How do we uncover how each person likes to be managed or even held accountable? By using one of the most valuable tools as a coach – asking more and better questions.

To uncover how to best manage and support each person on your team, while respecting their career or personal goals, schedule one to one meetings with each member of your team and invest the time asking questions to uncover what is important to them. Listen to their responses and ask more questions as you uncover what they most want. Here are some suggested questions you can use during your one to one meetings in order to tap into a person’s goals, while uncovering how you can align them with the business objectives and hold them accountable without being the bad guy.

1. What do you want to be doing in your career that you aren’t currently doing?
2. What areas do you want to strengthen, improve or develop?
3. What is most important to you in your life/career? (What does a successful career/life look like?)
4. What are the three most important things you would like to accomplish right now? (Over the next 2-3 years?)
5. What is your action plan to achieve those goals? Starting when?
6. What obstacles do you need to overcome that could prevent you from reaching those goals?
7. How can I best support you to achieve these goals? (Uncover how each employee wants to be managed and supported.)
8. How can I best manage you? (Who was your favorite manager? Why?)
9. How can I hold you accountable in a way that will sound supportive and won’t come across as negative?
10. How do you want me to approach you if you don’t follow through with the commitments you make? How do you want me to handle it? What would be a good way to bring this up with you so that you will be open to hearing it?

Questions will assist your employees in uncovering what internally motivates them based on their beliefs and values, so they can access their own energy to achieve it. You are also uncovering the style of management they respond to best. Moreover, you are managing the expectations on both sides as to what each person’s roles and responsibilities are. It certainly beats using your energy to push or stimulate interest or action based on your assumptions or beliefs based on what may work for you.

If you rely on pushing to get someone into action, they won’t move unless you’re there to push. It’s more effective to help them articulate what they want so they can begin to self-motivate.

The real benefit of getting this is that empowering people by tapping into their internal drive doesn’t drain your energy. Pushing for results is exhausting.

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