The Power of Good Questions July Takeaway

Dear Members and Guests,

PWA was delighted to feature Rebeccah Bennett from Emerging Wisdom, LLC at the July 2013 Women of Distinction Speaker Series. Her presentation titled, “Strategic Inquiry – Game Changing Questions that Advance Forward Movement” provided information on powerful inquiry. If you were unable to attend, listed below are take-a-ways from Rebeccah’s presentation.

The Power of Good Questions

• All human discoveries come from curiosity. We ask questions.
• Questions about causes help us think of dynamics
• Good questions:
  • Focus attention
  • Cultivate insight
  • Generate value
  • Help us to know what we don’t know
  • Questions can lead to more questions and a refinement of thinking
  • Powerful Questions:
    • Encourage dialogue and discovery
    • Offer a reality check
    • Help others understand
    • Sharpen analysis and synthesis skills
    • Questions can form a pathway into long-term memory and gives meaning
    • Adaption of questions sues old stuff in a creative way
    • Innovation is thinking creatively of what we have
    • Good questions designs:
      • Interrogatives:  Who, What, Why and How
      • Scope of Interest:  Where is the focus
      • Assumptions:  Create blind spots and are filters
      • Three Heavies:
        • Why – Cause
        • How – Process
        • What – Dimensions or Aspects
        • Harness the power of contribution to create forward movement
        • Teams tend to use more than three hats and can have more impact if all hats are used
        • Ask the black hat questions later on as they focus on problems and difficulties
        • Use open ended questions