1. Asking Powerful Questions
Facilitator Guide

2. Asking Powerful Questions Facilitator Guide
Purpose of Exercise
This exercise provides practice in inquiry and asking powerful questions. Asking insightful questions promotes comprehensive information gathering and learning. Both are foundational to strategic thinking. This exercise also provides practice in generating ideas for how and where to seek answers to questions in order to understand a complex situation more fully.
Estimated Run Time
This exercise will take approximately 4-1/4 hours. To reduce the length of the exercise, certain portions of the exercise can be conducted as “homework” or on one’s own time.
Provides Practice in:
Questioning – an active learning strategy used to understand problems, relevant factors, interdependencies, assumptions, and differing perspectives more deeply.
Information Gathering – identifying and seeking information from disparate sources to answer questions that promote learning.
Also addresses systems thinking, synthesis, and self-awareness.
Taking a deliberate approach to questioning, and knowing how to ask various types of questions, can help people develop a deeper understanding of a situation or problem. Questioning is an opportunity to gain information, but also to clarify thinking, explore alternative perspectives about the situation or problem, reveal assumptions and paradoxes, and anticipates how situations might evolve in the future.
The secondary purpose of this exercise is to give participants practice in generating ideas for seeking answers to questions. Scanning the environment to seek answers and identify patterns from disparate sources and alternate points of view is important to strategic thinking. Seeking information in response to a variety of types of questions allows one to expand understanding, identify important events, issues, or trends, and test assumptions.
Summary of Exercise
Using a photo image and brief description of a situation, participants:
Generate a set of questions about the situation depicted in the image.
Work in small groups to organize, categorize, and label the questions.
Develop a plan for where and how to seek information to address the questions and develop a better understanding of the situation depicted in the image.
Work together as a group to reflect on and discuss the exercise.

3. Asking Powerful Questions Facilitator Guide
Learning Objectives
By the end of this exercise, participants should be able to:
Generate a wider variety of questions to support learning and situational understanding, question assumptions, and explore alternative perspectives.
Recognize characteristics of different types of questions: descriptive, explanatory, and exploratory questions and questions that test fundamental assumptions.
Appreciate the kinds of information that can be gained from different types of questions.
Develop ideas for diverse information-gathering activities needed to answer a wide-ranging set of questions. Recognize characteristics of powerful questions.
Relation to Other Exercises
This exercise is used best after participants have completed “Reflecting on the Environment” and before “Telling a Story” and “Envisioning Potential Futures.”
Group or Individual Activity
This exercise includes activities that require a combination of both group and individual work.

4. Asking Powerful Questions Facilitator Guide
Materials Needed (facilitator)
Images with brief descriptions (Included in the exercise materials)
One copy per participant
Within small group, each individual gets copy of same image
Each small group gets different image
Whiteboard, markers
Post-it notes
Approximately 30/participant
For legibility, need to be at least 3” x 5” in size
Room with sufficient wall space to post large sets of post-it notes
One Participant Guide for each participant  
Expert perspective videos (viewable in the Managing Complex Problems Resource: Expert Perspective Videos page, filter by Asking Powerful Questions)
Provides Practice in:
Questioning – an active learning strategy used to understand problems, relevant factors, interdependencies, assumptions, and differing perspectives more deeply.
Information Gathering – identifying and seeking information from disparate sources to answer questions that promote learning.
Also addresses systems thinking, synthesis, and self-awareness.
Taking a deliberate approach to questioning, and knowing how to ask various types of questions, can help people develop a deeper understanding of a situation or problem. Questioning is an opportunity to gain information, but also to clarify thinking, explore alternative perspectives about the situation or problem, reveal assumptions and paradoxes, and anticipates how situations might evolve in the future.
The secondary purpose of this exercise is to give participants practice in generating ideas for seeking answers to questions. Scanning the environment to seek answers and identify patterns from disparate sources and alternate points of view is important to strategic thinking. Seeking information in response to a variety of types of questions allows one to expand understanding, identify important events, issues, or trends, and test assumptions.
Materials Needed (participants)
Participant Guide
Pen/pencil
Notebook

5. Asking Powerful Questions Facilitator Guide
Facilitator Tips and Guidance
Be aware that any image has the potential to trigger PTSD . Consider this if you decide to select your own images. If you see indications that a participant is experiencing a PTSD response, stop the exercise and address the situation.
Remind participants there is no right answer.
The point of the exercise is not to correctly identify the image, but to learn how to generate useful questions and seek information.
Quality of questions matters more than quantity.
Emphasize the importance of getting beyond “what” and “how” questions.
Emphasize the value of “why,” “what if,” and “how could” questions for gaining deeper insight.
Intersperse the pre-, mid-, and post-exercise reflection discussions with videos on the topic of questioning (viewable in the Managing Complex Problems Resource)

6. Asking Powerful Questions Facilitator Script
Instructions
The next several pages provide step-by-step instructions for facilitating the exercise, broken down into modules. Each module includes icons to indicate its duration, DO: facilitator actions, SAY: facilitator talking points, and DISCUSS: questions for group discussion (see below for icons). While the talking points are simply intended to guide the facilitator, we recommend including them to achieve the intended learning outcomes. Talking points that are listed directly under an action are meant to assist the facilitator with that given action. Also, optional break points are indicated at the end of certain modules.
Some modules also include clickable links to the exercise slide deck that supplement the facilitator guide. We recommend referring to the accompanying slide content while guiding your group through this exercise.
Module
Duration DO
SAY
DISCUSS

7. Phase 1: Generating questions

8. 1 Step Facilitator Activity Exercise Set up 30 min DO
Facilitator Activity 1 DO
Distribute and describe the Participant Guide.
Give each participant a marker and set of post-it notes.
SAY
Today we are going to practice our questioning skills, as well as our skills in seeking information to answer questions.
This guide contains information you will use throughout the exercise. I’ll let you know when you need to turn to a particular section. Also, you can take this with you after the exercise.
Conduct pre-exercise reflection. Direct participants to the Participant Guide and describe the task.
Before we get started, please flip to the “Pre-Exercise Reflection” section of your Participant Guide. Take a few minutes to think about the questions listed there before we discuss them as a group.
View “Value of Asking Powerful Questions Exercise” and sampling of other expert perspective videos on questioning. Access through the Managing Complex Problems Resource: Expert Perspective Videos page, filter by Asking Powerful Questions.
Exercise
Set up
30 min

9. 1 Step Facilitator Activity Exercise Set up (contd.) 30 min DISCUSS
Facilitator Activity 1
DISCUSS
Guide the group through a discussion using the questions for group discussion below:
What do you think makes a useful question?
Why is it important to ask questions?
Are some questions better than others? In what ways?
Thinking about questions you might ask that are about tactical or operational issues, compared to questions you might ask at a strategic level…
How would you describe the differences in the types of questions?
What sort of information are they likely to elicit? DO
Provide brief tutorial. See supporting slides.
[Note: Facilitator may decide to present tutorial verbally, print the slides, project PowerPoint, or some combination thereof.]
Exercise
Set up (contd.)
30 min

10. 1 Step Facilitator Activity Exercise Set up (contd.) 30 min DO
Facilitator Activity 1 DO
Describe the exercise.
SAY
The task involves working with images.
To practice the skill of questioning, we are going to work with an image [hold up some examples]. I will give you one in a minute.
In this first segment, you will work individually. Your task is to take some time to examine the image I give you.
Then spend minutes generating questions about the situation or event represented by the image. Write each of your questions on a post-it note.
[End of Step 1]
Exercise
Set up (contd.)
30 min

11. 2 Step Facilitator Activity Participants Generate Questions 25 min DO
Facilitator Activity 2 DO
Ask participants to form small groups; the groups will work together later in the exercise.
[Note: They can self-form the groups, or you can count off to determine group membership.]
Refer participants to the “Question Generation” page in their Participant Guide.
SAY
The “Question Generation” aid provides information that will help you think about the image and develop a variety of questions.
Distribute images (Each person within a small group should have his or her own copy of the same image. Each group should have a different image.).
Spend minutes working individually; examine the image and generate questions about the situation or event represented in the image.
Participants Generate Questions
25 min

12. 2 Step Facilitator Activity Participants Generate Questions (contd.)
Facilitator Activity 2
SAY
Think about:
What do you want to know about the image that will help you understand the situation/event that it represents?
What are the questions we would need to ask and answer to understand the problems or circumstances reflected in this picture?
Use the post it notes to record your questions as you think of them. Use a separate post-it for each question.
[End of Step 2]
Participants Generate Questions (contd.)
25 min

13. 3 Step Facilitator Activity Mid-Exercise Reflection 10 min DO
Facilitator Activity 3 DO
Refer participants to the “Mid-Exercise Reflection” page in their Participant Guide and ask them to work individually.
View “The questions an expert would ask” videos. Access through the Managing Complex Problems Resource: Expert Perspective Videos page, filter by Asking Powerful Questions.
SAY
Think about the questions posed in your guide. For example: What are you finding challenging about generating questions?
Jot down your responses to the reflection questions.
Let’s take a look at how a couple of experts approached this activity.
[End of Step 3]
- BREAK -
Mid-Exercise Reflection
10 min

14. 4 Step Facilitator Activity Question Review 45 min DO
Facilitator Activity 4 DO
Post each of the images that groups have been working with on the wall. Leave working space between the images.
SAY
What we are going to do now is take a step back and look at all the questions we’ve come up with about each of these images and the situations they represent.
Ask participants to place their post-its on the wall next to the image they worked with.
Gather all your post-it notes and put them up on the wall around the image you have been working with.
Question Review
45 min

15. 4 Step Facilitator Activity Question Review (contd.) 45 min DO
Facilitator Activity 4 DO
-   Ask participants to review images and questions on wall.
SAY
- Take 5-10 minutes to walk around and take a look at each image and the questions posted about each image. Think about the nature of the questions. How are the questions similar? Different?
- Refer participants to “Question Review” in their Participant Guide.
- Now we’re going to spend some time talking about the collection of questions in more detail – what’s here, what isn’t, and what that means for understanding the situations represented in the images.
After we spend some time working with these details, we’ll take a step back and see if we can identify a bigger picture.
Question
Review (contd.)
45 min

16. 4 Step Facilitator Activity Question Review (contd.) 45 min DO
Facilitator Activity 4 DO
Have participants use the “Question Review” aid to review post-it questions.
Facilitate group discussion using the “Question Review” aid.
Point out some of the questions that stand out for you.
SAY
What are some of the most common questions?
Which questions:
Consider future implications?
Consider relationships or interactions?
Test assumptions?
Reveal paradoxes?
Consider hypotheticals?
Are there any questions that surprise you?
Which questions do you think are the most useful/critical to your understanding of the problem? Why?
Are there gaps?
[End of Step 4]
Question
Review (contd.)
45 min

17. 5 Step Facilitator Activity Clustering & Synthesis 20 min SAY
Facilitator Activity 5
SAY
We are now going to do a clustering and synthesis activity.
Get together with your small group, and gather around the image that you generated questions for. DO
Have participants gather in their small groups to cluster the questions associated with their image.
Group the questions based on similarity.
Move the post-its around and talk about what goes where and why.
There is no right or wrong way to group the questions. There are likely multiple ways to do it.
Let me know once your small group is in agreement about the clusters.
Ask the group to work together to develop a descriptive label for each of the clusters of questions.
Clustering
& Synthesis
20 min

18. 5 Step Facilitator Activity Clustering & Synthesis 20 min DO
Facilitator Activity 5 DO
Ask the group to work together to develop a descriptive label for each of the clusters of questions.
SAY
Now that you have grouped the questions, work together to come up with a descriptive label for each cluster.
The label can be a word or brief phrase that describes the types of questions in that cluster.
What we are doing is creating a set of categories that represent the major dimensions of inquiry about the situation represented in each image.
Have each group review the other groups’ clusters and labels.
Now spend a few minutes reviewing the clusters and categories developed by the other small groups about their images.
Clustering &
Synthesis
(contd.)
20 min

19. 5 Step Facilitator Activity Clustering & Synthesis 20 min SAY
Facilitator Activity 5
SAY
As you do this, consider:
How are the question types similar to the questions you developed? How are they different?
What was challenging about this portion of the exercise?
In what ways do you find yourself thinking about the situation in the image differently now than at the start?
[End of Step 5]
Clustering &
Synthesis
(contd.)
20 min

20. 6 Step Facilitator Activity Reflection & Debrief 15 min DO
Facilitator Activity 6 DO
Refer participants to the “Reflection and Debrief” section of the Participant Guide.
DISCUSS
Guide the group through a discussion using the following questions:
What have you learned from this activity? What are your big “take-aways?”
How has this activity helped you identify questions you would not have otherwise asked?
Think about the questions you identified earlier as your ‘three best/most useful’ questions. Do you still see them that way? Why/why not?
What have you learned about how to ask questions that will help you gain a deeper understanding of situations or problems?
How can you use what you learned so far in your work?
[End of Phase 1]
- BREAK -
Reflection & Debrief
15 min

21. Phase 2: Information-Gathering
Note: Depending on time available, Phase 2 (“Planning for Information-Gathering”) could be included as an activity in Phase 1: Step 6, but a break will be necessary.
Note:

22. 1 Step Facilitator Activity SAY Idea Generation 30 min DO
Facilitator Activity 1 DO
Provide brief tutorial. See supporting slides.
[Note: You can give the tutorial verbally, print it out for participants, project the content in PowerPoint, or some combination thereof.]
SAY
We have come up with plenty of questions about the images. Now we are going to generate ideas for how to find answers to those questions.   
Have participants return to the small groups they worked with in Phase 1 of the exercise.
Each group is going to work with the set of questions generated for the image you worked with before.
Take a few minutes to review the questions you came up with about the image.
Idea
Generation
30 min

23. 1 Step Facilitator Activity Idea Generation 30 min DO
Facilitator Activity 1 DO
Assign categories to individuals, using the categories the group generated in Phase 1.
Refer each small group to the categories of questions identified for their image in Phase 1, Step 5.
SAY
After you’ve reviewed all the questions and categories you came up with, each person in the group should choose one or two categories to work with for this part of the exercise.
Refer participants to “Planning for Information Gathering” questions in their Participant Guide.
Have participants generate information-gathering ideas.
Ask them to consider “wild” ideas for information searching, so they do not just name the usual sources.
Idea
Generation
(contd.)
30 min

24. 1 Step Facilitator Activity Idea Generation 30 min SAY
Facilitator Activity 1
SAY
Once everyone in your group has one or two categories of questions to work with, your task is to work individually to review the set of questions contained in your assigned categories.
Spend minutes thinking about how and where you would seek answers to those questions.
Use the “Planning for Information Gathering” worksheet to help you with this activity.
Jot down your ideas so you can share them later on.
[End of Step 1]
Idea
Generation
(contd.)
30 min

25. 2 Step Facilitator Activity Small Group Discussion 20 min DO
Facilitator Activity 2 DO
Refer participants to “Small Group Discussion” in the Participant Guide.
As a group, have them discuss questions posed in the Participant Guide.
SAY
We’re now going to share and discuss the ideas you generated with your small group.
We’re going to share these ideas later in the larger group, so keep track of the ideas your group generates.
[End of Step 2]
Small Group
Discussion
20 min

26. 3 Step Facilitator Activity Present Info- Gathering Plans 30 min DO
Facilitator Activity 3 DO
Ask each small group to designate a spokesperson.
SAY
One member of your group is going to present your group’s ideas to the rest of us. So choose a spokesperson and spend a few minutes pulling together the ideas your spokesperson will share.
Your presentation should include both the categories of questions you were working with and the ideas for seeking answers you came up with, along with any other ideas you want to share.
Select a group to go first. Have each spokesperson present their group’s info-seeking plan to the larger group.
Encourage others to ask questions and build upon one another’s ideas.
[End of Step 3]
Present
Info-
Gathering
Plans
30 min

27. 4 Step Facilitator Activity Final Reflection & Debrief 15-20 min DO
Facilitator Activity 4 DO
Direct participants to the “Final Reflection” in the Participant Guide and describe the task.
Ask participants to work on their own and consider the questions listed in the Participant Guide.   
SAY
We are now going to spend time thinking about what we have done in this exercise.
First, spend 5-10 minutes thinking about the questions posed in the “Final Reflection” part of your guide. Jot down some notes in response to the questions.
DISCUSS
Guide the group through a discussion using the following questions:
What was difficult about coming up with ideas about how to find answers to your questions? What made it difficult?
What information sources or information seeking methods did others mention that you had not thought of? Which suggestions gave you new ideas about how you might gather information to answer the questions?
Final Reflection
& Debrief
15-20 min

28. 4 Step Facilitator Activity Final Reflection & Debrief (contd.)
Facilitator Activity 4   
DISCUSS
[Questions contd.]
Which types of questions are fairly easily addressed, and which are harder to figure out where or how to get information to address them?
If we hadn’t done what we did in Phase 1, generating all the questions, how might your search for information have been different? What might you have missed?
Think for a moment about both phases of this exercise (i.e. generating questions and developing a plan to answer them). What have you learned? How might you apply what you learned to your current role? Or to future roles?
[End of Questioning to Deepen Learning Exercise]
Final Reflection
& Debrief (contd.)
15-20 min