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What is the Inquiry Process?
The inquiry process is based on these premises:
Most of the time people already have the answers. What's missing are the
right questions.
It is much easier for people to listen to questions than to be told what to do.
An Inquiry is a conversation which simultaneously promotes partnership among those involved and frees up action to produce results.
Many times the barrier that keeps people "stuck" is that they
are not asking themselves the right questions. For example, one participant
described feelings of dissatisfaction and frustration with her marriage
of many years. Questions asked by other group members helped her to shift
her focus away from "What's wrong with me?" and "What's
wrong with him?" to the more powerful and productive question, "What
can I do to create the kind of relationship that I really want?"
With this new question and approach, she soon formulated a list of actions
she could take to enhance all of her relationships.
Questions:
What are the results that you are looking for in your work and personal life? What are the frustrations and barriers that come between you and the results you're looking for? What will it take to move ahead? Is there anything you need to learn to achieve the results you're looking for? What is the next step and when can you get started? What are some of the ways you might garner support as you execute your plan?
These simple but powerful questions are the building blocks of the Inquiry Process, a technology developed and road-tested by Amaran Tarnoff for more than twenty years. By learning this technique through corporate management training environments, CEO advanced academic seminars, the University of California Extension classrooms and public workshops, thousands of people in a wide variety of settings have used it successfully to improve their "quality of work": enhancing work relationships, finding or creating new jobs, managing their employees from a model of partnership and coaching instead of authority and control, and turning their work teams into "learning teams."
What is Inquiry?
Simply put, an Inquiry is a conversation that is based on questions. It is a practical, flexible methodology that can be taught and learned. It is based on the belief that much of the time, people have the intellect and experience to solve problems and overcome barriers in their lives and work. Lack of perspective and absence of reflection are the primary factors that keep them from confident action.
Just thinking about asking questions rather than giving instructions in itself is a sea change. Why? Because people you work with do not want to be told what to do, especially unsolicited. They do not like to be "one down" in status. And why should they? The key to information age management is leveraging intellectual capital. Reflect for a moment on a time when you were given orders to carry out. Contrast that memory with a time when you were asked to share your thinking on an issue that is important to you. Which approach do you expect will drive greater results?
Why bother? What is the point in learning a methodology if people can solve their own problems by just asking themselves the right questions?
Well, consider the evidence for a moment. If people were good at solving their own problems with a "self-service" approach, the field of self-help literature would be chock full of blockbusters.
It is not.
Marshall McLuhan said that he didn't know who invented water, but he was sure it wasn't a fish. We can't see what we are immersed in; either we don't have the perspective that another person can provide, we don't take time to reflect on problems and issues, or we are on "auto-pilot."
There are a couple of things that keep us stuck. If we are asking ourselves questions, they are often the wrong questions. Sometimes we know the right questions, but are not staying focused on these questions long enough or with enough attention and commitment to get to the answers we need. It helps to have someone else ask the questions, but it rarely occurs to us to ask anyone else to do that. We prefer to think that we already know everything there is to know about the matter. Often, we get stuck rehearsing the same thoughts and conclusions over and over. And, we have theories. We construct explanations about why the situation can't be helped, or who or what is responsible. Very often we blame others or our circumstances. We are very good at this.
What we are not that good at doing is figuring out what we need to learn or do to change our circumstances. The Inquiry process is a way of getting out of our own heads, out of the blaming, theorizing and sing-song repetitions of what we already think that is often going on there, and into a better thinking place and on to action.
How often do we proceed in such a purposeful and effective way? Left to our own devices, probably not as often as we might like. Although Inquiry takes the form of a conversation, it produces a thoughtful and action-oriented way of behaving that is mindful of the drivers of success: Do you know where you're going? Are you aware of the challenges in your path? Are you committed? Do you have a plan? Do you have the support you need to succeed? Are you managing and measuring your progress?
Practicing Inquiry is not a highly esoteric skill. It does require learning
and practice to do it well, but the basic structure and principles are
straightforward.
To learn more about Inquiry it's best to experience it in person. Introductory sessions and workshops are scheduled throughout the year, in one-day and multi-session formats. Consult the schedule page of this website, or contact Amaran Tarnoff by phone or email. The results you will achieve will be powerful. As one workshop participant put it: "I'm becoming the kind of person my dog thinks I am."
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