We have learned through extensive experience in designing conversations, that questions are the key.
Author Neil Postman writes:
'All the answers we ever get are responses to questions'.
Our questions are like doors we open.
What are the doors you would like to open? What do you want your questions to accomplish?
How do you think about questions?
Questioner's mindset
A great place to start designing engaging questions is to know what you want your questions to accomplish and your own mindset as a question asker.
What do you want your questions to accomplish? What are your highest aspirations?
What is your mindset as a question asker? What internal questions would be in alignment with your aspirations?
Cultivate a beginner's mind. Be willing not to know. When you are willing to explore fresh new perspectives, you will design better questions.
Read Peter B Vaill's book ' Learning as a way of being, Strategies for Survival in a World of Permanent White Water, 1996 as you want to learn more about beginner's mind and creative learning.
Peter B Vaill writes about the qualities of effective white water leaders: 'One quality is the ability to stay with a clear mission and purpose ... and to articulate this clarity continually to all those involved.'
The second quality is 'inclusiveness - the ability to keep organization members in touch with each other, to help people feel needed and significant, to combat people's feeligs of being cut off and isolated and the resentment that white water often causes.'
Vaill encourages 'communicating with feeling the leader's deep conviction of the importance of staying together and of supporting each other.'
We have learned that conversation is a great way to do just that.
Click below to read more about the importance of a mindset.
What do you want your questions to accomplish? What are your highest aspirations?
What is your mindset as a question asker? What internal questions would be in alignment with your aspirations?
Cultivate a beginner's mind. Be willing not to know. When you are willing to explore fresh new perspectives, you will design better questions.
Read Peter B Vaill's book ' Learning as a way of being, Strategies for Survival in a World of Permanent White Water, 1996 as you want to learn more about beginner's mind and creative learning.
Peter B Vaill writes about the qualities of effective white water leaders: 'One quality is the ability to stay with a clear mission and purpose ... and to articulate this clarity continually to all those involved.'
The second quality is 'inclusiveness - the ability to keep organization members in touch with each other, to help people feel needed and significant, to combat people's feeligs of being cut off and isolated and the resentment that white water often causes.'
Vaill encourages 'communicating with feeling the leader's deep conviction of the importance of staying together and of supporting each other.'
We have learned that conversation is a great way to do just that.
Click below to read more about the importance of a mindset.
Our questions are like doors we open.
What are the doors you'd want to open?
We can help you ask the question.
What are the doors you'd want to open?
We can help you ask the question.
About Engagement
Engagement is about valuing and respecting the hearts and minds of people - the whole human being.
Engagement happens in good conversations that are open to input and provide access to information.
Engagement is a way of speaking that engages others and a way of listening that engages oneself.
Good conversations happen as we invite people to join as peers and as active contributors, as we are curious to learn about each others' thinking and passions.
Engagement does not take place when something is complete, when there is no space for novel thinking and creativity.
To engage people's heads, hearts and hands you need to design great questions to be explored together.
William James writes:
'Human beings, by changing the inner attitude of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives.'
Engagement happens in good conversations that are open to input and provide access to information.
Engagement is a way of speaking that engages others and a way of listening that engages oneself.
Good conversations happen as we invite people to join as peers and as active contributors, as we are curious to learn about each others' thinking and passions.
Engagement does not take place when something is complete, when there is no space for novel thinking and creativity.
To engage people's heads, hearts and hands you need to design great questions to be explored together.
William James writes:
'Human beings, by changing the inner attitude of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives.'
What do you want more?
What do you want more of? What do you want your questions to accomplish?
We build our world through the questions we ask. They impact what we see, and experience, what knowledge we get, and how we act.
The future begins in our thoughts and is represented in our questions. When we change our questions, we change our talk, and we change our world.
What would happen if you engaged your people to think and talk about what you want more of.
Good conversation is generative. By thinking and talking together we can bring to life something valuable that didn't exist before; something that we couldn't think just by ourselves.
We build our world through the questions we ask. They impact what we see, and experience, what knowledge we get, and how we act.
The future begins in our thoughts and is represented in our questions. When we change our questions, we change our talk, and we change our world.
What would happen if you engaged your people to think and talk about what you want more of.
Good conversation is generative. By thinking and talking together we can bring to life something valuable that didn't exist before; something that we couldn't think just by ourselves.