This worldwide bestseller offers simple guidance for building the kind
of open and trusting relationships vital for tackling global systemic
challenges and developing adaptive, innovative organizations--over
200,000 copies sold and translated into seventeen languages!
We live, say Edgar and Peter Schein, in a culture of "tell." All too
often we tell others what we think they need to know or should do. But
whether we are leading or following, what matters most is we get to the
truth. We have to develop a commitment to sharing vital facts and
identifying faulty assumptions--it can mean the difference between
success and failure. This is why we need Humble Inquiry more than ever.
The Scheins define Humble Inquiry as "the gentle art of drawing someone
out, of asking questions to which you do not know the answer, of
building relationships based on curiosity and interest in the other
person." It was inspired by Edgar's twenty years of work in high-hazard
industries and the health-care system, where honest communication can
literally mean the difference between life and death.
In this new edition the authors look at how Humble Inquiry differs from
other kinds of inquiry, offer examples of it in action, and show how to
overcome the barriers that keep us telling when we should be asking.
This edition offers a deepening and broadening of this concept, seeing
it as not just a way of posing questions but an entire attitude that
includes better listening, better responding to what others are trying
to tell us, and better revealing of ourselves. Packed with case examples
and a full chapter of exercises and simulations, this is a major
contribution to how we see human conversational dynamics and
relationships, presented in a compact, personal, and eminently practical
way.
