Systemic Questioning
Ever had that feeling when you’re interviewing someone that you’re getting a pre-recorded answer, that they are not saying anything new? You’re probably right, what you are getting is their ‘default’ account of how to make sense of the situation. They are stuck, and repeating the same story is unlikely to be enlightening.
To help them shift their account, you need to inquire into it differently. Probably you asked explanation or motivation questions, starting with ‘why’. An alternative is to ask systemic questions. Systemic questions are concerned with understanding the system dynamics in which the situation is embedded.
For instance, let’s imagine that we have been asked to provide some team building to a group that is stuck in a conflict. ‘Why’ questions are likely to provoke accounts of blame, personal deficits and frustration. To generate a more systemic account we would start to enquire into the context, e.g. ‘When did you first become aware that there was a difficulty, and how? What else was happening at that time?’ ‘How do people outside the team become aware of the difficulty’ ‘If I were to ask your line manager/customers how this difficulty affected them, what might they say?’ ‘Who, within the team, is least concerned about this, what would they say is the team’s key issue?’ ‘Where in your work as a group, is coherence most evident?’ And so on.
How does this subtle but significant linguistic difference make a difference? In essence it generates new conversations about the situation, moving people away from their stuck accounts. A more connected systemic perspective will be discovered, creating new potential and energy for change. In this way a stuck or hopeless situation can be loosened up and viewed anew: now they are saying something different they can think and do something different.
This article was first published in Cymbal, the Central London Branch
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