Asking Leading Questions
A leading question is a question which subtly prompts the respondent to answer in a particular way.
If you are a leader with employees reporting to you, please stop asking leading questions even if you think you are helping someone by giving them the answers [in your questioning].
When you’re asking a leading question, your employees get anxious. They feel they should know the answers! In other words, you’re pushing them toward a certain answer that they have to figure out. They don’t want to look stupid so it feels more like a teacher quizzing the student.
What I suggest you do instead:
Ask questions for which you don’t have answers. It actually opens up a conversation with the other person. They connect with you on a deeper level.
Think:
- What are we going to learn together?
- How do we find solutions to problems for which we do not have the answers?
- How can we both be open-minded to effective ideas that will solve the problem?
- What can he/she share with me about this question that I don’t know the answer to?
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