26 questions to ask your team at least once per quarter.
Most of us hear and read a lot about leadership and building great cultures in our businesses, but it can be overwhelming and difficult to find and understand what we can actually do, like today, tomorrow and next week to move this needle.
I have been asked more than a few times over the past short while about some of the practical things that we do at NONA to build a culture of transparency, inclusiveness and high performance so I thought I would share one that I really love and get great value from.
Outside of staff retrospectives and reviews which are not run by me, I catch up with every single team member at least once per quarter with the intention of connecting, listening and learning. I focus on actively listening and not talking, which, if you are anything like me is really hard!
I have not only felt closer to my team through this ritual but I have also learned a lot more about them as individuals, myself and what’s best for NONA. It might also be worth noting here that I spend most of my time in a very different time zone in another country as a remote CEO so not being in the same space shouldn’t stop you.
With that said, here is the current version of the questions:
What’s on your mind right now?
What’s going well?
What’s been your biggest win since we last spoke?
What’s been your biggest obstacle or challenge since we last spoke?
Where are you stuck?
What can NONA do to make you more successful?
How are you feeling and how is the morale around you?
How happy are you (1–10), why?
What’s the best thing that has happened to you since we spoke, in or out of work?
What is one single thing we could to at NONA to be better?
If you owned NONA, what is one thing you would change?
Has anyone at NONA done something that made a positive impression on you since we last spoke?
What does support from me look like to you?
Do you feel like you get recognised when you do good work?
Do you feel that you get held accountable when you don’t?
Do you feel safe at NONA — why?
What is your purpose here?
What is NONA’s purpose — do you feel like what you do here is linked?
What is NONA’s long term vision?
Do you feel like you are a part of that vision?
If somebody asked you at a bar what it’s like to work at NONA how would you answer?
How can I be a better leader?
What is something that I could be doing better?
What is an opportunity that you would like to be given a chance to fail at?
Do you feel that your voice is heard at NONA?
What is something that you learned or some value that you took from this?
These questions might change from time to time but the general theme doesn’t — it is about making the time to listen, learn and connect.
Leadership and building powerful cultures is constant work but if done right and authentically it shouldn’t feel like hard work.
Thanks for reading.
