Better Questions, Better Connections, Better Community
If we were to ask most any person what they desire, I’m quite certain that community and connection would be among the most-answered responses. (That and winning the lottery.) But how do we get to genuine connection? One answer? Better questions.
As a coach, powerful questions are a foundational skill, one that I use every day, in service of every relationship. If we consider what questions are, the flippant, easy answer is that questions are how we seek information, seek knowledge. Yes, questions are those things, but in truth, they are so much more than that. A good question shows that someone is paying attention, they’re thinking about you, that they’re honoring your space in their circle. A good question shows care, interest, our dedication to maintaining that relationship. Good questions are the care and feeding of human connection.
This interactive talk (meaning that yes, you're going to practice what we talk about in this session) will help you to understand what a good question is, how they connect us to others, and how to use them. You'll leave knowing how to be a better servant-leader in your own relationships.
The ability to ask questions and to listen for the response is to be in service of a relationship. I created this talk to share this skill, to help you create the kind of community and connections that you desire in life.
Outline/Structure of the Workshop
- Intro
- Housekeeping (agenda)
- Learning Outcomes
- Powerful Questions: What Are They
- How Questions Connect Us as Humans
- Five Questions for Any Coaching Conversation
- Practice: (12 minutes)--Participants go into breakout rooms as pairs. For five minutes, participant A asks participant B powerful questions. For one minute, participant B provides feedback to participant A. Then, they switch roles.
- Takeaways
- Size matters!
- Listen, really listen to what the other person says.
- Georgia O'Keeffe: "“To see takes time, like to have a friend takes time.”
- Q&A
Learning Outcome
- Understand what powerful questions are and their impact on human connection.
- Learn five powerful questions to add to any conversation.
- Experience asking and being asked powerful questions.
Target Audience
Coaches. Scrum masters. Agile leaders. Agile-curious. Managers. Executives. People!
Prerequisites for Attendees
It would be helpful if participants knew what powerful questions are, but that is not mandatory.
Links
Erin writes regularly regarding all things coaching on her site, Ad Meliora Coaching. One of her more popular posts and the impetus for this talk is Five Powerful Questions for Every Coaching Conversation. If there is a topic that you'd like to see her cover on her blog, email her at erin@admelioracoaching.com and suggest it! (Coming up with blog-post ideas isn't nearly as much fun as you think.)
You may have seen Erin speak at Keep Austin Agile, at AgileDC, or at various agile groups around the country. She was supposed to be in Lagos, Nigeria, earlier this summer, talking about powerful questions and delivering her Coaching Day workshop, but the pandemic had other plans. So, she spent some quality time in Mural, made the workshop virtual, and delivered the workshop to Nigeria in September.
Erin is the principal coach for her own boutique coaching and consulting practice, Ad Meliora Coaching. She is also one of the co-founders of Agile Coaching Circles, a global initiative to give agile coaches a safe, virtual space to practice their coaching and mentoring skills. She lives with her husband, Joel, in Austin, Texas. When she isn't practicing asking better questions, she can generally be found on one of Austin's many trails, hiking her horrible dogs.
schedule Submitted 10 months ago
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