Using Positive Questions to Make Positive Connections

While I was traveling last week, I picked up a book that I have had on my buy list for a few years. It is called Encyclopedia of Positive Questions - Volume One by experts in Appreciative Inquiry, Cooperrider, Whitney, Trosten-Bloom and Kaplin.

At the beginning of the book they offer these 11 ways to use positive questions.

• Get staff meetings off to a good start
• Coach for high performance
• Transform "problem talk" into "possibility talk"
• Create dialogue to foster shared meaning
• Demonstrate positive intent and trust with customers
• Create a learning organization
• Build high performance teams
• Conduct project reviews that make a difference
• Build self-esteem
• Plan a course of action for the future
• Create your own interview guide

Positive questions can do all that?

Asking great questions can make a big difference to how your teams feel and perform. Here are just a few of the questions from the book. I think every manager ought to have a copy of this book.

• Tell me about a time when compelling communication allowed you and another person to really connect and to work together exceptionally well. What was the situation? What was it about you, the other person, and the communication that made this possible?
• Dream into the future...your organization and your community have a wonderful mutual partnership. What does this look like? What three things might have been done in order to create this partnership?
• Tell me about a time when you were part of an exceptional cooperation with a customer or customer group. How did this happen? What made it so special? What did you learn from the experience?
• When you reflect on your time with this organization, what is the greatest contribution it has made to you and your life?
• Where in the organization is participatory decision-making at its best? What contributes to it? How does it work?
• Tell me about a time that was particularly fun at work. What was the high point of this time? What made it fun?
• When people are in leadership positions, what two or three things can they do that will help you be the best you can be?
• If positive energy were the flame of the organization, how would you spark it? How would you fuel it to keep it burning bright?
• What trends and changes are you seeing in the world that excite you and give you a sense of the confidence in the possibilities for the organization's future?

Cool questions and just a sampling. I like questions like these, they help expand the mind and prevent us from going to that cold, dark, cynical small place we all have in our brains (some more than others!).

If you were building the project from the ground up and resources were not a barrier, what would you do?

What's the wildest idea that just might work?

C.R. plans to cut 70 jobs and $7 million in City Budget

While Davenport's City Council, Mayor, staff and citizens consider the next budget, Cedar Rapids is experiencing some real problems. It seems their tax base is stagnant, services are duplicitous and not as efficient as they should be. They're raising property taxes as well as cutting services. I don't envy the CR council when it comes time for citizen input!

About the job cuts, Mayor Kay Halloran declared, ``It's not fun.''``But as we reorganize and become more efficient, it may not be necessary to have as many positions,'' the mayor continued. ``We're trying to keep the margins as tight as we can.''

While Davenport is adding to their services, as they should be in the Police dept. especially, other cities are being forced to make tough changes. Our city has done a good job in balancing the budget, adding services and avoiding additional fees and taxes.

Although there is always room for improvement we should be thankful our city budget is in pretty good shape. It does good to look around when we start to examine the way the city funds are being spent.

Your thoughts?

Addendum: Davenport is proposing a slight hike in the sewer rate fee which amount to about $1.65 per household per month. This rate hasn't been increased in 15 years and shouldn't be too hotly contested. At least I wouldn't think so.

Netfilx or Blockbuster? He who innovates faster and better wins!

Netflix will begin offering some of its customers the ability to watch movies through their PC's via streaming video. This is not revolutionary but it does send a signal to others that there will be a steep entry price into the movie rental business and that those who choose to enter must be ready to change, innovate and move at the speed of the internet! More on the details here.

Netflix has been able to outpace some stiff competition. It was 2002 when Wal-Mart announced it would enter the online DVD rental business. They dropped that initiative in 2005 and now refer customers to Netflix. Last year Apple and Amazon announced they wanted to play in that same sandbox. Blockbuster made changes to their rental policy when they began giving its online subscribers the option of bypassing the mail and returning DVDs to a store so they can obtain another movie more quickly.

I'm sure the amount of customers willing to sit for hours and watch movies on their PC is currently a fairly small number. Considering the increasing convergence of media, PC, HDTV and high speed internet, those numbers will rise exponentially over the next few years. It wouldn't take much for those with a computer with TV out capability, broadband access, and an HDTV to take advantage of this innovation and be loyal to Netflix for some time to come.

Although their earnings went from $6.5 million in 2003 to an unofficial $44 million in 2006, the stock is down 40% in the last three years. Analysts say the competition in DVD and movie rentals is too strong for Netfilx to keep their 12% of the market. I say this is one step ahead for a market leader. They'll have to be planning their next innovation now so the competition keeps busy with this one.

The competition in this market will be good for consumers and will be a good show to watch in its own right. Grab the popcorn and smile!

Tough Choices!

Did you happen to watch the first episode of this season's Apprentice? How would you like to make the choice of firing either the loud-mouthed, abrasive project manager or the inept, philosophising lawyer? Tough choice.

If you're in business or a part of one, you should watch the show just to learn a few things about human nature. I'm sure some of the personalities on the show are chosen just to make good drama for TV. On the other hand, if you read some of the bios of the candidates, these are no run-of-the-mill college students looking for their first jobs.

The margin between the successful team and the losers was small. The winning team was only about 5% better than their counterparts. There was a huge difference in the rewards the teams recieved. Live in the mansion or the tent. Dinner at a world renown restaurant or grill burgers in the dark.

The clear difference between the project managers in last night's episode was Heidi's ability to gain trust from her team by focusing on the relationship with them. She asked questions, let people take creative control of their assignments, offered suggestions and let people know what thier priorities were. Frank's tactic was to bark orders, micromanage and be inattentive to the idiosyncrasies of what was going on with his team. Frank won't be a finalist on this show, mark my words. But I'm sure they'll keep him around for a while just to add some elecrticity and controversy!

How long would you work for Frank? I'd hire Heidi right now if I needed a leader who could build team spirit, get the best from her team and produce the best long term results. I'll be watching next week to see who shines and who doesn't.

Wal-Mart: Turning the lights off or on?

I was reading an article the other day about Wal-Marts efforts to increase sales of compact fluorescent light bulbs. I may have had too much time on my hands.

Wal-Mart wants to increase sales from about 3.5 million to 100 million bulbs. It was stated that the CEO wants to decrease energy use across the country. A laudable goal. Good for the environment and it will help the U.S. decrease it's dependency on fossil fuels.

That would send shock waves — some intended, others not — across the lighting industry. Because compact fluorescent bulbs last up to eight years, giant manufacturers, like General Electric and Osram Sylvania, would sell far fewer lights. Because the bulbs are made in Asia, some American manufacturing jobs could be lost. And because the bulbs contain mercury, there is a risk of pollution when millions of consumers throw them away.

Will GE or Sylvania look at this as an opportunity to innovate? Will their R&D departments figure out how to make better looking, cheaper compact fluorescent lights that fit in our lamps? Will the lamp makers make the fixtures bigger to accommodate newer, more efficient light bulbs? Can we make them without mercury? Are the leaders at these companies foreseeing the possible ramifications?

Interesting. Should we make a mass migration to more efficient lighting to save energy and reduce dependence on foreign oil or risk losing manufacturing jobs in order to stay with incandescent lighting that's been the norm for over 100 years?

I think I'm going to buy some for the garage and maybe the basement. One step at a time, I guess!