What Question is Calling You Today?
– #14 How Do I Make Commitments to Myself?
- Committing to ourselves is simple in theory but complex in practice.
- How do we bridge the gap between intention and action, ensuring our commitments result in the change we say we want?
– #17 Why Are We Having This Meeting?
- Meetings are a major organisational challenge, primarily because most meetings are unproductive, and ultimately not only about what is on the agenda.
- How are your meetings different?
– #20 What Was My Most Memorable Moment Today?
- Daniel Kahneman, Nobel prize winner, speaks of experiencing selves and remembering selves.
- The idea is that what we experience live and what we remember are two very separate forms of experience.
- Each day you live a full day and yet, over time, you only remember a relatively small number of moments. Which ones?
– #54 What Conversations Do I Need to Nurture?
- Some conversations blossom slowly, requiring years of patient nurturing.
- Like a gardener tending to plants, we must carefully cultivate these dialogues, not rushing to decisions but allowing the conversation itself to mature and unfold.
- This is about engaging in thoughtful exploration and preparation, and recognizing the long-term conversations that might bear fruit in years to come.
- What are you planting for the future?
– #115 How Do I Feel I Am Disappointing Others?
- From an early age it is only natural to want to please our parents and guardians.
- This can carry into adulthood as we continually seek some form of external approval.
- In doing so, we risk placing our joy and happiness outside ourselves.
- How do you feel you may have failed to live up to other people’s expectations?
- Does it matter?
– #116 What Expectations Do I Create for Conversations?
- This is a recurring theme in my client work.
- A client might say “I have a difficult conversation I need to have – let’s work through it.”
- The first question is “What makes a conversation difficult?”
- Our answer to this question holds secrets to much of our psychology.
– #151 What Conversations Am I Avoiding?
- We sometimes paint conversations as ‘tough’, ‘uncomfortable’ and even ‘hard’.
- And yet, how we think about conversations affects how willing we are to engage in them.
- How might we think about such conversations in ways that release the tension?
– #176 How Do I Measure Diversity of Thought?
- Diversity brings different perspectives.
- Historically, diversity was something you could assess by looking around the table.
- But what about diversity of thought?
- How do you measure that?
– #200 What Concerns Might Stakeholders Have?
- Decisions often seem straightforward from our personal perspective.
- But have you considered what your stakeholders might think?
- Try visualizing everyone at the table, voicing their views.
- What are they hearing?
- What might they want to know?
- What might their concerns be?
- Exploring these and other questions can significantly enhance your decision-making process.
– #208 What Would Make This Conversation Valuable?
- We don’t always set the proper intentions for conversations or communicate properly to others our purpose behind a particular conversation.
– #209 Who Isn’t in the Room?
- Key question in decision-making:
- Who isn’t in the room who may need to be involved?
- What is their relationship with this process?
– #217 How Am I Contributing to the Conversation?
- Conversations can often resemble a series of loosely connected monologues rather than a genuine dialogue between peers.
- Frequently, I find myself in discussions where it isn’t clear what is going on, prompting me to ask:
- What are we truly discussing?
- And yet, I also need to consider my own role:
- Why am I having this conversation?
- What assumptions am I making?
- What is this really about?
– #229 How Do I Tend to Relationships Over Time?
- Transactions can be instant. Relationships require time.
- This is an important distinction.
- If we’re honest, most connecting and networking is primarily transactional in nature whilst our relationships limp along, lost in the mist of our busyness.
- And yet, our relationships define who we are.
- I like to talk about the 3 Cs of relationships: Cultivate, Cherish and Compost.
- What relationship might you cherish today?
– #256 How Do I Greet Others?
- I increasingly find that greetings lack connection.
- The words are saying one thing and the body language something different.
- It is as if we aren’t fully present – simply rushing by to get to our next meeting or back to something more important.
- What might it be like to truly slow down and connect?
- To get a sense that we are not alone in this world?
- To satisfy that deep craving for connection?
- To be seen and heard? And to see and to hear?
– #278 What Is Taboo?
- Do you feel free to say whatever you want whenever you want? To whomever you want?
- We not only self-censure individually but also as societies.
- There are certain topics that can’t be discussed or at least not by everyone.
- It is the reverse of “What am I expected to say?“
- So, what are you allowed to say?
- What are you expected to say?
– #285 What Responsibility Do I Have for Being Heard?
- When communicating we often assume that our role is simply to speak and it is up to the others to listen, hear and understand.
- And yet, does our responsibility stop there?
- Is communicating speaking or being understood?
- In other words, if we aren’t being understood, are we communicating?
- What then might we do differently to get our message across?
