The date was June 20th of 1993. It was game six of the NBA championship finals between the Chicago Bulls and the Phoenix Suns. The Bulls were down one, and there was 10 seconds left in the game. Bulls coach Phil Jackson noticed his star player, Michael Jordan, reverting back to a bad habit of his tendency to hog the ball. Phil called a time out and motioned Jordan over. All he said to Jordan was a question consisting of two words: “Who’s open?” Jordan got the drift, nodded, and went back on the court. Soon afterwards, he passed the ball to teammate John Paxson. Paxson went for a 3-pointer and made it. As a result, the Bulls won the championship. The interesting point is that according to Phil Jackson in his book “Sacred Hoops”, John Paxson was the weakest player of the 5 on the court. As demonstrated in this example, so often the most effective coaching can come from good questioning rather yelling and chewing people out.
As leaders, parents, and managers, we know that there are patterns of behavior that are productive, and other patterns that hold us back. I’ll never forget the time early in my career when there was something I needed to do that I kept procrastinating. After several reminders, one day my boss asked me the killer question: “What can I do to get you started on this Steve?” Yikes! I was right on it. What a “move the needle” question that was!
Here’s my advice: When we see a pattern of behavior in someone that needs to change, think of what questions we are going to ask before we write out some speech. Doing so increases our chances of redirecting the non-productive pattern.
