Tag Archives: posing questions

6 Steps to Build Engagement & Development into your Meetings: STRUCTURED GROUP REFLECTION

Posted on January 27, 2015 | Leave a comment

Many meetings are geared towards getting quick answers. At best, these meeting create singular solutions. With structured group reflection there is an opportunity to use meetings for more than just solving problems, sharing information, and reporting progress.

If you lead meetings using structured group reflection, then you will deepen thinking, encourage learning, and uncover new perspectives.

In the following infographic you can see that Structured Group Reflection consists of: sharing an idea, case, or problem; clarifying details; appreciating actions; reflecting; and insightful discussion. In addition to the primary benefits of using this process, you will acquire skills to use in other situations. Benefits include:

  • clarifying & appreciation –  cultivates empathy
  • reflective questions – encourages deeper thinking, new perspectives
  • alternative thinking –  fosters innovation
  • co-creating solutions – promotes engagement

 

GroupStructuredReflectionInfographic

Dedicate time to try this process and use it for some or part of your regular meetings. Although the steps may seem unconventional and awkward, they are easy to learn. Add structured group reflection to your meetings and declare an end to boring single-solution meetings!

Questions to Deepen Thinking

How are your staff meetings currently working? What do you walk away with?
Can you change your meeting structure to something different?
If you successfully use structured reflection in your meetings, what might that get you?

Credits

The SoL Global Coaching Community, (2012). Structured Case Review Process. Retrieved from Systems Perspectives LLC.com: https://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.solonline.org/resource/resmgr/SoL_Global_Coaching_Community/Structured_Case_Review_Proce.pdf
Koffman, F. (n.d.). Advocacy and inquiry: Combining the basic steps of the dance of communication. Retrieved from Conscious Business Blog: http://www.axialent.com/uploads/paper/archivo/Advocacy_and_Inquiry_by_Fred_Kofman.pdf

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Mutual Inquiry: 8 Steps to Deepen & Shift Thinking

Posted on May 20, 2014 | 4 comments

Posing questions to deepen thinking is a valuable leadership practice. It is one of the most powerful ways to help others shift their thinking and see new perspectives. It is an art and skill that can be mastered with practice.

If you pose reflective questions and encourage the other person to pause and think before responding, then you will both begin to shift your thinking and uncover new perspectives.

Questions to deepen thinking are not meant to be “asked” and “answered.” They are designed to be “posed” and “responded to.” The dynamic of posing a question that is 1) not leading, diagnostic, or challenging and 2) not required to be answered; leads to deeper thinking, automatically.

Questions to deepen thinking are not meant to be “asked” and “answered.” They are designed to be “posed" and “responded to." The dynamic of posing a question that is 1) not leading, diagnostic, or challenging and 2) not required to be answered; leads to deeper thinking, automatically.
Pose Rather than Ask

“Asking”a question implies that you are requesting information or an answer. “Posing” a question, on the other hand, introduces a thought for consideration.  Derived from the Latin for pause, posing a question sets the tone for introspection and allows the other person to reflect.

Respond Instead of Answer

Think of a response as “thinking out loud.”  A response doesn’t require an answer or a solution. It is simply uttering something in reply as a means to continue the thought process and the conversational exchange.

Questions to Deepen Thinking

  • Have you ever intentionally asked a question that you did not want an answer to?
  • Have you ever resisted the urge to answer a question to allow time for reflecting?
  • When instructed to hold an answer for a period of time, how many times does your response change in your head?

Credits

Block, P. (2008). Community: The structure of belonging. San Francisco: Berrett-KoehlerPublishers, Inc.
Koffman, F. (n.d.). Advocacy and inquiry: Combining the basic steps of the dance of communication. Retrieved from Conscious Business Blog: http://www.axialent.com/uploads/paper/archivo/Advocacy_and_Inquiry_by_Fred_Kofman.pdf

 

Related Posts

Thinking Partners: A Concept and a Compact
The DOs and DON’Ts of Curious Listening: Tell Me More

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