Smart Questions: The Essential Strategy for Successful Managers

by Dorothy Leeds

Book Overview

Whether you manage one person or hundreds, asking the right question at the right time is one of the most valuable skills you can have. It's what distinguishes a good manager from a great one. This definitive guide shows you how to ask for the most from your staff--and get it - Enhance "people productivity" through motivation - Turn your question into positive action - Ask the right question of the right person, at the right time - Conduct a hiring...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0425176592
• ISBN13: 9780425176597
• Release Date: November 2000
• Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.67 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.2" x 8.1"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Positively Implementing Change

This book is helpful in learning to frame questions that help to effect positive change. Most people are more willing to accept answers that they discover for themselves. And of course, no one will make any real change unless they want to. The best you can get with force is outward conformity, and you will only get it to the degree that employees feel they "must" go along with. It takes a lot less energy to help people find their own internal motivation than it does to push or drag them along.

Questions Rule

I am in Consulting and I convert most of my statements to questions; and boy, it works. First few chapters of this book are essential to your business communications.

This is the smart choice in this category!

The 'smart question' to ask is "Why am I looking at these types of books?" If the answer is to improve your ability to get more out of your meetings, interviews, negotiations, and communications with everyone at any level (internal and external to your organization), this is the book to buy by far. I've read many self-help communications books and this one really gets to the heart of the matter -- ask and you shall receive; ask the right question(s) and you'll get what you want/deserve. It was an easy and enjoyable read that gets you engaged from the first chapter (unlike so many other books that take 5 chapters to explain what they're to accomplish). The quizzes really provide helpful and immediate feedback. You can read from cover to cover or use as a reference. Either way, this book gives you tools to use right away. You'll carry this one around with you until you've mastered the technique. You won't be disappointed (as I have with so many other books of this kind). This one is a winner, hands down!

One of the BEST communication tools!

Dorothy Leeds skillfully addresses the problem that we all seem to have in communication---asking the right question. She takes you through asking yourself what it is you're trying to achieve, and then helps you think about how to formulate an effective "query" to receive your answer. She says (and I agree) that next to the effective use of silence, asking 'smart questions' is the second most powerful communication tool that there is. Anyone who wishes to communicate effectively and powerfully should own a copy of this book, keep it close by, and study its depth. HIGHLY recommended for those in the Health Sciences field.

Powerful exploration of role of good questions in success

Excellent handbook on how to frame and use questions to gain commitment, resolve problems, develop creative solutions, and respond to different personality types. Clear examples of how good questions can impact results and meet personal goals. A must read for anyone who feels the best way to get results is to tell people what they need to do.