Wednesday, February 25, 2009

John Shook and the Socrates Method

Here is an outstanding article on coaching and questions by John Shook in teaching the Socrates way. As a lean teacher, corporate executive and father of two, it is an extremely difficult path to follow, much less master.

Unfortunately, patience for the Socrates methodology is not a common luxury in today’s corporate environment. Indeed, an unfortunate reality.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Here is a powerful shortcut to the Socratic Method.

In a coaching conversation, whenever you realize you have a choice between asking and telling ... make sure you Ask and don't Tell.

And when you ask a question, make sure it starts with
"What ...."
or
"How ... "

This way your question is always an open ended one.

Then sit back, stop talking and listen to what they say. You will naturally want to ask another question (What or How) and off you jolly well go.

My two cents,

Anonymous said...

Ask WHY, but not WHO. Don't be too short with your questions, either. Instead of just asking "why?" with a one-word sentence, ask "do you know why that happened?"

If you are ever given the chance to take the 16 week Dale Carnegie course, take it! It is life changing.

Mike Wroblewski said...

Hi Dike,

Thanks for adding your two cents, it's worth more than that!

Mike Wroblewski said...

Hi Mike,

Thanks for the added points and suggested course. I will look into it.