I ran across this article about questions to teach leadership and management. As the author states, it’s not an exact science with lot of room for interpretation where situations are complex and unique and context always comes into play. There are definitely some good questions to get a group thinking and talking … some with clear answers and others more ‘tricky.’ I particularly like some of the ones regarding dilemmas:
- Two of your employees come to you with a complaint about another one of your employees. You’ve never personally observed the behavior they are complaining about. Do you confront the employee? If so, do you mention the complaints?
- You’re reviewing the results of an employee survey and accidentally discover a way to see individual responses and comments. You feel one of the comments crosses the line and is inappropriate. Do you confront the employee?
- One of your employees gives you an expensive birthday gift – at least 5 times more than any other employee. Do you accept it?
- You’ve accidentally been given access to your employee’s email accounts. You see your name in the subject line of several emails. Do you peek?
- You’ve “Googled” an employee that you are considering hiring and found an embarrassing YouTube video. Do you watch it?
Do you have a forum where posing such questions can be a mutual learning experience for your leadership team? If so, which one of these do you think would be worthwhile? Any ones to avoid?