Using questions to engage early participation from people.
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Good questions are the most powerful tools available to us
The questions we use to support Assembly are intended to help people move beyond the rush they were involved with prior to the meeting.
To park the baggage and concerns of their activity to date, and to engage fully with the purposes of this meeting. To bring the best version of themselves to bear.
Simple Questions
- What version of yourself will be most helpful in making progress?
- What is at the top of your mind right now?
- Is there anything on your mind that you need to clear?
- What has been the highlight of your day so far?
- What gifts do you have that could be helpful to this group?
- What can you choose to be grateful for at this moment?
Some of these questions have been drawn from Opening Questions by Elise Keith. Click on the link to see a more comprehensive list from her.
Structured/Sequenced Questions
- Is there anything taking up your thinking that you need to leave outside? What do you need to do to leave it outside? Can you do that now?
- Are you sitting comfortably? Can you feel the connection between your feet and the floor? Can you slowly bring your awareness up through your body to your mind? As you clear your mind, are you able to broaden your awareness to include the other people in the room? Are you able to sense that?
- You can ask questions which people can share in pairs or small groups, simply to get people talking. You can use the simple questions for this, or icebreaker questions such as “What kitchen item best describes your day so far?”
Advanced Questions
As described in ‘Bringing the best version of yourself‘ having an assembly of people who are ready to be open to what the meeting and their colleagues have to offer is usually far more productive that where people are closed. The following questions may help this:
- Please sit quietly for a moment. Centre yourself, and look inside your mind.
- Are you feeling curious about what is going to take place, or are you feeling judgmental of it? Can you ask yourself some questions to increase your sense of curiosity about what might emerge?
- Please shift your awareness down to your heart.
- Are you feeling compassion for those around you, or is these a sense of cynicism toward them and their contributions? Can you place more compassion through endeavouring to see more of their humanity?
- Please shift your awareness down to your hands?
- Are you feeling a sense of courage to engage them in something new and ambitious, or are you seeking a safer solution away from things you might fear? Can you shift this balance through seeking more adventure in what we are doing?
General
Many of the above questions can be asked simply of individuals or groups, but it is often helpful to consider more sophisticated or progressive groupings to better support engagement with the question and refinement of the answers. Options to do this can be found in Grouping options within meeting sessions
Track your progress to ensure the efficacy of this strategy.