Curated Questions: Conversations Celebrating the Power of Questions! Cultivating Transformational Growth Through Questions | Dave Reynolds #29
"We don't want it to be transactional. We want it to be transformational." - Dave Reynolds
Dave Reynolds is a serial entrepreneur and the founder and CEO of the Rumin8 Group in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Rumin8 is dedicated to helping entrepreneurs scale small and medium-sized organizations through executive coaching, performance management tools, organizational design, and learning & development frameworks. With a background in sales leadership, performance management, and succession planning, Dave is passionate about growth acceleration and how asking the right questions yields the best answers.
This passion has now been brought to the page with the release of Radicle Growth: Transform into an Unstoppable Leader Through Mastering the Art of Questions. Dave introduces a leadership approach emphasizing purposeful questions and meaningful conversation to create a supportive, accountable environment for the leader and their team.
When I learned about Dave's leadership approach and emphasis on questions, I knew I wanted to have this conversation and bring his insights to this community.
In this episode of 'Curated Questions,' host Ken Woodward talks with Dave Reynolds, CEO of the Rumin8 Group, about the impact of purposeful questioning in leadership and coaching. Reynolds shares his journey of learning the value of questions through his mentor Pablo, emphasizing transformation over transactional leadership. They discuss the importance of preparing for coaching conversations, asking in-depth questions, and fostering a culture of coaching and accountability in organizations.
Reynolds also introduces concepts from his new book "Radicle Growth," which focuses on using questions to drive personal and organizational growth. The episode highlights the need for leaders to go beyond surface-level interactions, commit to ongoing development, and engage more deeply with their teams through strategic questioning.
Episode Notes
[00:00] Introduction to Winning Behaviors
[00:33] Welcome to Curated Questions
[01:07] Meet Dave Reynolds
[02:20] Dave's Leadership Journey
[02:44] The Influence of Pablo
[03:53] Pablo's Leadership Style
[05:04] Learning from Pablo
[06:44] Dave's Growth and Development
[14:48] Rumin8 and Its Mission
[15:09] Strategic Use of Questions
[19:32] Discovery Phase in Consulting
[23:25] Implementing Coaching Culture
[27:36] The Art and Science of Questions
[28:16] Radicle Growth Explained
[38:06] Formal and Informal Coaching
[46:11] The Power of Specific Feedback
[47:38] Balancing Emotional and Logical Responses
[48:47] Choosing the Right Medium for Communication
[50:20] The Importance of One-to-One Coaching
[50:29] Fostering Genuine Curiosity in Coaching
[51:40] Going Beyond Surface-Level Questions
[55:28] Proactive Coaching Preparation
[57:23] Setting Expectations for Coachees
[57:50] Holding Coachees Accountable
[01:00:55] The Impact of Intensity in Coaching
[01:01:46] Underutilized Questions in Coaching
[01:05:03] The Value of Strengths and Opportunities
[01:09:00] The Fish Under the Table
[01:11:19] The Role of Questions in Leadership
[01:17:54] Final Thoughts and Encouragement
[01:21:42] Final Observations and Takeaways
Resources Mentioned
Radicle Growth: Transform Into an Unstoppable Leader Through Mastering The Art of Questions
Pablo Battaro
Damon Jones
Susan Scott of Fierce Conversations
Dave Reynolds on LinkedIn
Rumin8 Group on Instagram
Questions Asked
When did you first understand the power of questions?
How did Pablo give you the space for the deep self-reflection that you mentioned?
Do you have any idea where or how he developed that?
Do you know any of that backstory to how he fell in love with questions?
And what else?
What do you think Pablo saw in you that you didn't?
Did he have that kind of overt conversation with you, or was he just pulling you along through the process?
Who's taking your replacement?
Have you mentored them to perform at the same level you have?
What did that look like for you, going through that almost apprenticeship, if you will, in learning?
What are we focusing on?
What are we going after?
What was the most important thing we talked about?
What was the commitment we made from the call?
What should we be following up on?
How are you doing?
How's your family?
How are the kids?
How long were you with the organization and working in that relationship with Pablo?
How are you using questions strategically at Rumin8?
How do I wanna start putting this together?
Do they know what their next role is?
Is it clear?
Do they have a plan?
Is there a support?
How is it that you choose the questions that you choose?
What is your process for really understanding and getting to the most powerful questions that you can?
What does the current coaching culture look like?
How often are coaching conversations happening?
Is there a specific KPI that they're talking about?
How are people measuring success?
What didn't we know before we started that we know now?
Why is that data important to the objective that we want to accomplish?
How do we do something long-lasting and long-term?
Do you have a set of questions that you always go in with?
Do you find that that's the case?
How are the people connected to the process?
How is process connected to performance?
How is performance connected to the product?
How have you seen that change the organizations?
What do those changes look like?
How do we get to that same destination by asking a question versus telling them what they need to do?
Why do you think they put that sign up?
What do you think is happening right now with the dynamic with your team?
What part of what you're doing is feeding the ducks?
how can we stop feeding the ducks and getting them to feed on their own?
How do we reframe some of those questions so they're problem solving independently?
How do we get them to be more proactive on how they're approaching scenarios?
How do they, we get them to come with a solution versus ask for a solution?
Where does a seed grow?
Is it growing under the surface?
How do you help them work through the shift?
How has that conversation gone?
How does the conversation go in helping a organization go from whatever they've been doing historically to really this being a part of the part of the culture?
How many times are you coaching in between to influence the next time you come to the next formal?
Are you coaching on the fly?
Where do you think we could have improved with this section of the call?
What's another phrase or what's another area that we could have tapped into?
In between those two formal coachings, how often do they get off the line or off the road?
When are we correcting them to kind of stay back on there and stay focused?
How do we coach and develop informal coaching as a culture and as a system?
How do we improve the forum on whether we are doing the right cadence?
What would be the characteristics of that individual who chooses to walk the floor?
Is that an introvert or extrovert thing?
What are some of the files we're working on?
What ones you're most excited about?
How's the progress going?
Is there anything that you've taken away from this file that has changed your perspective on how we should approach the strategy?
Am I leaning into the uncomfortable conversations that I know I must have just on a daily basis?
How many times have I been uncomfortable this week?
What's the value of having the conversation?
What's the fear about having the conversation?
Why didn't you tell me last week?
Why couldn't we have had this conversation last week?
What's the most important conversation you should be having right now?
When did you realize that you should be having that conversation?
How's that conversation gone?
How is the person gonna react now that there's this much delay?
How's this gonna impact them?
How do we want to have the conversation?
How do we not make it reactive?
How do we get them to own the conversation, own the next steps?
Is that an emotional response or is that a logical response?
How does that sound?
Is this something we should pick up the phone and have that conversation?
How do we really curate the right conversations in the right environment with the right amount of timing in a logical sense?
How does a coach move past boilerplate questions and foster genuine curiosity in the coaching relationship?
How can you do that intentionally to really foster the curiosity such that those follow up questions are genuine?
How are sales?
Where are you at for the month?
What was the goal you set?
What are you trending for the month?
How do we get deeper into the actual conversation?
Did we get ownership over the conversation?
Do we increase the value in the relationship?
Do we have a plan?
What is often elusive in a coaching relationship?
What do you expect your coachee to come prepared for the session?
Is the coach willing to hold the coachee accountable for not doing that?
Where are you at in this relationship?
Where are they thinking right now about their growth strategy?
What questions do you think might be underutilized, whether it's this particular question or a group of questions?
How do you measure success?
Why is that important and how often are you measuring it?
And are you successful right now?
What's the one thing that you're not doing that if you were doing, you would see more growth and progress?
Why are we avoiding it?
What's the challenge?
How do we make it consistent?
What's the one behavior that you do on a regular basis that is the highest level of ROI?
What's the thing you do that gives you the most growth?
What does winning the day look like?
Where are you bringing the most value?
What is your secret sauce that you bring to the table?
How are we positioning ourselves to unleash that every day, such that the world has a better place as a result of us showing up with this talent and skill?
What kind of questions do you carry with you and revisit that are just a part of who you are?
What are your biggest strengths and why?
How did you get strong in that area?
How are you evaluating your strengths?
how are you utilizing your strength?
It's not a matter of how can I make my weakness, my strength?
How do I improve my strengths, and how can I optimize it more?
How many people have you shared that strength with that could learn from you in that particular category? '
What do you see as your biggest opportunity for growth right now?
If you were coaching yourself, what feedback would you give on your biggest gap or your biggest opportunity?
Why is that such an important opportunity for you?
How would that help you?
What would be the impact on your career?
Why is coaching important in your role?
Why is it important to you?
Who benefits from you being a better coach?
If you were to master that skill, how would that help you within this organization or beyond?
What's a conversation that you're not having that you should be having and with who?
How did the conversation go?
How quickly can you get the fish on the table and have that conversation?
How do you want to approach that relationship?
Do you have a system that holds you accountable for having that conversation?
How am I leading today?
How could I lead differently through Radicle Growth approach?
Do I have the right follow-up systems?
How can I ask a question?
How can I turn this into a question?
How can I lead with questions versus telling people what they need to do?
How do I influence my teams or the people I work with from being dependent to more independent?
What is your right now question or questions?
How do I add the most value to every interaction that I have this year, this day, this week, this month?
Where am I adding value?
How am I adding value?
How is value being perceived?
Do I feel like I added value to everybody they interacted with today?
Where could I have added more value?
Did they perceive that as valuable?
How do you mirror as a strategy?
How do you paraphrase?