Tim McDermott “The Most Powerful Question You Can Ask Your Employees”

The most powerful question you can ask your employees

Whether you know it or not, when you are at the top of your organization you have a lot of power.  You can hire and fire people, decide to let people have time off and how much, and come annual evaluation time, speak words of life (or hurt) into their lives.  I have often said that when you are a leader your whispers are shouts, so you need to be careful what you say and how you say it.  Your staff not only listens to your words but watch to see if your actions line up.  Unfortunately, if they don’t they will lose trust in you as a leader.

So now that I have made you feel great as a leader, I want to offer something great you can do with all that power. Give it away.

A few years ago I tried something and it went way better than expected.  I went to a programming meeting and asked the team this question “What’s the one tool I could give you to help make your job better?”  I told them that content was king and I wanted to make sure we were doing all we could as a ministry to make them a success.  I gave them a week to think about this.

A week later they gave me their requests – a talent coach for a few months, software for a project, a class they wanted to take and others.   Immediately, I said yes to all these requests. The total dollar amount – less than $3,000.  To them it was like they were getting a million dollars.  They felt valued and equipped. 

As a result of asking this question, the ministry got better. More people were being reached for Christ.  It was a complete win.   For me, I learned about leadership and the power of giving it away.

Today, this week, as a leader, give it away. 

Tim McDermott is the COO at PraiseLive in Minneapolis where they are believing God for great things. He is also a board and radio station fundraising consultant. He can be reached at tmcdermott.cpa@gmail.com