Brand New Staff Room Reads for 26/27. Reviewed by Professionals for Professionals

In a world where workload and expectations seem to have increased a ludicrous amount, there is a risk that curiosity will be a victim of the pace expected for and by organisations, groups and individuals. In a busy world, how much easier and expedient is it to just tell individuals or groups what to do rather than ponder and inquire. Tell someone, share your knowledge, insight and wisdom and tick off another job. However, by failing to inquire, to humbly ask for more information, what might we be missing out and what are the risks and drawbacks of the telling approach?

This brings us on to the ‘Humble Inquiry’ by father and son Edgar and Peter Schein. In the 3^rd edition of Humble Inquiry, they share their insights into the benefits of asking, finding out more, developing relationships and trust to really help identify and address problems. I found the book an utterly absorbing read, it was fascinating from beginning to end.

Across the 8 chapters the book explores the current pressures of a world battling with deadlines, remote working, AI and egos. The book takes you on a journey to explore and reflect on your own behaviours and how you might need to adjust how you approach situations, so you ask rather than tell. Different chapters broach attitudes, culture, relationship mapping, levels of relationships and how we might develop more of a humble inquiry by opening ourselves up more.

Pass the MIC focuses in on how you can start to adopt a humble inquiry. Motivation is your genuine care and concern to learn more. Intervention is asking instead of telling because you are intervening in a process, so you really need to know more. Contribution is twofold, firstly through genuine listening you build trust and develop relationships and secondly through sharing any thoughts or contributions.

In being humble the book also explores what you share with others, and they share with you through interactions. It focuses on the Johari window and how this can illuminate how relationships develop as we share and expose more of our inner self and thoughts to others and vice-versa. Interesting fact about the Johari window is that the name comes from two people who developed the communication model, Joe Luft and Harry Ingham. Joe + Harry becomes Johari. All these years I have been pronouncing it like some mystical Eastern name and it’s effectively Joharry!!

Another model (cycle) is introduced to help reflect on developing genuine skills of inquiry, moving beyond questioning to more of a holistic approach. The ORJI cycle focuses in on the internal aspects of remaining humble and curious whilst we may be making assumptions and jumping to conclusions without all the necessary information. The cycle suggests we:

Observe – register what is going on and take into account different things taking place in the environment. Again, there is a battle going on within as we may distort what we see and hear based on prior experiences.

React – this is not just about reacting consciously in a situation but being aware of how we might present through our sub-conscious reactions. All our attempts at authentic, humble inquiry can be undone if we have a ‘tell’ which gives away what we might really be thinking. This is a really interesting point which suggests that over time we may need to practise humble inquiry so that we can better control what our body language and facial expressions might communicate to others.

Judge – consider the information and data that is being shared but remember to keep an open mind. Again, we need to be conscious about remaining curious to find out more rather than to begin judging which will impact on interactions and our own thoughts.

Intervene – this in part loops back to judgements, before we leap into action and intervene, we need to make sure our humble inquiry has led us to the real facts and data to reveal as much of the context/situation as possible. Given everything that you have collected through your humble inquiry, what would be the most appropriate intervention. In some cases, the intervention might be saying nothing but instead letting the other person go away and think some more so they, themselves have a better grasp of the situation before returning to you.

The thing about the ORJI cycle is that it really encourages us to slow down and ask, ‘What is really going on here?’. Given our observations, reactions, judgements and interventions, do we really have the whole picture or is something being held back from us for one reason or another?

Humble inquiry also queries the different levels or types of questions. The types of question which aren’t genuinely a question but may be more accusatory. For example, when things go wrong some leaders might ask “What went wrong?” “Whose fault is this?” This type of question might lead to individuals looking to apportion blame rather than exploring how things ended up as they did. This confrontive approach might get you excuses and the sharing of assumptions rather than the real facts and data behind the failings. The authors argue that humble inquiry is much more likely to yield an honest response when exploring situations where things didn’t turn out positively. This approach can also support morale and engagement because the focus is on the whole job rather than just the transactional completion of tasks and finding someone to blame.

This updated edition also considers the onset of remote working and online meetings. Pros and cons are explored in chapter 7, humble inquiry when remote. Potentially without the face-to-face direct eye contact there is the potential individuals might speak more freely. Conversely, by introducing protocols you can silence the voices that might normally dominate in a meeting room. You also avoid the politics of where people will sit in a room and how this might influence contributions. However, the authors question whether remote working and online meetings impact on genuine relationships developing. In keeping meetings to the point and concluding in the hour (or two) timeframe that has been allocated there is the risk they become efficient. In ensuring that things get ticked off there is the risk we miss out on building relationships because the focus is on transactional completion of tasks. We miss the opportunity for trust to develop because we have to be efficient with time because for some, they are moving from one online meeting to another.

Throughout, the authors explore the risk of adopting a telling approach. Firstly, we might not have all the facts and evidence, our telling is therefore not fit for the real context. Our answer will not fix or address the real underlying issues. Telling can also create a power play, whether this is intentional or not but when we tell there is one upmanship, ‘I’m telling you because I know more than you’ ‘I’m better than you’.

The book also explores the politics that might play out when an ‘expert’ gives advice without seeking more information beforehand. In the eagerness to add value and demonstrate knowledge, experts might respond to questions of ‘What would you do?’ and give a clear description of what they feel would resolve the issue without fully knowing the real facts behind the issue. This impulsive telling then risks ‘I tried that’, whether this is political or not, the individual who posed the question has the higher ground. They asked the expert and have already done what the expert suggested so what next? You as the expert are left in a public situation where your credentials and expertise appear slightly less than when you entered the room. Slowing down, adopting a humble inquiry might mean it takes you longer to get to your response and advice but it reduces the risk of you losing credibility. Interestingly, by taking a humble inquiry and asking more questions to clarify you might empower the other person to come to their own conclusion. This is surely a more sustainable approach, you are helping, supporting and developing staff rather than telling and developing dependency.

There is so much more to share about this book but hopefully the above clearly extols the benefits of reading it for yourself. If you find yourself in a frenetic environment and feel that your approach might be creating a bottleneck, then definitely read this book. If you want to develop more sustainable leadership in your setting and support the development of colleagues, then this is the book for you. Ultimately, what I like is the idea we are curious and ask more before progressing with any actions or advice. Whilst work environments are fast paced, by slowing down we might avoid going down blind alleys, wasting time, energy and resources. Ask, be curious, listen, develop relationships beyond the transactional level and build teams to that communicate and have the confidence to focus on what really matters and will really make a difference.