Lola Asks Tough Questions

Lola majored in business administration with a concentration in marketing, and she is delighted with her career progress. She joined the frozen-food division of a large company ten years ago as a product specialist for frozen Indian food. Lola says with a smile, "I was torn between Asian studies and marketing. My first job was therefore a perfect fit for my interests."

Lola now holds the position of general manager of frozen foods, with a team of six people directly reporting to her, and 350 total employees. Lola has learned that a leader does not have all the answers, and so should ask lots of questions. She also believes that the right questions will get people thinking.

During a recent meeting with her sales manager, Marvin, Lola asked him, "What's to prevent consumers from serving mostly inexpensive fresh food instead of purchasing our expensive products?" Marvin responded, "Let me think about that one. It never occurred to me that our industry was in jeopardy."

The next day Lola sent a text message to Quinn, a new product development specialist, that asked, "How have you justified your pay this month?" Quinn sent a message back, "I've been working forty-five hours a week. Isn't that enough?"

The following day, Lola dropped by the cubicle of Brooklyn, the department administrative assistant, and asked her, "How can I improve my communication with you?" Brooklyn responded, "I thought that our communication was pretty good."

While having lunch with Geoff, the director of human resources, Lola asked, "Can you please explain to me how your group is increasing our revenue, improving our products or saving us money?" Geoff replied, "With all due respect Lola, you need more information about what HR does for an organization."

The following week during a staff meeting, Lola asked her team, "What should I be doing to help make our group the best frozen-food division in the industry?" Margot, the director of supply chain management, responded: "I'm going to need time to think about this one."

Questions

• How effective does Lola appear to be in her approach of asking tough questions as a leadership technique?
• What suggestion can you offer Lola to make her questioning technique more effective?
• Which style of leadership does Lola appear to be demonstrating when she asks her team, "What should I be doing to help make our division the best pet-food division in the industry?"

Please answer each question in a separate paragraph with explanation.