One of the most empowering strategies a leader can use to raise up others is in the form of asking questions. A great leader asks great questions. I have found that the most successful leaders are the ones who ask more questions than they answer. Just the other day I was meeting with a friend of mine who is an engineer at one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the country. As we were having dinner he shared with me three very insightful questions he asks when he meets with the individuals on his team. He asks them…

1. What is one thing I can do for you to help you with your job?
2. How well do you think you are doing in your role, based on feedback you have received?
3. What are your strengths and weakness, based on feedback you have received?

When you ask questions to your team it allows for them to engage. If someone escapes a conversation without thinking for themselves they will never develop their ability to solve problems and extract solutions. Questions help educate and develop. In fact, the word educate comes from the Latin word educo, meaning to draw out from within. The only way to truly educate others is to help them think for themselves. If you do all the thinking, all the work, and all the problem solving you are not developing those around you. To help draw out the potential from within an individual it takes leaders who educo them, meaning they challenge them to think for themselves. We have all heard the famous phrase, “Give a man a fish you feed him for a day, but teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” Only a true leader could coin this phrase, because at the heart of leadership is an ability to draw out the gold from the mines within another. Empowerment comes form educating and extracting out the potential within others.