In her June 1 “Coronavirus Curveball Tip of the Week” video, Bobbie LaPorte shares three simple questions you can ask to uncover your team’s hopes and fears —so you can have an open conversation about how to achieve success together.
Transcript of Coronavirus Curveball Tip of the Week: Three Simple Questions to Uncover Your Team’s Hopes and Fears
Hi everyone, Bobbie LaPorte here again with this week’s Coronavirus Curveball tip of the week. I can’t believe it’s June….almost halfway through the year and almost three months SIP. Wow. With that, I know that many of you are starting to think about and plan for what’s next….even though we still lack many of the answers we need to create our path forward.
But it is important to be thinking about what’s next, to give people hope, some sense of promise, and start laying out options for your future direction.
If you’ve been following these weekly tips, you know that many of them are drawn from positive psychology and neuroscience. One foundational concept you’ve heard me share is that, in these times of uncertainty and ambiguity, our brains default to the negative. The antidote to this stressful state is to activate the part of our brain that is responsible for problem-solving, creativity and inspiration – and that builds capacity in us and our teams.
We can do that by understanding what’s important to people, to help them see what’s possible for the future and to develop shared goals.
So, here’s my tip:
Projecting out a year from now and looking back – consider these 3 questions for your team to help chart what’s next and begin to see what’s possible:
- If we are successful as a team, what is the biggest thing that will have enabled that success?
- If we fail as a team, what is the biggest thing that will have contributed to our failure?
- What can we do to ensure that we achieve success and instead of failure?
By voicing your team’s hopes and fears…you are able to have a focused conversation about what you can do to make success real. And this also helps to create the much-needed certainty in a world of continuing unrelenting uncertainty.
That’s my message for this week. I’ll see you again next Monday. In the meantime, remember that leadership makes the greatest difference when the world around us is uncertain. Take care of yourself!