Why do we begin to fear asking questions?

If you fear not having answers to the questions you might ask yourself, remember that one of the hallmarks of innovative problem solvers is that they are willing to raise questions without having any idea of what the answer might be. (Berger, 186 pag.)

How might we develop as questioners comfortable with uncertainty?

When you change one small thing and it works, it can help breed the confidence to change other things— including bigger ones. (Berger, 197 pag.)

If you don’t know, you don’t know.  How often do we hear questions that show uncertainty? I don’t even know where to begin.  I have no idea what question to ask. What if we offer actionable feedback, in the form of positive questions, to highlight what is known to get to what is not known? How might we bolster confidence and bravery to ask the next uncertain-of-the-answer question?

The main premise of appreciative inquiry is that positive questions, focusing on strengths and assets, tend to yield more effective results than negative questions focusing on problems or deficits. Strength-based questioning focuses on what is working in our lives— so that we can build upon that and get more out of it. (Berger, 190 pag.)

Summer Reading using VTR: Sentence-Phrase-Word:
A More Beautiful Question
Chapter 5: Questioning for Life

Usually, my choice of Sentence-Phrase-Word combinations connect to form an idea for me.  In this case, experiment, should be my choice for “the word” from this chapter, particularly pages 198-199.

However, the word I keep coming back to is gratitude.

Happiness researchers such as Tal Ben-Shahar, author of Happier and Being Happy and a professor at Harvard University, believe it’s important to “cultivate the habit of gratitude.” Simply by asking, at the end of each day, What am I grateful for? and writing down the answers in a “gratitude journal,” people tend to be “happier, more optimistic, more successful, more likely to achieve their goals,” according to Ben-Shahar. (Berger, 190 pag.)

What if this is an essential to learn? How might we focus on taking actions to help ourselves and others be happier, more optimistic, more successful than we were yesterday?

Berger, Warren (2014-03-04). A More Beautiful Question: The Power of Inquiry to Spark Breakthrough Ideas . BLOOMSBURY PUBLISHING. Kindle Edition.

What process do we have in place to help learners think and act in the face of  uncertainty to keep taking next steps? What is the tone of the atmosphere in our learning spaces?

Good questioners tend to be aware of, and quite comfortable with, their own ignorance (Berger, 16 pag.)

How are we encouraging questions about what is not known? How often do we hear learners say “I know this is a dumb question but, …” and how do we respond?

One of the most important things questioning does is to enable people to think and act in the face of uncertainty. As Steve Quatrano of the Right Question Institute puts it, forming questions helps us “to organize our thinking around what we don’t know.”  (Berger, 19 pag.)

Summer Reading using VTR: Sentence-Phrase-Word:
A More Beautiful Question
Chapter 1: The Power of Inquiry

MIT’s Joi Ito says that as we try to come to terms with a new reality that requires us to be lifelong learners (instead of just early-life learners), we must try to maintain or rekindle the curiosity, sense of wonder, inclination to try new things, and ability to adapt and absorb that served us so well in childhood. We must become, in a word, neotenous (neoteny being a biological term that describes the retention of childlike attributes in adulthood). (Berger, 24 pag.)

How might we become more neotenous to notice and note without labels? What if we create conditions where what we don’t know is safe to discuss?

To do so, we must rediscover the tool that kids use so well in those early years: the question. Ito puts it quite simply: “You don’t learn unless you question.” (Berger, 24 pag.)

Again…

What process do we have in place to help learners think and act in the face of  uncertainty to keep taking next steps? What is the tone of the atmosphere in our learning spaces?

Berger, Warren (2014-03-04). A More Beautiful Question: The Power of Inquiry to Spark Breakthrough Ideas . BLOOMSBURY PUBLISHING. Kindle Edition.

A beautiful question is an ambitious yet actionable question that can begin to shift the way we perceive or think about something— and that might serve as a catalyst to bring about change. (Berger, 8 pag.)

I was running when my audiobook read the following to me.

To encourage or even allow questioning is to cede power— not something that is done lightly in hierarchical companies or in government organizations, or even in classrooms, where a teacher must be willing to give up control to allow for more questioning. (Berger, 6 pag.)

Because I was running, I heard

To encourage or even allow questioning is to seed power …

Since questioning is like breathing, how might we grow – plant seeds and nurture – power and control to rekindle the questioning spark and allow for more questioning?

Summer Reading using VTR: Sentence-Phrase-Word:
A More Beautiful Question
Introduction: Why Question?

With so much evidence in its favor and with everyone from Einstein to Jobs in its corner, why, then, is questioning underappreciated in business, undertaught in schools, and underutilized in our everyday lives? (Berger, 3 pag.)

Berger, Warren (2014-03-04). A More Beautiful Question: The Power of Inquiry to Spark Breakthrough Ideas . BLOOMSBURY PUBLISHING. Kindle Edition.