The “Better” Question Changes Everything
Recurring issues reflect poor leadership.
How long will you tolerate pestering problems?
Courageous leaders believe we can do better.
Begin “better”:
- If you can’t make it better, find something you can.
- Talk about next time. “That was good, how can we do better next time?”
- Honor those who work hard but fall short, don’t belittle them.
- Understand why getting better matters. (Self-respect, customers, fulfilling your purpose.)
- See and own things that could be better.
- Believe things can be better. Belief enables beginnings.
Things stay the same because you’re afraid to try again.
One “better” question:
Respond to problems and complaints with, “What can we do to make it better?”
Leaders complain about lack of initiative, low quality, or too much sick time. What are you doing to make it better?
Five more “better” questions:
Leading with questions is better than leading by decree, as long as you pursue “better”.
- How much does it matter on a scale of 1 to 10?
- What’s in place to make it better?
- What hasn’t worked? Why didn’t it work? What might we try?
- What are successful organizations doing?
- What can we do today that moves us toward better?
Sometimes the greatest courage is the courage to ask.
Five ways to pursue “better”:
- Don’t allow people with clean hands to complain about people who are sweaty and dirty.
- Honor intolerance. Those who get better refuse to tolerate mediocrity.
- Embrace small behaviors that drive toward big solutions. Big solutions are fantasies pursued by confused, distracted leaders. Start small. Start now.
- Clap when people try and fail. Just don’t keep repeating it. Stop complaining about failure and learn from it.
- Develop your leadership. The issue is you not them. Read, take a class, get a coach.
The past is the future if you don’t pursue better today.
How can leaders create environments and organizations that believe in and practice getting better?
How can you do better?
ChangING my life and you don’t even know it. Thanks for the post. Absolutely love your posts. ☺☺☺☺
Great post on the word “better.” I know, it’s really on questions and conversation that inspire the use of the use of the word “better.” I think there’s only one scenario when leaders might ponder NOT using “better.” That’s when a staff member has performed extraordinarily well: There are a few managers who might say, “You’ve done very well, and I know you’ll do even BETTER next time.”
Everyone knows Jack Welch–former Chairman of GE–was a brilliant company and people leader. Yet, almost everyone at GE’s Waukesha, Wisconsin, headquarters abhorred Welch’s
compliments because they knew what was coming next: “I know you will do BETTER next time.”
This went on for some 20 years until a rather young and naive medical scientist working on an early CT scanner decided he was going to tell Mr. Welch what his staff thought about his “do BETTER next time” history. Jack Welch didn’t flinch. Within a few minutes Welch got on his company-wide loud speaker and said:
“I’ve been wrong and I’m sorry. From this day forward I will not say “you can do better.” I awakened to something today I should have said to you years ago. The reason GE is great is because YOU believe in yourselves, in who you are, what you do, what you say, and to whom you say it. You know there is “Something” inside us greater than any obstacle. It is from this foundation of inner trust that you create personal and professional fulfillment…a sense of completeness. It is because of YOU I feel that way too. Thank you.”
Thanks for the story about Jack Welch… Dan’s post was great and this comment was an icing on the cake for me….
Thank you for posting these truths. They help me see so much differently, become a more focused and follow able leader! Blessings and much joy!
Thanks Dan, this resonates strongly with what I see ails many organisations (and relationships).
“Things stay the same because you’re afraid to try again.” – to rephrase this – Things stay the same because you don’t want to be wrong – if you fear failure you will seldom welcome success.
I’m off to get something wrong again…
Excellent post, Dan. I love the concept of incremental improvement.
For me, the word “better” by itself does not suggest what needs to be improved. Imagine a piano teacher telling a young student, “Play that again, now, and make it better.” The student would be justifiably confused. “What do you want me to change?” Instead, the teacher might ask, “How might you make the crest of the phrase stand out more?” “Begin softer?” “Okay, let’s try that.”
In business I would suggest that the same sorts of coaching questions are necessary in order to make it better each time. “What could we do to shorten time to market by two weeks?” “Do you think we could make that pitch in fewer paragraphs?”
Best regards,
One more addition ,copied and stored in my golden collections…Thanks Dan
I would think that a better approach for “If you can’t make it better, find something you can.” this can be “If you cant make it better, find someone who can”..
I would add that we tear ourselves apart about what we did wrong and sometimes to get better we should be looking at what we did well. We should be thinking about how we can accentuate the positive instead of thinking about what we did wrong.
Great post. Positive ‘better’ questions when things go wrong go a long way in shifting focus on to improving things. There is no scope for blame game and negativity any more. Overall promotes a healthy environment.
“Develop your leadership. The issue is you not them. Read, take a class, get a coach.”
Dan – this is a good suggestion!
Can you share an example of a book or class that made a difference for you?