A little over a year ago, I wrote a blog post examining Socratic Questions. Socratic Questions are a method of pull influencing that can be used to stimulate critical thinking. To help make the question types easier to understand and remember for use in practice, I have gone back and created an infographic illustrating the 6 types of questions. The infographic is shown below (click on the infographic for the full size version). »
In my last blog post, I looked at situational leadership and how different influencing styles and techniques can be effective in different contexts with people at different levels of maturity. ‘Push’ (directive) influencing techniques are more focused on “telling” whereas ‘Pull’ (non-directive) techniques tend to involve the use of questions and reflection to guide. One particular technique involving the use of questions to influence in this way is Socratic questioning. »
Traditionally people used to think leadership was an inherent quality and that individuals have their own distinct leadership style. In practice, each style has its own strengths and weaknesses, situations where it excels and others where it is less effective. Therefore, whilst it is natural to have a preferred style that one feels most comfortable with, a good leader should be able to adapt their style depending upon the situation or context, the team or individual being influenced and the task at hand. »