3.2 Benefits and dangers of stretch questions

The benefits of asking stretch questions in leadership practice are fourfold:

1. They can boost the knowledge, agency and confidence of groups, as they become more adept at exploring the unknown together and as individual members grow into leadership through the process.
2. Asking stretch questions is a particularly important practice for addressing problems that are complex because they require groups to draw out the hidden dimensions of problems. For example, trying to solve under-performance in a school in a deprived area will need multiple inputs, with people asking far-ranging questions of one another to uncover the multiple and overlapping issues at play.
3. Stretch questions can boost diversity because they help uncover previously hidden issues, such as those that prevent people from living full lives and fully participating.
4. Stretch questions can force a response and change from an organisation. In the Montgomery bus boycott, remember that most of the local clergy leaders were reluctant to pursue confrontational and direct tactics. They were forced to choose because the Women’s Political Council had already announced a boycott through a widely delivered flyer. This act enabled supporters of the boycott to ask the church leaders a simple stretch question: ‘Are you with us?’

In terms of dangers, two are worth noting:

1. Not everyone will take kindly to being asked a stretch question. Sometimes ego can get in the way. Challenging authority in this way may be a necessary aspect of effective leadership, but it may also be a consequence best addressed through diplomacy, ensuring that everyone understands the purpose of asking stretch questions.
2. Asking stretch questions can feel indulgent when groups are working to a tight deadline, in crisis conditions or under multiple short-term pressures. Sometimes people need to free up time by making quick decisions. The flip side is that stretch questioning can provide groups with creative and innovative solutions under difficult or crisis conditions, so shutting down dialogue may not be the most sensible course of action.

In this next activity, you will explore the value of stretch questions through a real organisational example.

Activity 3 Asking organisations stretch questions

Timing: Allow around 15 minutes

Watch the following video, where the OU’s Director of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, Lurraine Jones, talks about the role of asking organisations stretch questions. As you watch, try to identify two tips Lurraine shares on asking questions of organisations.

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Transcript: Video 1 Lurraine Jones – the role of stretch questions in organisations

LURRAINE JONES

Stretch questions are where you go beyond the normal tick box exercise, where you dig a bit deeper, where you ask people what the impact of practices and policies are.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

We need to ask stretch questions on EDI in organisations, because EDI is an all-encompassing term: equality, diversity, and inclusion. You can have diversity without inclusion. And also, you can have equality without equity. So stretch questions are digging deeper into the organisation, the impact of EDI and probing into what that means for the organisation, and also who is doing the EDI, because often EDI is done by the most marginalised group in society. And therefore, it rests often on colleagues who are marginalised within the institution to do it.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Some tips for emerging Black leaders is to recognise that you have critical insights through your personal and professional experiences, and to separate the two. That’s a tip. But also, your USP in often white-dominated leadership organisations is that you have these personal and professional understandings of life. And make sure that you become a mentor to others, and also make sure that you gain a sponsor -- who is often a white leader -- but knowing the difference between having a sponsor and having a mentor, and being a sponsor and being a mentor. A sponsor is someone who will advocate for you whilst you’re not in the room, and a mentor is often your peer, or perhaps a grade above, who you can have a chat to and give you a cup of tea and a cuddle if that’s what’s required. And make sure that-- my biggest tip really is to bring people along behind you, mentor other emerging Black leaders.

End transcript: Video 1 Lurraine Jones – the role of stretch questions in organisations

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Video 1 Lurraine Jones – the role of stretch questions in organisations

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Discussion

Promoting racial equity in organisations can be challenging, both for internal people eager to make the organisation more inclusive and sustainable, and for outsiders who are keen to remind the organisation of its ethical and legal obligations. In such circumstances, stretch questions could focus on how the actions do not match the values of the organisation. You could use stretch questions when engaging with people who have positional power and influence. Although people in power can be defensive when challenged, a well-timed stretch question can trigger change and help further the organisation’s inclusivity.

Having engaged with the dynamics of conversations and questions, it is time to test your knowledge of the course so far.