Reflective Questioning A Radical Approach for Inspiring Reflective Leadership

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Reflective Questioning A Radical Approach for
Inspiring Reflective Leadership
Intensive Coach Training Day Three

• National Conference for Educational Leaders
• Inspiring Reflective Leadership
• Facilitated by Paulette Rao, MCC
• July 2008

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Introduction

• Paulette Rao, MCC
• Executive Coach, Lead Trainer
• Results Coaching Systems

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Peer Coaching Round 1

• In pairs, coach your client for 3 minutes on
  their dilemma
• Person with darkest hair goes first
• Then, swap
• Please maintain confidentiality

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Sample Dilemmas

• Id like to.
• Raise student performance scores
• Improve schools report card
• Institute change with teaching staff
• Improve teacher turnover
• Have parents trust me to work with their child in
  way I think best
• Bring a new software program into my school
• . but I dont know where to begin!

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Debrief

• Clients
• What did you notice about the process?
• Coaches
• What went well?
• What was challenging?

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Default Approach vs. Quiet Leaders

• Our default approach
• Think for others
• Focus on problems (details/past)
• Quiet Leaders
• Help others think
• Focus on solutions (vision/future)
• Definition of Coaching
• Facilitating positive change by improving thinking

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Intent vs. Impact
B
A
Having a positive impact
Desire to positively influence someone
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Recent insights about the brain
More may have been learned about the brain and
the mind in the 1990s, than during the entire
previous history of psychology and
neuroscience. Antonio R. Damasio, 2005
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Insights into brain functioning

• We think in maps
• Up close brains are all different
• The brain hardwires everything useful
• Perception is driven by hardwiring
• Changing old wiring is difficult
• Creating new wiring is easy

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1. We think in maps
Every thought we have is a map connecting many
points across the brain. We create millions of
new maps every second, some are short term, some
become a part of us.
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1. We think in maps
Everything goes along well until some of our maps
cant be reconciled. A mental impasse has been
reached, which we keep going over until it is
resolved.
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2. Up close, our brains are all very different
There are more possible ways to connect the
brains neurons than there are atoms in the
universe. John Ratey, A Users Guide to the
Brain (2003)
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Heading goes here
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3. The brain hardwires everything it can
The brain is constantly trying to automate
processes, thereby dispelling them from
consciousness in this way, its work will be
completed faster, more effectively and at a lower
metabolic level. Consciousness, on the other
hand, is slow, subject to error and expensive.
Gerhard Roth, The Quest to Find
Consciousness, (2004)
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3. The brain hardwires everything it can
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4. Perception is driven by hardwiring
Every brain sees the world differently, based on
its hardwiring. We can override this
hardwiring and consciously influence our
perceptions.
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4. Perception is driven by hardwiring
What we expect is what we perceive and
experience even if its not really there!
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5. Changing old wiring is very difficult
Its an attention economy in the brain. The more
focus we give any circuit, the more we deepen
that circuit in the brain. You cant change or
get rid of wiring by looking for why it exists.
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6. Creating new wiring is easy
We are constantly creating new maps. We
reconcile dilemmas by creating new maps. This
occurs in a moment of insight.
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6. Creating new wiring is easy
New maps can become hardwiring with enough
attention and positive feedback. These can come
from ourselves or others.
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Im having trouble with this project

Ask
Self directed, solutions focused coaching
Counseling
Solution
Problem
Management, Consulting
Teaching
Tell
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Im having trouble with this project

Ask
How important is this? Whats your deadline? How
can I best help here?
Whats the trouble? Why is it a problem?
Solution
Problem
Heres your problem
Heres how to fix the project
Tell
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Questioning
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Coaches ask questions to

• Create awareness of something
• Generate responsibility
• Encourage enquiry and discovery
• Gain clarity
• Challenge assumptions
• Generate commitment
• Change perspective
• Move the client into action

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Questioning

• Dilemma
• Id really like to institute change with my
  teaching staff but I dont know where to start.
• What questions would you ask this person?

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Questioning

• What is an alternative way of questioning?

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Questioning

• Id really like to institute change with my
  teaching staff (detail)
• but
• I dont know where to start. (problem)

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Typical questions ask about

• Detail
• Problem
• Making assumptions
• Telling people what to do
• Trying to think for them
• Deciding how they should think
• Rushing into action too soon
• Asking why

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Thinking Questions

• Questions that help the client notice the
  patterns of their thinking.
• Frequency
• Duration
• Length
• Strength
• Relevance
• Relation
• Importance
• How often and more

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Focus on their thinking
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Thinking questions examples
How could I best help you here? How long have
you been thinking about this? How often do you
think about this? How important is this issue to
you? How do you feel about what youve done? Do
you know what to do next?
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Intent vs. Impact
B
A
Having a positive impact
Desire to positively influence someone
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• The best questions are those which generate
  awareness and responsibility.John Whitmore,
  Coaching for Performance

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The four faces of insight

2. Reflection
1. Awareness
4. Motivation
3. Insight
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The Four Faces of Insight
1. Awareness of a dilemma
We focus on conflicting maps that we have not
been able to reconcile.
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The Four Faces of Insight
2. Reflection
By EEG Alpha band waves arise, signifying
external stimuli being shut out of the senses to
focus on internal processes.
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The Four Faces of Insight
3. Illumination
By EEG Sudden burst of gamma band activity,
associated with complex cognitive processing,
represents a change in internal circuitry.
Adrenaline-like substances are
released. Dopamine-like substances are released
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The Four Faces of Insight
4. Motivation

• Insight brings short-term urgency for action
• Action increases attention density
• Attention density deepens new connections

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Choose Your Focus
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Peer Coaching Round 2

• In the same pairs as before, and in the same
  roles as coach and client, coach for 3 minutes
  using your new tools
• Thinking Questions
• Tell, Ask, Problem, Solution (TAPS)
• Choose Your Focus
• Four Faces of Insight

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Debrief

• What did you notice about Round 2 that was
  different than Round 1?
• What insights have you had?
• What do you want to do differently on Monday?

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Questions and Answers