5 Questions All Leaders Should Ask Their Teams

July 20, 2021 By EJ Niemczyk

As a team leader, you have the responsibility of ensuring everyone performs with excellence and looking for ways to improve the team. While no other member holds this responsibility, the team’s advice can be used to help uncover the path to greater success. Leaders should always be asking their team questions. But here are five questions GLO recommends every leader asks their team.

The 5 Questions to ask your Teams

Is there anything you have recently learned the team can also learn to better improve?

This question is essential when a member has improved for an unknown reason. Perhaps they have a new approach to tasks or have found tools that help them be more efficient. Either way, this question aims to discover how they improved and if it can be carried over to additional team members.

What problems are you facing, and how can I help you succeed?

Every team member is going to face challenges at some point or another. It is important to be on top of this question, not because you expect them to fail but because you are there to ensure they succeed. It is intended to build trust between you and the team, so you get genuine responses when you ask the following questions.

What do you see holding us back as a team?

Fresh eyes see things from a different perspective, so your team will see issues that you will not. These issues can damage the team’s performance and need to be dealt with as efficiently as possible. While not every issue your team sees needs to be immediately addressed, being aware of them gives you a more in-depth understanding of the weaknesses and strengths within your team.

As the team leader, how can I improve in managing and supporting the team?

The focus of the question should be mainly on your tactics and how they are implemented. Always be willing to grow as a leader. Part of that growth requires actively seeking out constructive feedback. Take this question as an opportunity to improve your leadership if any weaknesses are brought to your attention.

Where do you see success in the team, and how do we maintain it?

Discovering weaknesses is valuable to improving the performance of a team. But solutions to those weaknesses should not come at the cost of strengths responsible for your team’s current success. Ensure to be aware of what is working well for your team members, both from their perspective and your own.

When should these questions be asked?

The pace of every team is different. These questions need to come with a balance. Ask them too often, and you will find repeating answers. But if you ask them too spaced out, there may be a missed opportunity to gain helpful information. At the very least, these questions are useful on a weekly basis. At most, a leader should not go more than a month without asking these questions. It is the responsibility of the team leader to determine the best course of action for their team. These questions are simply one of the many tools needed to ensure quality performance from the team. Learn about this and more by joining GLO.