Curiosity and disturbance: Two new allies

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Curiosity and disturbanceTwo new allies

• Presented by
• Delores B. Lindsey
• Cultural Proficiency Institute
• July 17, 2008

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Take aways today

• New curiosities and disturbances
• Breakthrough questions

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Curiosity and disturbance

• Most people I meet want to develop more
  harmonious and satisfying relationships--in their
  organizations, communities, and personal lives.
  But we may not realize that this desire can only
  be satisfied by partnering with new and strange
  allies- curiosity and disturbance.
• Margaret Wheatley

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What questions are asked?

• Think about the place you work and the community
  you serve . . .
• What if you asked
• What questions do we ask?

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Questions are barriers or breakthroughs for
thinking

• Barriers
• Yes or no/right or wrong answers
• Provoke defensive responses (Why?)
• Distracts or interrupts thinking (Need for
  certainty and clarity)
• Breakthroughs
• Mediate thinking from stuck to moving
• Help shift thinking (inquire to broaden probe
  to focus)
• Create new possibilities

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Questions as barriers

• Why does the conversation always have to be about
  race?
• Why are we held accountable for kids and parents
  who dont care?
• Why do I have to work with a team, when my kids
  are doing just fine.
• Why do we need to have parents at our meetings,
  when they dont even show up for conferences?

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Questions as breakthroughs

• Use one or more of the essential elements in the
  forming of the questions.
• How might we learn more about the families in our
  classrooms? (Assessing culture)
• In what ways do we manage conflict when it
  arises? (Managing the dynamics of difference)
• Use exploratory and plural language (What might
  be
• Uses positive intentionality. (When we examine
  data . . .
• Uses language to mediate thinking toward specific
  (action) student achievement goals. (What
  resources do we have . .
• Uses language that redirects thinking from
  certainty to curiosity and possibility, from
  knowing to not knowing?

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Breakthrough questions

• What 3 questions might we ask, that if we had the
  answers, would make all the difference for us?
• If we need courageous conversations, of what are
  we most afraid?
• What might be some of our undiscussables?
• What if we could . . . ?

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Wheres the focus of the collaborative work?

• PROFESSIONAL? What does it take to develop
  professionally?
• LEARNING? Collective inquiry What do we do with
  what we know or dont know? How do we learn?
• COMMUNITY? Who are we in relation to those we
  serve?

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What disturbances do collaborative communities
cause?

• FROM the language of
• Compliance
• Blame
• Solutions
• Assumptions that hold us
• Rules and policies
• Superficial praise
• Constructive criticism
• Certainty

• TO the language of
• Commitment
• Personal responsibility
• Collaborative commitments
• Assumptions that we hold
• Ongoing trust and regard
• Public agreement
• Deconstructive criticism
• Curiosity

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Change happens when . . .

• Curiosity and disturbance occur
• New information enters the system
• New knowledge and understanding emerge
• Old assumptions are surfaced
• New beliefs and values are formed
• New relationships are developed
• New behaviors and actions are developed
• New mental models are supported
• New curiosities are explore . . .

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What are you thinking?

• What is your curiosity about your work?
• To what degree are you willing to be disturbed?
• To what degree are you willing to ask
  breakthrough questions?
• To what degree are you willing to create a
  disturbance?