Do you believe that all leaders are creative?
I do. As humans, we choose if we are going to cultivate and grow our creative muscle or if we are going to allow that muscle to deteriorate and become ineffective. There is even case studies that prove this now. Warren Berger, Innovation Expert & Author has been quoted: “If you’re human, you’re creative.” FURTHER, if we are going to be great leaders, we have to lead creatively. One thing we must do to be a better leader is to curate the questions that get our teams to where we need them to go.
As creative leaders, when we lead with questions, we set a culture of curiosity and learning. How we ask questions matters as much as WHAT we ask.
We should ask questions to get information but never to put people on the defensive. “Why did you do that?” is a question that will leave our teams scrambling when we can get the same information by asking: “This is super insightful, how did you get to this conclusion.”
We should ask specific questions to get accurate answers. How was today’s service is not a good question? Maybe try – How was your experience today? What did you learn in the message? Was there a moment in worship that stuck out to you?
Never use your questions as weapons. Ask for insight and empathy as much as for information. Even as a leader, you can learn things about the organization and the team by asking the right questions.
Questions also help us overcome the moment in a project we are stuck. “What could happen if this works?” “How can we get X result?”, “Who is this for again?” “What is our desired outcome?” “Is this helping get us the information we desire?” are all questions that kick off our process.
Innovation begins in curiosity, so if you are looking to improve things in your organization, start with the questions!
So here is a question for you, when was the last time you used a question to move your team, organization, or product forward, and what was the question?
