The framework I designed called EDGE focuses on a set of attributes to help leaders to have impact and influence. Both these terms can be applied in various ways, but let’s think about how they might be achieved as you develop your ability to communicate, connect and engage.

As a reminder EDGE represents being:

• Engaging: Connected and inspiring, so people take you seriously, believe what you have to say and follow your lead.

• Dynamic: Persuasive and clear – a decisive leader, open and intentional, unafraid to tackle challenging conversations.

• Genuine: Gravitas and self-awareness to confidently be yourself to demonstrate your values to build trust and advocacy.

• Effective: Bold, innovative and creative identifying the best approach to show up and connect to address every organisational issue.

Sitting behind each word are characteristics and themes to help you improve and move forward.

The importance of questioning

Asking questions is so important to conversation and as a communicator and coach I actively use questioning as a tool to do my work. As I developed EDGE to help leaders connect and engage, this simple activity made me think about the benefits of how we can develop it as a skill to create engagement.

Engaging is about connection. It goes beyond the communication activity – for example a blog or a town hall. These activities may be effective but leaders who truly connect look to do more. It’s never just about the times you’re able to get in front a team or the whole company at an event – it’s how you interact with people on a daily basis. And that can the hard part when you’re busy or just not a people person.

This isn’t groundbreaking news – questioning is always a great way to overcome the awkwardness of what to say to someone or to carry a conversation. It’s popular nowadays to talk about being curious but the best way to cultivate this for yourself is to ask questions.

Powerful questions come from deeper attention and a real desire to connect with people – an interest about who they are and what they’re about. Their process of thinking and how they behave or operate when things are challenging.

We often encourage our teams and employees to ask questions – we invite them to engage and make ways for them to do this, but perhaps it’s time to flip this around and for leaders to ask more questions. And not just when it’s necessary to challenge if someone has done a task (although that might be important), but to use it to develop conversation, to engage with others and show up.

As an example, talking about difficult conversations Brené Brown in her book Dare to Lead says:

“A brave leader is not someone who is armed with all the answers…A brave leader is someone who says I see you. I hear you. I don’t have all the answers, but I’m going to keep listening and asking questions.”

To explain this further, here are a three instances where deciding to ask questions can be powerful:

• Leadership can be lonely and in that space you can sometimes lean towards making assumptions about a person, their behaviour or a situation. Rather than assume, just ask. Think about the issue you have with what’s happening, check what about it bothers you it’ll help to identify the right question to ask.

• Dealing with uncertainty too can be the best time to come up with questions. I have personally found this to be useful. It’s easy to sit through a change or launch a change programme and avoid asking those hard questions, sometimes we don’t want to know the answers. But brave the response and ask.

To empower others and generate ideas ask ‘what if’ questions. If done the right way it doesn’t become a suggestion but an invitation for the person to think. Sometimes people just need a nudge to open up their thinking and the encouragement and permission to explore.

Remember that powerful questions:

• Create awareness and responsibility
• Inspire creativity and resourcefulness
• Increase possibilities and vision
• Demand a higher degree of focus, detail and precision
• Provoke thoughtful answers
• Encourage curiosity
• Change the dynamic and presents you as someone to be trusted.

A question for you…

How will you apply this to how you connect and lead?