Better Leaders Ask Better Questions

Lindsay Ph.D Tighe

Description

Join the new breed of leaders....
become a "Potentialiser"

POTENTIALISER - po·ten·ti·a·li·ser
Meaning: Releaser of amazingness in others

Your team have more potential than you realise and the chances are that your current management style may be preventing this potential to ever come to the surface through one unconscious act...."Telling"!

In this book you will discover how changing your approach by doing less telling and instead, asking Better Questions you will become a "POTENTIALISER" and release the potential of your people and create a team that are more engaged, empowered and fulfilled.

Suitable for Leaders at all levels, this book will enhance your leadership style by learning:
* How telling can be an inhibitor of potential
* How you need to redefine your role by changing your mindset
* Why Better Questions are so powerful
* How to ask Better Questions and release the potential in your team

Some comments from people that have been trained to be "Potentialisers":

"I have been amazed that such a simple concept can lead to all sorts of wonderful outcomes"

"At times being so busy it is quicker and easier to give the answer, but I have found that by taking the time to ask questions instead of telling, people have the opportunity to shine... they amaze me and themselves!"

"Since changing my approach to asking rather than telling I have been really quite amazed by the changes in my team, they seem more committed to their work and even happier in their roles!"

Sujets

• Communication organisationnelle
• Leadership
• Business
• Economics
• Gestion et management

Informations

• Publié par: eBookIt.com
• Date de parution: 21 février 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781456606428
• Langue: English

Extrait

BETTER LEADERS ASK BETTER QUESTIONS
 
Join the Leadership Revolution...
 
...Become a Potentialiseer and Bring Out the Amazingness in Your Team!
 
 
Lindsay Tighe
 


BETTER LEADERS ASK BETTER QUESTIONS
 
© Lindsay Tighe, 2011
 
First published 2011
 
Published in eBook format by eBookIt.com
http://www.eBookIt.com
 
 
All materials contained in this book are the copyrighted property of Lindsay Tighe. To reproduce, republish, post, modify, distribute or display material from this publication, you must first obtain written permission from the author at: [e-mail]
 
National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Author: Tighe, Lindsay, 1963– Title: Better leaders ask better questions / Lindsay Tighe. ISBN-13: 978-1-4566-0642-8 Subjects:
Leadership.
Communication in management.
Interactive management. Dewey Number: 658.4092
 
 
Text design by Sunset Publishing Services Pty Ltd, Brisbane
Cover design by Peter Reardon, Sunset Publishing Services Pty Ltd
Printed in Australia by McPherson’s Printing Group
 


Dedication
Thank you to the humble question mark for inspiring me to inspire others about the topic of asking Better Questions. I am eternally grateful.
 
In memory of Aunty Dawn – a special lady.
 
Acknowledgements
There are too many people to thank personally, but I particularly want to mention my wonderful husband Michael who always supports and encourages me, my caring and supportive family who have always loved and encouraged me, lovely Tina for her beautiful and inspiring presence in my life, Jane for doing all the things I’m not so good at (including editing!), Marg for being amazing, and my most treasured friends James and Jill, whom I am so blessed to know. To all the other wonderful people I know, including Natalie and Andrew, my book club pals – thank you for being such a special part of my life.
 
Illustrations
Illustrations provided by Georgia Harper, my beautiful niece, of whom I am so proud.
 
About the Author
 
Lindsay Tighe is a successful and highly regarded speaker, businesswoman, author and coach who is passionate about inspiring people to improve their own lives and the lives of others. She has a unique blend of life experiences that include working in the corporate world, establishing and running her own business, and gaining formal qualifications, while her genuine love of people give her the ability to inspire and really make a difference to others. In this book, she shares the wisdom gained from her life’s journey (so far!) with real passion, compassion and a desire to make the world a better place.
Described as ‘inspirational, wise and intuitive’, Lindsay lives and breathes the philosophy that if you ask a better question you will get a better answer. She is committed to changing the world by helping people to have more empowered thoughts and conversations with each other in order to tap into their own wisdom.
Lindsay holds an MBA from Macquarie Graduate School of Management and regularly speaks at a variety of functions. She has appeared on Channel 7’s Sunrise and Morning Show programs and has been featured in national publications such as Woman’s Day , Good Health & Medicine , New Idea and the Qantas In-flight Magazine .
Lindsay lives in Melbourne, Australia with her husband Michael and two little dogs, Wilson and Becky.
 
Note from the Author
 
I am constantly saddened by comments from people about the poor leadership that they experience in their workplaces. My desire to bring about dramatic change in leadership practice is driven by a genuine concern that the reason people do not fulfil their potential in their workplaces is not because they aren’t capable of doing so, but because of poor leadership practices that create ‘inhibitor’ cultures.
Leadership isn’t easy – I know that to be true from first-hand experience – but I do believe that there are some simple things that we can do to make us far more effective at engaging our teams, thus enabling them to feel more fulfilled and empowered. My intention in writing this book is to share these simple ideas in the hope that readers will see that there is a need for redefining the leadership role in a way that revolutionises how we think about and interact with people. By simply bringing a questioning approach to our roles we shift to being a POTENTIALISER, and when people are allowed to shine and be amazing in their workplace the world becomes a much better place.
 
What people say about this book
 
Lindsay’s book is one of the few that get it right! When leaders ask questions instead of supplying answers, they include followers in the leadership process. They also draw on a deeper pool of wisdom and experience than their own.
James Moulder, a Junior Fellow of Linacre College,
Oxford University, UK
 
Some followers are outsmarting their leaders by giving them ‘the hot potato’ – that is, the question they’ve been employed to answer. Among many other down-to-earth things this book teaches, is to show leaders how they can return the ‘potato’ and, at the same time, assist the person who threw it to deal with it.
Vlad Radu, the Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest, Romania
 
She’s let the cat out of the bag! Lindsay has revealed how leaders find it easier to supply followers with answers than engage with them to solve problems that will enable both leader and follower to grow.
Alex Gaze, CEO of Corporate Learning Systems
 
Lindsay writes clearly and simply, as well as with insight based on experience. Before I knew where the time had gone, I was on the last page. I also found lots of ideas I could start using the next day with our writing staff.
Anna Groenewald, a Senior Writer at Writers Inc.
 
This is an excellent mix of theoretical understanding and practical application.
Ed di Collalto, founder of Sustainbiz
 
What people say about our workshops
 
The inspirational and profound messages contained in this book have been delivered to thousands of people in our workshops. Here are some comments from people who have attended them:
• I have taken so much from your training that has been very valuable in recent weeks.
• I personally got a lot out of it and have had some great success with the strategies, not only on an everyday basis at work but also at a family level with our 16-year-old son!
• I have seen change with one of the staff that I manage, in that instead of asking how she should resolve a problem, she indicates now what she suggests would resolve it.
• You have inspired me to look very closely at the questions I ask people, not only in my workplace but also at home. It has been a wonderful experience and I can see how someone can become more empowered and also gain confidence to become a better listener.
• Thank you very much for making me understand that Better Questions are definitely the right answers, and I’m going to try hard to enhance these skills in everyday use.
• I have a tendency to jump in and recommend without listening to a staff member’s opinion. The Better Questions approach is the only way that staff can learn and develop in their practice.
• Thank you for sharing this amazing tool and for inspiring me to look at all people in a way they deserve to be treated.
• If I hadn’t listened and used Better Questions well, I would have just accepted it when one of our staff members resigned and we as an organisation would have lost a dynamic, highly skilled person, not to mention all the wasted time, effort and expense of orientating someone to the organisation.
• You have changed my life and I thank you.
• I was totally blown away by your insights.
• Just wanting to let you know that I have been inspired by many people in my life, but you are up there with the best. I have a long way to go to get the questions right but am now aware of what I am doing wrong so will continue to work on getting it right. Thank you so very much and keep up the fantastic work. Everyone needs to hear you speak.
• Thank you for the opportunity to become more aware of myself, and of things I can do to enjoy my work and life more!
• I have heard such a positive buzz around the office in response to your Better Questions training, which is just wonderful!
 
Prologue
 
Once upon a time there was a humble and boring question mark. He had been described as ‘boring’ because his role in life was to simply sit at the end of a sentence. Indeed, the role of the question mark was simply to make a sentence into a question. BIG DEAL!
What this little question mark found sad was that in the past great scholars had recognised the amazing qualities of his ancestor question marks and people like Socrates and Plato had hailed them as heroes. But here he is today, living his life in the 21st century, unrecognised and unappreciated, and he feels sad that so few people appreciate his potential.
One day, a lady came along who saw his potential, and she used his abilities for many years with her clients with life-changing results. He became great friends with this lady, and she started to get so excited about his potential to make the world a better place that she asked his permission to write a book and a website about him.
This lady was aware that if more people knew about him, they would be able to tap into the potential of other people by empowering these people to make decisions that are right for them. She also knew that they could use him to enable them to be more reflective in making better decisions about their own lives and, ultimately, the choices they were making about the way they were living.
Whilst he was still a little shy and very humble, he liked the idea of being able to share his potential with the world through this lady and, sure enough, his fame started to spread far and wide.
In this book you are going to be introduced to and be inspired by the humble question mark – he really does change