The First Question You Need to Practice Asking | No BS Management Advice
By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter
Whether you are a new manager or an old hand, this is one of the first things you need to learn to ask so that you manage effectively.
Hi, I’m Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter and I coach people and organizations to be more effective in their roles, careers, job searches, and effective in the workplace. And I’m back with some more No BS Management advice to help you, as a manager be more effective.
Now, most managers learn this lesson somewhere along the line but often for the new manager, there’s a miss in there, because the way they got ahead, the
way you got ahead was by having all the answers and doing everything well. Not perfectly, but well. So you got recognition, you get known, and you got noticed, right.
But when you get to be a manager, your scope and responsibility start to increase. And suddenly you notice holes in your knowledge base that didn’t exist before. Because your line of sight has to expand, the more senior you get, as someone once offered to me in a different venue, when you’re the worker bee, you’re there looking at a certain level. But as you start to elevate and get to higher and higher points, your line of sight just becomes so big until you become the Chief Executive Officer of an organization where you need to have a visual on the biggest picture imaginable. But here you are, as a manager, a new manager, an experienced manager and your habit is to basically always think you have the answer.
So here’s the first question I want you to practice asking people when they come to you for your, your decision or your advice. And the question is, ‘What do you think?’ And then you shut up? ‘I don’t know. What do you think?’ ‘No, I asked first. Come on. Let’s sort it out together. What do you think here?’ And then listen to them, because they really have most of the answers. You may have some details that will fill in some gaps, to either prove or disprove their thinking. And you’re going to have an opportunity to learn something that you didn’t necessarily know about the situation from the person who’s directly in it.
So always start by asking, ‘What do you think?’ And then follow it up with ‘Why do you think that,’ because you may just get the one sentence statement from them and then you have to follow it up to make sure that they explain it to you, so that you understand what their perspective is. And from there, obviously, follow up questions.
But the goal is always to start off by getting your staffer to answer the question, ‘What do you think?’
So I hope you found this helpful. I’m Jeff Altman. If you’re interested in my coaching, you, connect with me on linkedin at linkedin.com/in/TheBigGameHunter. Once we’re connected, message that you’re interested in coaching. We’ll set up time for a free discovery call. Also, if you want to subscribe to my channel on YouTube, see that little icon in the lower right hand corner of the screen? Click on that you’ll get notices whenever I release a new video for you, too.
Hope you have a great day and by the way, visit my website, TheBigGameHunter.us I’ve got 1000s of posts that you can watch, listen to, or read that will help you. Have a great day. Take care.
ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER
Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter is a coach who worked as a recruiter for what seems like one hundred years. He is hired to provide No BS Career Advice globally. That can involve job search, hiring staff, management, leadership, career transition and advice about resolving workplace issues. Schedule a discovery call at my website, www.TheBigGameHunter.us
He is the host of “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with over 2500 episodes.
I do a livestream on LinkedIn, and YouTube (on the JobSearchTV.com account) Tuesdays at 1 PM Eastern. You can send your questions about job search, hiring better, management, leadership or to get advice about a workplace issue to me via messaging on LinkedIn or in chat during the approximately 30-minute show.
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