The art of leadership used to be easier, right? Remember the old days?
People were there with you in person at the office…
People expected the “boss” to TELL them what to do…
But those easier days of leadership weren’t necessarily BETTER.
If you are sincerely committed to being a great leader today for your team, that is not about telling… and it doesn’t even really require being there in person.
Leadership is about inspiring and developing others to accomplish a compelling common goal – and that is most effectively done with QUESTIONS!
And there are two easy and engaging question activities that you can use – whether n person or with a remote team – to create connection and empathy in your team meetings.
1. ELIMIN-EIGHT
This is an activity that makes use of the CONVERSATION CARDS that I use in team building events with my clients, but if you don’t want to purchase a deck here, you can easily download and print off your own set of 54 questions here!
From the 54 questions, simply choose eight and place them on a table in front of your team if they are in-person, or share a list of the eight questions with them at your virtual meeting.
The activity simply requires you and your team to ELIMINATE as many of the questions as they can that THEY KNOW THE ANSWER TO FOR ALL TEAM MEMBERS.
You will be amazed to learn how much you DON’T KNOW about the people you work with!
And THAT is the point.
Often times we assume we know ENOUGH about someone to make assumptions or judgements or draw conclusions… and we neglect the opportunity to remain sincerely curious and ASK questions to get to know them and their situation better.
Once your people eliminate the questions they KNOW they can answer, you can have each person share their answer to the remaining questions on the list.
Do this at your weekly meetings for a couple of months and you’ll marvel at how much more collaboration and empathy you will observe in their remote and in-person interactions!
2. QUESTION OF THE WEEK
Similar to the ELIMIN-EIGHT activity, the QUESTION OF THE WEEK simply allows you to have your team share a bit of personal, fun, and interesting information about themselves using the deck of 54 CONVERSATION CARDS that so many of my clients have enjoyed using.
(Again, you can download your own free set of questions here)
But for your next meeting, this requires you to simply open the meeting (or schedule a 5-10 minute interactive laughter-inducing interruption) by inviting each member of the team to consider and then share their response to ONE of the conversation card questions.
GO around the table (in-person), or go around the zoom conference room and let them answer and explain their response in 45 seconds.
This lightens up the meeting, gives people a chance to connect when they’ve been away from normal human interactions, and builds an understanding of WHO you are working with…
WHAT is important to them…
WHAT they are going through…
and WHERE they are coming from.
GREAT leaders recognize that clarifying a compelling common goal
is seldom enough to inspire teamwork and collaboration in remote groups.
You need to intentionally find ways to CONNECT them and let them share their personalities and get a feel for who the people are that they are working with.
A team is not a group of people wearing the same uniform.
A team is a group of people with a shared goal who know and trust each other!
If you are interested in a more comprehensive team leadership masterclass that addresses EVERY ASPECT of building and maintaining a high-performing team culture, you may want to check out my Rapid Teamwork Masterclass…
It is a 12-week step-by-step path to creating a more positive, productive, and profitable team!
