Most of us in the workforce at some stage have had someone appointed to a role ‘above us’.
“ Who is he? “Where has he come from?”
“How much does he know about the job?”
“Will we like him?” Or her.
Of course, there’s probably a dozen more questions we could think of.
When this person has been appointed to a position there will be a detailed position description, a list of responsibilities, a definition of the functions.
But what about the leadership ‘function’ we hope this person will deliver on ? What would you want to know ?
The authors of The Leadership Challenge - Jim Kouzes and Barry Pozner - asked this question in the 40 plus years of research.
Consistently the top three questions people wanted to ask their new leader have continued over these years.
The first is “Who are you?”
This can be answered in as short as two or three sentences or can be a 20 minute life story which will indicate who this person really is, what their values are, how they care about others.
The second question is:”Where are you taking us ?”

People are inspired by the leader’s vision - especially when it’s a shared vision, one that includes the team members. Knowing where the leader intends to take us, and that he has clear ideas to do so, has a positive impact on team member’s purpose, and passion for what they’re doing.
And the third? “Why should we follow you?
That question is almost redundant given the likely answers to the first two questions. However, it does enable the leader to talk about his leadership style: “I’m clear on my values and live those values daily. My leadership style is clearly based on a relationship with the people I’m leading, I will always do what I say I will do. I will keep you inspired by the vision we share, I will challenge you to find better ways to do things, to ask “What if …”, I will encourage and enable you to perform better than you thought you could.

And I’ll always recognize and acknowledge individual performance which goes beyond what may be expected.
So why is this important? The people you may be leading in the future - as well as those you are leading now - may not specifically ask these questions, but you can believe when you articulate the answers, they will be excited at the prospect of working with you as their leader.
These are simple behaviors that will lead to great results. Starting as soon as you become their leader.

They may be 'thinking' about these questions but don't ask.

The research forThe Leadership Challenge consistently shows these are the top 3, most asked questions - so why not anticipate them and give answers similar to those above ?

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