The power of creative questioning 1.1 2007/05/02 04:35:46.790 GMT-5 2007/05/02 04:46:08.838 GMT-5 Dennis Rivers dennisrivers@newconversations.net Dennis Rivers dennisrivers@newconversations.net communication conversations interpersonal questioning questions skills CHALLENGE FIVE is to ask questions in a way that opens up now possibilities of though, feeling and action. In order to coordinate our life and work with the lives and work of other people, we all need to know more of what other people are feeling and thinking, wanting and planning. But our usual “yes/no” questions actually tend to shut people up rather than opening them up. You can encourage your conversation partners to share more of their thoughts and feelings by asking “open-ended” rather than “yes/no” questions. Open-ended questions allow for a wide range of responses. For example, asking “How did you like that food/movie/speech/doctor, etc.?” will evoke a more detailed response than “Did you like it?” (which could be answered with a simple “yes” or “no”). In the second half of this module we explore traditions of creative question asking from fields as different as psychotherapy and architecture.

Click the link below for PDF version of Challenge Five chapter of Seven Challenges Workbook. http://www.newconversations.net/pdf/seven_challenges_chapter5.pdf