ACTivity/ Changing the Question

Photo by A.Calvar on Unsplash.

Manila, 20 February 2025 — Changing the question is a powerful way to influence change 360 degrees around you.

Story

It happened this week. In our community of practice called Grow3Leaders, we came together for the second workshop of The LEADcoach Challenge. Our discussion and practice were about changing the questions we ask when we help a colleague. 

The next day, we gathered again, for our Monthly Mentoring Call about the leadership behavior we are practicing this month: Focus. And the conversation again turned to changing the question. 

This time, to overcome the Three Focus Traps, we chose to ask the question how what we focus on as leaders is supporting our quest to play a Bigger Game in 2025. A rich conversation followed.

Challenge

To play a Bigger Game, the first challenge is usually to overcome the chatter in your mind that offers you distractions and has the power to take you offline, away from your focus, and away from the collaboration with your fellow leaders. To keep engaged, change the question you’re asking yourself and your colleague.

The second challenge is to face your inner resistance to change head-on. To overcome your resistance, recognizing it is the first big step. In Grow3Leaders, we practice this in the LEADcoach Challenge. Changing the question is a powerful tool in using a coaching-style approach. 

The third challenge is to be curious, look for alternative perspectives, and zoom out to make sense of and meaning of the bigger picture (meta) view. Every year, we spend one entire month on the art of changing the question in service of our leadership for self and others. 

Question

What new questions are you asking yourself, your team, and your business this week, to advance insight, recognize resistance to change, and move forward making best use of the situation? Changing the question is a powerful leadership behavior to learn and master.

If you are interested in learning how to change the question and to practice this in your workplace, come and join us for our leadership challenges in Grow3Leaders or our one-to-one executive coaching programs.

Set up a free strategy call to share what question you want to change for yourself, your team, or your business.