Scenario: Question Question Question

As an Action Learning Coach how would you handle the following situation: A member asks a particularly energizing question, several members follow this with additional questions before there is time for a response.  

Tags: Action Leaning, Action Learning, Action Learning Coach, WIAL, WIAL Action Learning, WIAL Talk

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Comments (17)

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    jkenger

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    I wouldn’t want to stifle the energy of participants wanting to ask questions, and I’d want to make sure the participants understand a question deserves an answer. I’d say:
    “I’m noticing a lot of questions coming as a response to (team member’s name)’s question. Is anyone else noticing that?”
    “What’s the impact of not answering someone’s question?”
    ” What would you like to do differently?”

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    Joe Frazier

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    I would make a comment that we have a great deal of energy going into the discussion. I would ask the first person who asked a question to ask it again. After a response, I would ask if the any of the earlier questions were not answered to please ask them again one at a time and wait for a response.

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    Denise Locke

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    I would intervene and ask the person who posed the energising question if they felt they had got an answer to their question and ask them if they would still like the group to answer it. This would be followed by asking the group what the impact of not answering the questions is on the group. If the person had said they would still like a response I would re-direct them to ask the question to the group again and release them back into the problem solving. I would observe closely if the question was responded to that time. I would also keep in mind any other key questions that had been asked during the questioning flurry in case I needed to intervene to bring the team back to one of those questions. But if the questioning progressed again effectively I wouldn’t do this.

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    Gabor Holch

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    I agree with previous comments that the S-I-D intervention sequence would suffice, even though in this case the coach would walk on thin ice between not intervening at all on one hand, and giving in to the temptation to ‘line up’ the questions on the team’s behalf. “Did you get an answer to your question?” to those who asked one is a straightforward intervention. How does the energy level impact the discussion is a great suggestion. I would go to the S-I-D “D” (“What do you want to do about it?”) only if necessary.

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    DrBea

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    I would wait for a standard intervention but be careful to choose my word so as not to be directive.

    After the 3 standard questions (how are we doing as a team on a scale of 1 -10?What are we doing well?What can we do better?)
    Assuming it wasn’t mentioned i would follow with –
    i observed a number of questions that were left unanswered before we moved on. Did anyone else notice that?
    Why is it important for problem solving that questions are answered?
    How will we insure that all questions that are put out there get a response?

    Happy Coaching
    Bea

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    unri Babb

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    Every intervention as a coach has to be done with the learning for the group as the foundation. I think in this case, an intervention would be useful that is linked to the ground rules. A coach could ask, “How are we doing with regards to the ground rules?” “What is the impact on the group of leaving a question unanswered?”

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    Yoge Rajendra

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    (1) Team, what’s happening now?
    (2) How important is it to respond to questions with statements?

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    Cheuk Yan Edna Choi

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    I would intervene and say “I notice that there are unanswered questions,” following by asking the group how they would like to deal with unanswered questions. Depending on the group’s response, I would follow up different questions. For instance, if the group decided to answer the questions one by one, I would ask “what factors are encouraging many questions?” If somehow the group still missed the “unanswered” question(s), I would ask the member(s) who posed the question(s) if he/they was/were expecting answer(s), followed by asking the group “what will be the impact of unanswered questions?”

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    Japheth Lim

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    As a coach, I would intervene and say, Team, let me remind you of the ground rules, “Statement only in response to the questions.”
    If the situation continues, i would intervene by saying i notice that person X asked a question that wasn’t answered. What’s the impact to the team if questions were left unanswered?

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    Japheth Lim

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    As a coach, I would intervene and say, Team, let me remind you of the ground rules, “Statement only in response to the questions.”
    If the situation continues, i would intervene by saying i notice that person X asked a question that wasn’t answered. What’s the impact to the team if questions were left unanswered?

    Reply

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    Barbara Brown

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    I think I should intervene and say that I notice several questions have been asked and not answered. I would ask what the impact of that is on solving problems. Then I would go back to the member who asked the question that brought so many other questions and ask them to repeat the question.

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    Justin Li

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    i would like to interven and do health check first, if one of the team members mention about this matter, i would ask them,”How would we do better? ” ; if no one point out, i would like to say, “hi team, i notice that some questions have not been answered, what’s the impact to the team? ” and follow up with “how would we prevent it happened again?”

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    EnzoArmo

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    “Team, has the first question been answered?” If negative, then “What is the impact on our progress if this continues? Lastly, “What would you like to do in order to move forward?”

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    Tan Sun

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    As a Coach, I would interven and say: ” I noticed Steven(who asked the first question) asked a question , so Steven , do you think you have got the answer from the members’ responce?”
    once he say NO, I would ask :”Hi team, what is the impact of not answering someone’s question?”
    “how can we do better next?”
    “so next, who want ask or reply?”

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    Lois Parkes

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    I would intervene by asking the group whether a response has been received for the initial question. I would also remind them of the ground rule of statements following questions, and invite them to just make a note of their questions, so that they can pose them after the response(s) have been received to the initial question

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    Jose Miguel Zaballero

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    I would intervene by first stating my observation that there are multiple questions on the table. And then I would ask the person who asked the energizing question: “Has your question been answered?” if he says no, then I would follow up with another question “How would you like to proceed?”

    If he says yes, then I will bring the attention back to the multiple questions on the table and ask the team “given the multiple questions on the table, how would the team like to proceed?”

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    Pascal Milhous

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    I would intervene by asking the question: are questions being answered? Are we listening to the questions? How much time do we give each other to answer the question?

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