3 Questions to Improve Performance

Leadership occurs in conversation.

In small business, getting the people you manage to perform at their very best is a function of having the right conversations with them.

Successful CEO’s, executives, managers and entrepreneurs know how to use the right conversations to inspire, motivate and compel the people they lead.

One way to engage people in the right conversations is by asking them the right questions.

Here are 3 great questions you can ask on a daily basis to improve the productivity and performance levels of the people you lead:

1. What are you out to accomplish today?

In addition to simply keeping you in the loop, asking people what they’re out to accomplish helps them focus on producing results. The thought process provoked by this question helps people clarify their own objectives and organize their work around those objectives. In addition, answering this question requires that the person take some degree of ownership over their work, and their results.

2. What specific results can I count on you to produce today?

While this question is admittedly similar to the first, the focus is a little bit different. In this case, ownership is paramount, and the answer is apt to be more conservative. Rather than tell you everything they might accomplish, a person responding to this question is likely to think carefully about what they say they will produce, knowing that they may be held accountable. This question helps the person focus on what absolutely must get done.

3. How will you know if you’ve had a successful day today?

The purpose of this question is to help people identify with success, and establish their own personal expectations for successful performance. Someone who answers this question is more likely to keep measuring their progress against their expectations. Since human beings are fundamentally endowed with the belief that success is desirable, someone who answers this question is more likely to adjust their own level of productivity to ensure that they meet their own expectations for a productive day.

What do all three questions have in common?

What makes all of these questions useful for improving performance is that they foster ownership and independent responsibility. The point is not that the answers to these questions will help you manage people more effectively. The answers are not the point at all.

What really makes a difference is that these questions create opportunities for people to distinguish, articulate and declare their own parameters for successful performance, which in turn provides personal motivation and fosters the desire to succeed.

After all, if you don’t know what game you’re playing, how can you win?

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