Questioning Leadership

Richard Branson has just posted a great post on questioning leadership.

One of the things that constantly surprises me is just how many people don’t meet questioning with a re-evaluation the situation and an attempt to learn and improve from what is being raised. I have seen situations where people are too caught up in a situation to maintain situational awareness and notice that things are going off the rails. Worse: I’ve witnessed the individuals trying raise the questions be criticized for being too negative, or asked what they would do about it. Whilst it’s always better to propose solutions rather than point out problems; it’s counterproductive to ignore somone shouting “Fire!” even if it isn’t the message you want to hear.

It’s an Inner Game of Tennis. To function optimally we need to be continually evaluating and trying to improve things. As leaders; it’s our responsibility to create a culture that supports questioning and reevaluation as part of “continuous improvement”.