Page 57 - Appreciative Leadership

30 Appreciative Leadership

The second crew, in appreciative contrast, arrives on the job

together. They have driven together to save gas and build camara-

derie. They begin with a meeting. The project leader presents what
needs to be accomplished for the day, or the week ahead, and asks:
“How shall we organize to do the job? Where shall we start?” He and
the team listen to each other as they discuss who will do what, the
order of the work, and its relationship to everything else that is being
done on the job. Within 10 minutes they have a plan and get to work.
As the crew members work throughout the day, they check with each
other and the client, always asking, “Is there anything else you see
that we need to do?” And they do it. The client appreciates the ease

with which she can discuss things with them and feels assured of the
quality of their work.
As these stories show, people get engaged and feel empowered
when they are asked to contribute rather than be told what to do. We
call this the ask-to-tell ratio. Appreciative leaders ask more than they
tell. Here are five ways you can increase your ask-to-tell ratio:

1. Get staff meetings off to a positive start by asking staff members
to share stories of their best day at work in the past month.
2. Identify team strengths by asking team members to tell about
when they were at their best as a team. Ask them to describe
what makes them a great team.
3. Do a positive project debrief by asking about the “root causes of
success.” Ask to hear about everything that happened that make
it a successful project.
4. Learn how to be a better leader by asking people to tell you what
makes someone a great leader, worthy of being followed.
5. Build stronger relationships by asking people what made them
happy over the weekend or on their day off .

There is never a bad time to ask a question and boost your ask-
to-tell ratio. We have a colleague who is especially good at asking
questions. He must have a 10-to-1 ask-to-tell ratio. He even answers