Team Building Tips

Employees want to feel appreciated and listened to and to be involved and informed. That is, they want (and need) open two-way communication with their leaders (especially with their immediate boss).

Feedback (both positive and constructive) or assertion is one side of the two-way communication coin. The other is:

Inquiry to solicit your employees' ideas and opinions, and
Active Listening to ensure that you hear them and that they feel heard.

Here we examine: Inquiry.

What is inquiry?

You withhold telling what you think and avoid arguing your own point of view -- very difficult for many of us! You just inquire ... and then listen to what the person has to say. Inquiry really is very simple, although not necessarily easy. You merely ask: What do you think?

Why do you think inquiry is needed? [Since this is an article, rather than one of our interactive workshops, we do need to violate inquiry guidelines now to tell you:]

Inquiry can be used to confirm understanding, e.g., as part of the constructive feedback process.

Most employees probably know their jobs better than anyone else. They're your in-house experts for a great many issues, including their own performance improvement and development needs.

Inquiry gets the person involved and participating. Studies show that employees really want to feel in on things.

Inquiry helps build buy-in and commitment. Is gaining the commitment of your employees ever a challenge for you?

Inquiry helps build a person's self-esteem. Requesting your ideas and opinions implies that your thoughts are important, that you are important. It validates you as someone who really matters around here.

Considering all the positive outcomes of inquiry, it's surprising that most managers don't engage in it that much.

How do you do it?

Whenever you face a problem or task -- not just during constructive feedback -- ask for input from the persons involved. Ask what they think should be done. If necessary, get them to open up by probing their prior experiences and perspectives.

So what do you do if their ideas are not workable?

Look for parts of the idea to build on ... or, at a minimum...
Credit the person for the idea and explain why you can't use it.

Use inquiry to confirm understanding, get input, and build commitment.

[Inquiry and listening go hand in hand. To learn about inquiry's partner, read our article on "Active Listening."]

The Grimmes conduct customized onsite training workshops and large group presentations for organizations in every sector of the economy. Their groundbreaking book on managing people in today's workplace will be published by AMACOM in the second half of 2008. Visit their main website at http://www.GHR-Training.com and topic-specific http://www.Employee-Retention-HQ.com and read issues of their own e-newsletter at http://www.WorkplacePeopleSolutions.com