The power of collaborative inquiry: what possibility is awakened by what you don’t know?

One of the defining features of coaching circles is a process we call “collaborative inquiry”. This occurs when members of the circle work together to support a colleague in their inquiry process, that is, exploring a topic or situation they find challenging and meaningful to their work and wellbeing. Let’s see what this looks like from the perspective of the coaches in the circle as well as for the client.

On the one hand, every coach in the group pays attention to what the client says and what they reveal about the way they are meeting this challenge. They look for openings and pursue together the related lines of inquiry that create a new understanding for the client or that trigger a possibility they haven’t considered before. The purpose of their collaboration is to invite the client to be as curious as they can about themselves and their situation rather than to be seeking specific answers. In fact, I often see clients respond really quickly and definitively to a given question rather than pause and consider what may be hidden behind what is already known. The magic of the inquiry process really happens when the group can work beyond that first layer and into the realm of blind spots, assumptions, unconscious beliefs, norms, expectations and so on…in other words, the structure of interpretation of the client.

For the client, inquiry means trusting the collective intelligence and diversity of the group and going to unfamiliar places in their exploration of the thoughts, emotions and sensations that are surfacing. This underlines the dynamic nature of the process and its emphasis on describing what is emerging over what is known. A wonderful expression of the spirit of inquiry in a group is when the client is asked the same question over and over and comes up with a different response every time. This is because they are open to not knowing and are truly curious and excited about what might pop up. People always feel that opening up this world of possibility is far more satisfying and impactful to them than taking a short cut to what has worked before in a very specific context and set of relationships and coincidences.

Collaborative inquiry need not be unique to coaching circles. I can imagine the many group and team settings where this way of exploring a situation, a possibility or a decision might yield surprising results and help people be in closer contact with one another, learn from each other and test the limits of their imagination! What possibility does this open up for the work you are doing?