LEADERSHIP QUESTIONS

Common Challenges and Solutions

Leadership is the solution. Whatever your problem, leadership is the key to unlocking your potential. At Extreme Ownership Academy, we’ve helped countless leaders overcome challenges and achieve extraordinary results. Let’s explore some common leadership questions and how to tackle them.

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Common Leadership Questions

Leadership is a journey, not a destination. It’s filled with hurdles and questions. Extreme Ownership Academy offers a structured approach to leadership development. Our online leadership training courses delve deep into the principles and practices that drive success.

Here are some common challenges leaders face:

People Challenges

Question: How do you handle people who flat out refuse to own up to their mistakes and point fingers even when they are the ones making the mistakes?

Solution: Set the example. Take ownership. Use the EO Framework to have conversations with them and escalate as necessary.

Question: What do you recommend for the young people in leadership positions in charge of people older than their own parents to garner and earn the respect of those around them?

Solution: Show them trust, treat them with respect, listen to them, and let them influence you so they know you care about them. That is the essence of building a relationship and if you can do that, eventually they will respect you, trust you, listen to you, and be influenced by you.

Question: How would you handle a high performing manager with terrible energy that impacts others on the team? They are organized, profitable but the team walks on eggshells around them because of their volatility.

Solution: Build a relationship with them. Listen to their concerns so that overtime you might have influence with them and be able share some feedback they will actually listen to.

Question: How do you deal with a subordinate that’s been with the company since day one and has a heavy sense of entitlement to not follow procedures correctly?

Solution: Check your ego. Lean on their experience. Ask them why they don’t follow the procedures and see if they have ideas on ways to improve them. Listen to their feedback and implement it if at all possible. Be sure to take ownership and explain the why behind those procedures as well.

Communication & Teamwork Challenges

Question: How do you build relationships in a remote work environment?

Solution: Intentionality. Building relationships is paramount no matter what the environment. If you don’t sit in an office with your co-workers, you have to be more intentional about building those relationships.

Question: Where do you begin to build processes where there are no processes and get buy in from multiple divisions?

Solution: Engage with those divisions to build the processes. Explain why you think a process could help them and let them come up with the process that will work best for them. Explaining the why and giving them ownership over the solution will create buy-in.

Question: How do I get control over communications when I can clearly see there is a disconnect with a team member? I get really frustrated when someone shuts down during communication.

Solution: Take ownership of the poor communication and use a readback.

Strategy & Execution Challenges

Question: The boss is taking on too many projects and keeps saying that everything is a priority. How do you let the boss know that they need to say no to new projects and focus on prioritizing the ones the team currently has?

Solution: Take ownership of not understanding the priorities and write out what you think they are and ask the boss for feedback. Offer to take things off your boss’ plate as well so that they don’t get so overwhelmed.

Question: What happens if you let them come up with a plan and they don’t execute/perform as you would like?

Solution: Check your ego. If their plan and execution gets the job done in a safe, moral, and relatively efficient manner (80% solution), go with their plan and let them execute. If their truly is an issue with execution/performance then take ownership of the gap and work with them to fix it.

Leadership & Influence Challenges

Question: How can you lead outside your area of responsibility without over stepping?

Build relationships so you better understand where you might be overstepping, and remember to be Default: Aggressive, but not reckless.