“What do you think” is one of the greatest questions any leader can ask.
EVER!
Let me explain…
Someone on your staff comes to you with a problem (and ANYONE can point out a problem, it doesn’t take a genius to do that.) They present the issue to you in detail and then ask you what to do…
The WORSE thing you can do is solve the problem (unless you are an insecure leader…or you are one of those people who just need to be needed!)
The BEST thing you can do is ask, “what do you think?”
BECAUSE…if you have a leader on your team then you need to understand when they present you with a problem they aren’t actually asking you to solve it but rather are merely wanting your permission to do what they already know should be done.
They don’t want your information…they want your permission to handle the problem.
“What do you think” will tell you what type of people you have on your team…because, believe it or not…a leader ALWAYS has an opinion!
“What do you think” will tell you if the person is actually a leader or not…because if a person is always presenting problems but never has a solution then they are probably not a leader.
“What do you think” will tell you if the person has caught on to the vision or not…because if they DO have answers but none of them are in line with where the vision of the church is heading then you have an issue that need to be talked about.
“What do you think” will tell you if the person has innovative ideas…or if they are lazy and are always reverting back to “what we’ve always done.”
“What do you think” will give you an opportunity to coach and cast vision…because they might have an answer, it might be wrong…and taking 30 seconds or so to coach through that and explain things more completely will do nothing but strengthen your church.
“What do you think” is one of the best questions a leader can ask when presented with a problem/opportunity…you church will be more effective and more people will be reached when it is not limited to just your own ideas!