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Ten Questions that Motivate Engagement and Drive Greater Accountability
Do you want to move an important project ahead faster? Would you rather motivate and engage than give orders and ride herd? How about inspiring greater accountability? Why do I ask so many questions? Because questions deliver better results.
As you read the questions above, I have no doubt that you at least began to consider answers. When someone asks questions – especially when you as a manager ask questions of a direct report – the listener can’t help but begin to formulate a response.
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About the Author
Helanie (pronounced yeh-LAH-nee) Scott has driven stunning leadership and cultural transformations for an impressive list of organizations including: Dr. Pepper, Reuters, Fluor, Ericsson, PepsiCo and more.
Raised in a small, South African mining town, by the age of 21 Helanie had set out on her own in Johannesburg, learned the ropes of the big city, and purchased the business that hired her. She emigrated to Canada and then to the United States, researching and studying leadership and organizational development, and growing her Align4Profit consulting firm.
The culmination of her life experience, years of business consulting, and colorfully diverse background manifests itself in her deeply personal Leadership Intimacy philosophy, which serves as the foundation of CoachQuest – a strategic and tactical learning organization based in Dallas, Texas, that caters to the behavioral and operational growth of leaders and teams with a focus on improving culture and results.
Decision makers select from an array of choices the course of action their organization will take; voiding several other possible alternatives. Since there is seldom a perfect solution option to resolve any particular issue, some aspects of the problem will remain unaddressed and/or some excessive action taken. Furthermore, it is impossible to consider all circumstantial variables when making any decision. These decision-making process limitations often lead to unintended consequences, some of which may so adversely impact the decision’s outcomes as to render it a failure or significantly diminish its return on investment.
Projects, like other business activities, involve meetings and approvals. The difference between project and routine business meetings is that a project is not an ongoing concern; therefore, its meetings tend to be periodic, sporadic, or driven by one-time needs rather than recurring with some regular frequency. Consequently, these off-routine meetings and approval review sessions are a disruption to non-project team executives, managers, and contributors; representing something these individuals naturally resist so to protect the time for their normally scheduled duties.
Establishing and maintaining and organizational culture supportive of a diverse and inclusive workforce requires deliberate ongoing action communicating the importance of and support for these principles. Consequently, leaders need insight into employee behaviors such that appropriate corrective actions can be taken when necessary as well as visibly reinforcing their commitment to the principles of organizational diversity and inclusiveness. Helping achieve both these goals is a robust performance measurement system specifically tailored to measure the organization’s commitment to being diverse and inclusive.
“A good plan, violently executed now, is better than a perfect plan next week.”
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