Leadership of the future, the art of asking strategic questions
The right questions can transform leadership and foster collaboration and innovation
3' min read
3' min read
For decades, the leadership model of reference has been that of the quick decision maker, the manager capable of quickly identifying the solution and firmly pointing the way forward.
Today, however, the increasing complexity of the labour market makes this vertical approach less and less adequate. The leaders of the future can no longer limit themselves to offering answers: they must be able to ask the right questions.
The real value lies not in imposing solutions but in being able to involve employees and stakeholders in the shared search for ideas, nurturing proactivity, stimulating innovation and consolidating a sense of belonging. Because people are much more motivated to commit themselves to achieve what they have helped to create.
While it is true that a well formulated question reduces the impact of cognitive bias, encourages authentic listening and brings out the deepest interests of the interlocutor, it is equally true that not all questions have the same effect. There is often a tendency to ask questions that confirm one's own assumptions, without generating real value for the relationship or problem-solving. A tendency that stems from the insidious influence of the confirmation bias, the cognitive error that leads one to seek, favour and use information that corroborates one's pre-existing opinions on a given topic. Think of an HR person asking a candidate: "Are you a determined person?". The answer will predictably be in the affirmative, because he/she will conform to the interviewer's expectations. Quite different would be to ask: "What are your best qualities?", opening the door to a sincere and functional answer for a more accurate assessment.
To help managers, entrepreneurs and professionals develop this competence, the book Strategic Communication - A New Approach to Relationships (ACS Editore) proposes a simple and concrete scheme: seven characteristics for formulating strategic questions.
