effective leadership through humble inquiry...presented by eric kaufman session take-away messages...
TRANSCRIPT
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Effective Leadership Through Humble Inquiry
Presented by Eric Kaufman
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Session Take-Away Messages1. Leadership is not as much about
knowing the right answers as it is knowing the right questions.
2. Humble Inquiry is the fine art of drawing someone out and building a relationship based on curiosity and interest in the other person.
3. Powerful questions create powerful thinking — the best questions rattle around for months, provoking thought.
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LEADERSHIP & QUESTIONS
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Turn the Ship Around!“Like so many times, my not knowing the
answer ahead of time helped me.”– L. David Marquet
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Wisdom of Crowds
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKH5ITx6AAk
www.ext.vt.eduwww.simonwestern.com To cite work: Western S. (2008) Leadership a Critical Text, Sage London
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Shift from Individual Leaders“We mistakenly
recognize power at the center as strength and power at the margins
as a structural weakness when
neither is the case”(Western, 2010, p. 44).
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Overcoming Our Fears“If we are able to lay aside our fears, even momentarily, to consider the collective alternative, we might not only see its value but also its appropriateness for 21st-century organization…. People have to be willing to find their voice and contribute it to the growth of the community.”- Raelin (2017) “What are you afraid of: Collective leadership and its learning implications.”
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HUMBLE INQUIRY
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Humble Inquiry
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Ask, Listen, Focus
1. Ask respectful questions
2. Listen attentively3. Focus on the people
How you ask is critical!
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Benefits of Vulnerability
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Relationship to Leadership
“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more
and become more, you are a leader.”
- John Quincy Adams
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When have you pondered a question that made you think or
change your perspective?
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POWERFUL QUESTIONS
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Asking the Right Questions
When have you asked a question but ended
wishing you had asked it differently?
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Benefits of a Questioning Culture• Powerful questions create powerful
thinking — the best questions rattle around for months provoking
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Facilitating Question Bursts
1. Set the stage.
2. Brainstorm the questions.
3. Identify a quest—and commit to it.
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Principles for Better Questions• Traditional, divergent-
thinking techniques can help unlock new questions and, ultimately, new territory.
• Questions are most productive when they are open versus closed, short versus long, and simple versus complex.
• Descriptive questions best precede speculative ones.
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Principles for Better Questions• Shifting from simple
questions to more complex ones produces better breakthrough thinking.
• Questions are annoying and distracting when they don’t spring from a deeply held conviction about what the group wants to achieve.
• Questions are toxic when they are posed aggressively.
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Implications for You and Others?
