Seven Simple Questions that Every Leader Must Answer for an Engaged Team

Engaging and mobilizing your team can feel like a daunting challenge. However, we have found that a few simple behaviors can make a huge difference and improve engagement.

It is frustrating to have to read minds

For instance, many team members/employees are frustrated because they feel like they have to read their leader’s mind. They don’t know how they are doing and how they can do better. The annual performance review is sometimes their only chance to find out, and that event is so stressful and formal that the environment is not conducive for making improvements.

Spans of control contribute to the problem

This situation is not completely the fault of leadership. In some organizations, spans of control have become so large that leaders have to complete another formal performance reviews every three or four days. 

The solutions are simpler than you might think

There are many simple strategies to engage and mobilize team members/employees. They cost almost nothing to implement, can be put into place immediately, and have huge impact.

For instance, one opportunity that many leaders have – even at the C-level – is to give more frequent, informal feedback about how each team member/employee is doing. That way, everyone in an organization knows what is expected of them and how they can get better.

The seven questions

There are seven simple questions every leader must answer and communicate to team members/employees. As with advertising, frequency counts. Small, informal conversations about performance go a long way – especially when they include teachable moments about different situations and details. The questions include:

What do I expect from you?

What are you doing well?

What, if anything, can you do better?

What, if anything, do I want you to do better?

(If appropriate): What will happen if you improve (e.g., more responsibility, more time with leadership, more desirable assignments)?

(If appropriate): What will happen if you don’t improve?

How can I help?

While all of these questions are important, the last question is especially important. It shows the team member/employee that the leader cares, and is not merely abdicating responsibility or shifting blame.

For more information about engaging and mobilizing team members/employees, and to take a free self-assessment about how well you are engaging and mobilizing, click here.

Focused Leaders

How to stay focused on what really matters: From Vision to Tactics

The biggest issues that leaders face today are burnout, stress, and overwhelm. Leaders must do so much with limited resources, while keeping up with technology, managing a virtual and global team that spans multiple generations, and do it all in an incredibly volatile economy.

For all of these reasons, leaders can benefit from a tool that keeps them focused on what really matters.

The Leader’s Dashboard is a simple one-page tool that summarizes the most important things on the leader’s plate.

It includes a succinct summary of:

• The organization’s vision.
• The organization’s purpose and mission.
• Values.
• Strategic edge.
• Top 3 initiatives.
• Key performance indicators to track success.
• Relationships.
• Top strategies to build organizational capacity.

The leader can also create a personal career/professional dashboard covering the same areas, except for his or her own career. This makes it clear that the leader is aligned with the organization’s direction or not, and steps to take if there are gaps in alignment.

Perhaps most importantly, everyone in the organization can create their own dashboard. When this exercise is done properly, everyone is aligned, focused on what matters, and accountable. Each dashboard rolls up into the larger whole – using only a single sheet of paper!

The process is extraordinary because it is so simple, practical and powerful. No expensive software is needed. No teams of consultants need to swoop in. Rather, with a little bit of facilitation and coaching, each member of the organization gets clarity about what really counts. 

In today’s world of super complicated algorithms, virtual communication, and gut-wrenching volatility, it is refreshing to have a tool like the Leader’s Dashboard.

For more information about the Leader’s Dashboard, and to take our free self-assessment about how aligned and accountable your organization is, click here .