Sometimes, my own words come back to surprise me. (I have a friend who says that sometimes she amazes herself!)
Deep down, I am an educator. Deep down, I am a learner. One of my favorite ways to describe learning process is that it is recursive. Very seldom do any of us learn something the first time we are exposed to it. And, even if we do learn the concept, there is much capacity for breadth and depth of the learning. Basically, circling back around to read, study, and practice a concept or procedure helps us learn, helps us see the concept more deeply, helps us understand more clearly.
This recursive concept became clear to me all over again recently in my own learning. I have done leadership coaching formally and informally for many years — that is part of how I teach and part of how I lead. Asking questions, leading people to think for themselves is my favorite technique. I love questions such as "What do you want out of this? What are the possible actions? What will happen if you take each action?”
Lately, I have kept a list of The Coaching Habit Questions (Michael Bungay Stanier) in front of me as I facilitate workshops and coaching sessions, and I have realized that there are two questions that I need to use more often.
The Focus Question: What is the real challenge for you?
The Strategic Question: If you are saying yes to this . . . what are you saying no to?
Each time I ask these questions, invariably the participant says, “That is a good question,” and then pauses, looks off into space, and takes time to wrestle with the answer. Inside, I smile. I have learned to use these questions more strategically. The participant is really considering, thinking, growing. Mission accomplished.