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July 12, 2010

Inquisitive Listening Set-Aside

Cognitive Coaching^SM has four "capabilities of a mediator" which Costa and Garmston describe as "metacognitive attributes of a mediator."¹ Those capabilities or attributes are:

1. Know one's intentions and choose congruent behaviors.
    
2. Adjust one's style preferences.
    
3. Navigate between and within coaching maps and support functions to guide mediational interactions.
    
4. Set aside unproductive patterns of listening, responding, and inquiring.²

During the month of July, "Sustaining the Journey" will be focusing on setting aside unproductive patterns of listening, responding, and inquiring.

An inquisitive listener often derails the thinker in attempt to satisfy his or her own curiosity or "to gather enough information to solve a problem". Remember as a mediator of thinking, a coach "needs only to understand the colleague's perspective, feelings, and goals and how to pose questions that support self-directed thinking. To satisfy his or her own curiosity, an inquisitive listener may be looking for details even if those details are irrelevant for the thinker. Asking questions like "Did you expect that to happen?" or "That is interesting! What else happened?" signal a shift into inquisitive listening. The coach has forgotten to keep the focus on the thinker. When the coach starts to sound like a tabloid reporter who is investigating, or even interrogating, he or she needs to shift the focus of the conversation from juicy details to relevant questions to explore/­broaden or focus thinking for the coachee! Sometimes the coach will not have full comprehension of the topic, and that is just fine. Finally, Costa and Garmston caution us that "mind reading is sometimes a by-product of inquisitive listening. With mind reading, we try to figure out what someone is really thinking and feeling. "Mind reading" does not allow us to pay sufficient attention to what a partner is saying".³

This week, as you pay attention to your listening skills and the questions that you ask a speaker, notice any tendencies to satisfy your own curiosity at your thinker's expense. Ask yourself, "Does this information benefit me or the thinker?" "Are my questions derailing the thinker to provide me with meaningless details?" What strategies might work for you to turn off inquisitive listening, responding and inquiring?
 

¹Costa, A., & Garmston, R. (2002) Cognitive Coaching: A Foundation for Renaissance Schools. Norwood, MA: Christopher-Gordon Publishers, p. 64.

²Costa, A., & Garmston, R. (2010) Cognitive Coaching Foundation Seminar Learning Guide. Highlands Ranch, CO: Center for Cognitive Coaching, p. 32.

³Costa, A., & Garmston, R. (2002) Cognitive Coaching: A Foundation for Renaissance Schools. Norwood, MA: Christopher-Gordon Publishers, p. 65.