Intentional Questions to Ask Your Team for Your Best Year Yet

January 2023

Intentional Questions to Ask Your Team for Your Best Year Yet

by Doni Landefeld, Ph.D. 

Advanced Certified Personal and Executive Coach
Certified Positive Intelligence Coach
EQ-i 2.0 and EQ360 Certified

January 2023

May your 2023 be off to a strong and fulfilling start! I’ve never been a fan of resolutions – they have a tendency to set most people up for failure. Why? Because most resolutions are lofty, not specific enough and oftentimes, many folks are not motivated to do the work to achieve the results they want. Let’s take a look at two examples – one personal and one professional.  

Consider a popular well-being resolution to get in better shape. Sure, it’s a positive and noble pursuit, but most people who want to lose weight or get in better shape, give up because they don’t set specific goals, they’re not motivated to do the hard work to achieve results, and may not have an accountability partner. Ambition then fizzles out because results are not being achieved quickly enough or at all.  

In the workplace, many leaders want to grow their organizations and scale to a level higher than the previous year. Again, it’s a positive and noble goal, but without specific strategies, motivation to do the work to grow, acquiring necessary skills and utilizing an accountability partner, results will likely fall flat.  

As we usher in 2023, I propose that you set intentions to achieve your goals for the year. Choosing just a few goals is more realistic and I’ve always been a fan of the “3 Big Rocks” method to use as a roadmap for strategic intentionality. Click here if you’re not familiar with the Big Rocks time management tool. Too many goals will dilute your efforts and make it less likely that you succeed in any area. Doing less to achieve more is very effective! Also, give the boot to multi-tasking too because it’s passe and as ineffective as workaholism and perfectionism. 

“It turns out multitaskers are terrible at every aspect of multitasking. They’re terrible at ignoring irrelevant information; they’re terrible at keeping information in their head nicely and neatly organized; and they’re terrible at switching from one task to another.”
— Dr. Clifford Nass, Stanford University

To become a stronger leader and achieve more within your organization, I invite you to use the 6-question process to achieve alignment with your team. Notice the intentionality in these questions and how they will help you gain useful insight to develop specific strategies. This process was created by Dr. Marshall Goldsmith, world-renown executive coach and author, who incidentally, was paid for his high-ticket engagements only when executives made positive gains. Dr. Goldsmith is handsomely paid by the way, so we know his approach and systems work! 

Six questions process to achieve alignment

Ask your team: 

1. Where are we going? Where do you think we should be going?
2. Where are you going? Where would you like to be going?
3. Here’s what I think you’re doing well… Then, what do you think you’re doing well or what are you proud of?
4. What are your suggestions for the future? If you were your coach, what suggestions might you have for yourself?
5. How can I help?
6. Here’s what I want to improve. What ideas do you have for me in this area? 

Give these questions a try and record the feedback you receive, so you may establish specific, realistic strategies. These strategies will help you nurture your 3 Big Rocks for the year and pave the way for the outcomes you desire. Intentionality in your questioning helps to achieve alignment and results. These questions are also great to use in your regular check-ins with your team and by far, much more effective than time-consuming, dreaded performance reviews.

If you’re ready to take your performance and well-being to the next level, let’s connect to discuss your intentions. Schedule your complimentary strategy session here: