ARTISTIC MANAGEMENT

What is the difference between the two sentences above?

The first sentence is a statement. A statement always produces resistance.

It always has the effect of "closing down". It tries to force a solution to a situation.

The first reaction to any statement is always a resistance.

On the contrary, what does a question produce? That's correct - RESPONSE.

What does the mind do when it is asked a question? It looks for a response.

It doesn't matter who asked the question to whom. Even if somebody asked your neighbor a question, your mind does start looking for a response. You may not give the response, though, but your mind will definitely search around for the response.

The response may come now or later. The response may be positive or negative. The response may be given to the person who asked the question or not.

However, a question well-asked always triggers a process of searching for the response.

It opens up and unravels a situation, person or a problem. It allows for the best to come out of any situation.

It is the most powerful tool for problem-solving. It is an even more powerful tool for communication. It is the best tool in the world to put your point across.

A great coach, mentor or manager never provides solutions. He asks great questions to bring out the best in an individual.

There are good and bad questions. There are effective and useless questions.

Then, there are a series of "great questions" that could enable you to get through to any problem, situation or circumstance. It is like an atom bomb that could get you to solve any problem...

What are great questions? How do you create great questions?

Artistic Management has the answer.

Do you want to know what magic the Artistic Managers are creating with great questions?

To suspend one's view...?

William Isaacs, founder of the Dialogue Project at MIT, says that the first opportunity to shift the quality of conversation in a working group arises when people are confronted with an opinion with which they disagree. In such situations, most of us see only two options: to defend the way we think OR to say nothing.

Isaacs points a third option: to suspend one's view.

Doing that requires one to be in an exploration mode rather than defending mode. "That is not the way I see it. My view is XXX. Here is what has led me to see things this way. What has led you to see things that way?" The form of the question doesn't matter. What really matters is the sincerity behind it.

An honest suspension of one's view in order and replacing the need to defend by the sincerity to explore can shift a conversation and give rise to possibilities that no one has seen before.

"If you get to be thirty-five and your job still involves wearing a name tag, you've probably made a serious vocational error."