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"David Hassell is the CEO of 15Five.\u00A0This post originally appeared on the 15Five blog.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nI used to imagine that I could peer into the silent void of a discussion with an employee\u00A0and their thoughts and feelings would magically pop in my head. It never happened.\r\n\r\nWe are in the employee\u00A0feedback\u00A0business. Through running\u00A015Five\u00A0by using our own product, I have found that regularly asking questions is an agile and lightweight way of keeping up with what\u2019s really going on.\r\n\r\nAnswers become conversations about what is most essential and meaningful for the team and the company, and those conversations transform into action.\r\n\r\nThe first place to start is by\u00A0asking the right questions. Here are some of the best I\u2019ve found:\r\n1. What\u2019s going well in your role? Any wins (big or small) this week?\r\nThis is a great place to start. Employees get to celebrate and even brag a little about all the positive stuff that happened that week by simply answering that question.\r\n\r\nThis includes the small things that often get overlooked because they aren\u2019t related to top priorities. As a bonus, you will glean what employees consider triumphs relative to the goals\u00A0of the organization.\r\n2. What challenges are you facing? Where are you stuck?\r\nThe quickest way to overcome challenges and get unstuck is to say, \u201CI\u2019m stuck!\u201D When we can identify where we\u2019re stuck and then bring someone else\u2019s attention to the challenge at hand, we are in a position to receive the coaching and guidance that helps us think about the issue in a fresh new way.\r\n\r\nOften just writing about where we\u2019re stuck begins the process of getting clear on\u00A0how to resolve it ourselves.\r\n3. What is the business doing, or can be doing, to make you more successful?\r\nEmployee success is a dynamic and always evolving process. Sometimes what your team needs is more training\u00A0or a one on one meeting. Other times they require help with learning a specific skill set. This question gives permission to ask for the things that will move the needle forward and\u00A0build\u00A0more engaged\u00A0teams.\r\n4. How are you feeling? What\u2019s the morale around you?\r\nAsking an employee how they feel is critical. It increases drive and happiness because their individual and collective experiences feel validated and heard.\r\n\r\nAnswering this question can not only bring self-awareness but also provide valuable qualitative insight for others. When a team member knows what\u2019s going on with others, the entire team is more cohesive. This creates more effective and satisfying team work.\r\n\r\nThe answers to this question can also allow you to properly time certain initiatives and changes within the company. Are they on the edge of burnout or feeling happy and energized? Are they stressed by the new product launch? Perhaps you should postpone hack day until things settle so that they have space to access their most creative ideas.\r\n5. On a scale of 1-10, how happy are you? Why?\r\nThe research of positive psychology is clear:\u00A0happiness is a precursor to success\u00A0and accomplishment, not the other way around. When your team is happy, they not only come up with better solutions, but their satisfaction also helps to build a culture of\u00A0high performance and low turnover.\r\n\r\nThis question simultaneously sends the message that your employee matters beyond mere performance and work-related issues. By quantifying happiness, you can get a quick snapshot of this metric team-wide.\r\n6. What\u2019s the best thing that happened to you this week, either at work or outside of it?\r\nThere are strategic reasons to ask this question since learning about team members as whole people can help you develop a more committed and engaged team. Feeling that others know them and understand their personal desires and goals helps to maintain team cohesion and employee retention.\r\n\r\nThis is also an opportunity to discover a common ground with which to enrich\u00A0in-person communication.\r\n7. Provide one idea to improve the product or service provided by your company.\r\nThe best source of\u00A0innovation\u00A0is\u00A0often found by people who already work for you. Since suggestion boxes have gone the way of the fax machine,\u00A0this opens the door for team members to throw out ideas for improvement, no matter how big or how small.\r\n\r\nImagine that the next Airbnb is humming in one of your employees\u2019 heads. You have now presented the opportunity to hear all about it. This not only elicits what could be valuable responses, but also makes the respondent feel connected and appreciated.\r\n8. If you owned the company, what\u2019s one thing you would do differently?\r\nIf you hired well, then you have leaders and future executives among your ranks. Ask this question once a month to encourage leadership from everyone in the company.\r\n\r\nPlacing them in the driver\u2019s seat can really open up some potent ideas on helping the company succeed. This question also offers a sense of empowerment and ownership of the company.\r\n9. What were some great contributions made by other team members?\r\nThis opens up the door for praise and can grow cohesion. You can also develop an internal conversation regarding the top traits to look for in a new hire.\r\n\r\nIt is better to ask this question to elicit specific and positive information. Asking for general comments on the performance of other employees may be insightful and entertaining, but will probably open a competitive can of worms.\r\n10. Provide feedback on\u00A0how I can be a better leader.\r\nThis one will probably be the toughest on your team, but the responses will also be incredibly worthwhile. You will learn what your employees perceive are\u00A0core leadership values, and determine if they are in sync with the values of management\u00A0 and the company as a whole.\r\n\r\nThe insights offered here will also aid you to promote internally. You will separate the chaff from the wheat, as it takes a courageous and skillful employee to tell their manager where they have room to grow.\r\n\r\nI still hope that one day\u00A0my superpower clairvoyance\u00A0will kick in. Until that day comes, I\u2019ll stick with getting straightforward answers by asking the right questions."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://thenextweb.com/entrepreneur/2014/07/12/10-must-ask-questions-supercharge-leadership/>