Serve the room: questions to ask for leadership success

In local government, many elected members think they must be approachable and responsive to their constituents. They personally follow up on service requests, enquire about project details and challenge decisions made by Council staff.

Here's what they don't realise:

• They're perpetuating inequality. Giving privileged access to the few people who approach them instead of following proper channels creates an unfair advantage for constituents who feel entitled to advocate directly to politicians.

• They're driving down productivity. Targeting senior managers with frontline issues ties up management time with emails and queries that should be spent on bigger-picture issues.

• They're misdirecting their focus. Getting stuck in the weeds makes it harder to have important conversations about the legacy they want to leave as leaders.

• They're creating conflict. Challenging staff decisions implies incompetence, which is dangerous when they have only a small piece of relevant information. This creates an environment of defensiveness and mistrust, making it harder to work well together on the big stuff.

Effective leaders serve the whole audience

In public speaking, speakers are taught to use audience questions to serve the room. If someone asks about a specific problem in their work or life, a good speaker will draw a theme from their request and answer it in a way that serves the entire audience.

If someone asks how to deal with their micromanaging boss on an IT project, the public speaker might say, "Thanks for your question. Managing up can be tricky for everyone, but here are three ways people can build trust with their manager."

That way, everyone learns and takes something away.

Effective leaders in any industry do the same thing. When faced with an operational issue or problem, they don't get stuck into working out the details or going on a personal crusade that disempowers their staff. Instead, they interrogate the wider forces at play and see if there is a barrier they can remove a system they can improve, or a relationship they can influence, which would help everyone and dissolve these kinds of problems at the root.

Elevate your questions, accelerate progress

Next time you want to ask about a specific operational issue—especially one where you've assumed someone else's incompetence in doing a job you don't really understand—level up your question.

For elected members, that means instead of asking about a pothole, interrogate what it's really about. Your question might choose to focus on things like:

• Service response times

• Customer satisfaction trends

• Contractor performance

• Renewals funding.

For senior leaders, that means instead of asking about a missed client deadline, interrogate what it's really about. Your question might focus on things like:

• Client onboarding processes

• Communication workflows

• Resourcing

• Clarity on the terms of engagement.

When you elevate your questions, you better serve the whole.

The future belongs to the curious

Technology and AI are accelerating at a breakneck pace. Before long, the technical skills we've focused on will be old news, replaced by an algorithm and machine learning.

When that happens, only the leaders who've developed strategic skills will remain employable and effective. Learning to see the bigger picture, ask better questions, and think in systems are skills you can take to any job or industry—and the people you serve will be better for it.