Help your team help each other
Encourage questions from everyone to build a culture of learning and growth.
Encourage your team members to ask questions of you and of each other in your team meetings. It’s good practice for anyone who’s naturally less inquisitive, and it also helps build a deeper shared understanding of your team’s goals and thought processes. Make sure you ask questions too: when the boss can admit they don’t know everything, it makes it easier for everyone else to.
If you have introverts on your team, you might find that they’re unwilling to speak up, or that they panic a bit if you pick on them to ask a question. You can make it easier for them to participate by giving everyone 2 minutes of silence after a presentation to jot down their thoughts and prepare their questions. It might feel a little awkward at first, but giving everyone time to think will help you identify the things you didn’t fully understand, or want to know more about.
When to take this action
This action is from 'Ask, don't tell' and should be used when your team want your help, when you see your team need help, when you want to encourage self-sufficiency
Need something else?
personal-development
Be inquisitive
Asking good questions is a skill. Not everyone is good at it, but you can improve with practice
one-to-ones
Ask open questions
Try to learn more about a challenge and help your team member overcome it, instead of trying to solve the problem yourself
with-your-boss
Boss likes to micro-manage?
Use questions to get to the 'why' behind the 'what' and help you both get to a better outcome.