Using transformational questions
Transformational questions:
- Shift people’s thinking in a positive way
- Inspire them to take on new challenges
- Are a good way to get people engaged in a vision.
Here are some examples of questions that can have a profound effect on transforming your team – if used at the right time and in the right way.
- What do we want our culture to be?
- What’s the most powerful action we can take right now?
- How can we work with what’s available?
- Where are we? Where do we need to go?
- What do we believe in?
- How does this fit with our purpose and vision?
Embedding transformational questions into your team meetings
- Try introducing a transformational question, such as one of those above next time you lead a team meeting.
- Give team members the necessary space and time to be reflective, which in turn improves decision-making capacity.
- Rather than the typical brainstorming approach, give everyone a few minutes to reflect individually, perhaps even encouraging them to move around or go for a walk.
- When time’s up, call them back to your meeting space and have them jot down their answer to the question at hand.
Then, discuss their answers and develop a plan of action as a group.
Additional resources
Hybrid teams. In a hybrid team, some employees work on-site and some work remotely. Read more to learn how to balance and effectively support the success of both sets of employees.
Team building activities. These team-building activities can help improve team effectiveness. Leaders and team members can learn how to resolve issues and support each other.
Team development. Teams can face issues, such as conflict, bullying, high demands or low control. By increasing the ability to anticipate challenges, resolve conflicts and sustain a supportive team environment, we can increase our ability to withstand these issues.
Resilience for teams. Learn why resilience is a workplace issue and how to address it. You will see evidence for building team resilience and actionable resources to start.
Find more activities like this at Team building activities.