Especially in times of uncertainty and change, one of the easiest ways to know what’s really going on is to (1) get clarity about what you do not know and (2) ask your team some brave questions.
Brave questions are specific and vulnerable questions that get right to the root of the matter. Brave questions help Eliminate FOSU (Fear of talking) and create the psychological safety your employees need to talk and ask for what they need.
In this article, we share insights to help you prepare more courageous questions to gather the insights you need.
Why brave questions are important
Laura, vice president of IT, was excited to spend some time with her teams, hold some skipping level meetings and see their new system in action.
Her team had user experience calls every week and the feedback was great! Out of a desire to gather some success stories, she could not wait to tell the CEO how the new system makes it easier for customer service representatives and ultimately their customers.
Before her first skipping level meeting, Laura sat down with a representative and asked, “Can you show me your favorite part of the new system?”
The representative tried to raise the first screen. But after five minutes they both still stared at the hourglass and waited for the page to load. She looked apologetically at Laura and said, “I’m sorry to waste your time. It usually takes time.”
Laura’s jaw dropped. The supplier promised that the new system would be seven times faster – not slower.
wait, what?
“Can you show me another page?” Laura asked.
She sat while slow loading time. Laura turned to the representative. “Is it always like that?”
“Oh yeah. We’re used to it at this point, but the system has some other nice features.”
Laura thanked her and hurried to a quiet conference room where she could call her staff. After ten minutes of testing, they realized that the center’s servers did not have the ability to run the new system. Hundreds of delegates suffered from a ridiculous gift that wasted their time and that of their clients.
What happened?
User experience conversations asked a lot of questions, but not brave ones.
Week after week, the inspectors participated in user experience conversations, fully aware of the problem, and did not say a word. No one has ever raised the issue!
After replacing the server and promising that everything was back on track, Laura went back to the user experience team representatives and asked why they had never uploaded it.
Well, no one asked us about the speed. Our boss told us we need to be “agents of change” and model excitement for the new system – no matter what. Under no circumstances should we have been negative.
So we just smiled, we sucked it and we dealt with it.
Have you ever felt like Laura?
The “no one asked” answer may be frustrating, but it’s one of the biggest reasons employees say they’re driven by ideas.
What is a brave question?
A brave question is different from the generic question “How can we be better?” Question that they are specific and modest (suppose improvement is possible). You ask brave questions to be curious about what is really going on. Do not respond immediately.
When you ask a brave question, you:
Get specific.
A brave question focuses on a specific activity, behavior, or outcome.
For example, instead of asking “How can we get better?” Ask “What is the number one frustration of our biggest customer?”
Or, “In the next two quarters, our most important priority is customer retention. We need every idea we can get to help keep our best customers. What is the number one reason you see customers leaving? What is the biggest obstacle to keeping our best customers? What is the number one low cost action we can take to improve our customer experience? “
2. Be modest.
Then, a brave question creates a powerful vulnerability.
When you ask each of these sample questions, you implicitly say “I know I’m not perfect. I know I can get better.” This is a strong message – if you mean it honestly.
You are sending the message that you are growing and want to get better. This, in turn, gives your team permission to grow and be in the process on their own. It also makes it safe to share real feedback. When you say, “What is the biggest obstacle?” You recognize that there is an obstacle, and you want to hear about it.
Humility is at the heart of the question that Don Jaeger, VP of Operations at Mural Corporation, consistently asks his frontline team: “What sucks our policy?” This modest question quickly identifies anything that interferes with a great customer experience.
Work before responding.
Finally, brave questions require the questioner to listen without defense. This is where well-meaning leaders often get into trouble. They ask a good question, but they were unwilling to hear feedback that made them uncomfortable or challenging their pet project. They leap to explain or defend.
Asking for feedback and ignoring it is worse than not asking at all. When asking a brave question, allow yourself to take the feedback. Write comments, thank you all for taking the time and confidence to share their point of view. With a lot of brave questions, you will get conflicting points of view. It’s OK. Describe the following steps.
If you need to process and then respond, tell them when it will happen.
Click to download examples of brave questions, and write your own!
Brave questions for example
You can download our Courageous Cultures tool for free here.
Brave questions to enhance the customer experience
- What is one policy that really annoys our customers?
- If you could make one change to improve the customer experience, what would it be?
- When customers call, what is their number one complaint?
- What is the most important action we take to make our customers happy? How would you recommend that we do this more consistently?
Brave questions for improving productivity
- What is the biggest barrier to your productivity right now?
- When you think of missed opportunities to be more efficient or effective, what is the problem that no one is talking about?
- If we could do one other thing next time to help this project (or person) succeed, what would it be?
- What is one task or project that you dedicate time to that you think is not worth the time? Why?
- Do you have any best practices that really help you be more efficient and effective in your work? What is?
Brave questions for improving culture
- What is the biggest source of conflict you encounter when working with Class X? (How can we contribute to the issue?)
- We work to build a brave culture where everyone talks and shares their ideas. As your leader, what is one area of my leadership that I can work on to facilitate this?
- What is one of the reasons you choose to work here? How can we build more than that into our culture?
- Why are people delaying their ideas here?
- Can you think of one practical idea that will help our team find more joy and meaning in their work?
And do not forget to respond with respect.
Once you have asked your team brave questions, gather your topics and make sure you respond with reference.
The first time you ask a brave question, your staff may be skeptical. But as you build a reputation for asking brave important questions and responding to what you hear, you will go a long way in building trust and innovation in your team.
we’ll be glad to hear from you.
Where do you most need a great idea? What is one brave question that will encourage (or have done) deeper thinking, problem solving and great ideas?
See also: How to help your team think big
How to respond to employees’ crazy ideas
