Bold Powerful Questions change us, and in doing so, change our world. As we start this New Year, we are asking ourselves – what Bold Powerful Questions need to be asked? And what actions need to occur to create space for these questions in our personal and professional lives?
Old habits and perspective shifts require Bold Powerful Questions. It’s the deep searching for their answers, that evokes the power and motivation for true lasting change. Below is one of our favorite ways to foster more of these questions in our lives:
- Create Space for Them: Bold Powerful Questions require two things: 1) for us to create space and time to reflect on them and 2) for us to slow down enough to really digest the question at hand. If we are running too fast, we either miss the question entirely, or worse, we give a superficial response and move forward assuming we know the answer. This is avoidance at its best. Avoidance, and all of it’s fabulous forms, is a tricky beast to tame (i.e. rejecting, ignoring, placating/sugar-coating etc.) Often the “I know this already” response is really just hidden avoidance. Likewise the “I’m too busy for this” can be another form of avoidance. Both responses are unhelpful and won’t move us towards change.
- Cultivate the Environment For Them: We need to create environments which will hold and foster Bold Powerful Questions. This means an open mind as well as safe spaces to play, explore and innovate with our individual and collective responses to these questions. Commitment and Time are necessary requirements. So how is this fostered in your work environment? Innovation, creativity and the ability to lead a team to the next level isn’t always about the push – it’s also about the reflection. The pause. It’s about creating an environment that leads us to asking the right Bold Powerful Questions, and providing the space and time to explore the answers.
- Have you fostered a culture of permission and supported environment for your teams to explore both personal and team-related Bold Powerful Questions?
- How do you foster communication and connection for yourself and for your teams?
- What are your team dynamics and how do you foster diversity within your team?
- How often do you facilitate groups through engagements or events that foster new prompts, challenge old belief patterns and evoke Bold Powerful Questions?
- Live Into The Questions: Rainer Maria Rilke’s famous poem says: “Live the questions now”. Like a good Zen Koan, Bold Powerful Questions are meant to transform and shift things. This can require time. Energy. Effort. And sometimes, it simply requires a release. An Ease. A Non-Effort. What we must allow for, is the unknowing and the discomfort in not knowing which approach to take right away. How do you cultivate this unknown and discomfort on your teams? Do you allow for grace, mistakes, and errors? How do you support failure and the growth that arises from it? What mindsets does your team have around that and how as leaders are you honoring their process of growth?
Thank you for reading ~ we appreciate that you do. Also, if you or your organization want to inspire and cultivate more Bold Powerful Questions, email us at info@integratingwork.com. We’d love to support you in the journey.
May you and yours be well.
All the best,
Woodrie & The Team
Thanks