Notes for education on generative interviewing

1. Notes for education on generative interviewing Prepared by George Pór, CommunityIntelligence Ltd. Resourced from the work Otto Scharmer (MIT) and The Change Lab Fieldbook

2. Listening level 1 and 2: from habit and outside • The first type of listening is downloading: listening by reconfirming habitual judgments. • Whenever you are in a situation where everything that happens confirms what you already know, then you are listening by downloading. • Practice questions: Have you ever experienced somebody listening you in a way that has just confirmed what s/he already knew, regardless what you said? Have you experienced yourself doing the same? • The second type of listening is objective or attentive listening: listening by paying attention to disconfirming data. • In this type of listening you pay attention to what differs. You attend to those aspects of reality that differ from your own concepts rather than denying them. Objective or attentive listening is the basic mode of good science. You ask questions and you carefully observe the responses that nature (data) gives to you. • Practice questions: What conditions hinder the awakening of your curiosity, the opening of your mind? What will it take to generate those opening states when you need them? • Source: Otto Scharmer • (I added the practice questions from a “leaning expedition” base camp that I facilitated. - george)

3. Listening level 3 (emphatic): from within • The third and deeper level of listening is empathic listening. As long as we operate from the first two types of listening, our listening originates from within the boundaries of our own mental-cognitive organization. But in empathic listening, our perception shifts from our own organization into the field, to the other, to the place from which the other person is speaking. • When moving into that mode of listening we have to activate our empathy— our love—connecting directly, heart to heart, to the other person. If that happens, we feel a profound switch; we forget about our own agenda and begin to see the world through someone else’s eyes. When operating in this mode, we usually feel what another person wants to say before the words take form. And then we may recognize whether a person chooses the right word or the wrong one to express something, • That judgment is only possible when we have a direct sense of what someone wants to say before we analyze what she actually says. Empathic listening is a skill that can be cultivated and developed just like any other skills in human affairs. It’s a skill that resides in activating a different source of intelligence—the intelligence of the heart. • Practice questions: What conditions hinder the awakening of your empathy, the opening of your heart? What will it take to generate those states when you need them? • Source: Otto Scharmer

4. 4 levels of listening

5. 4 levels of listening - 4 different results • These four levels of listening generate different conversations with different outcomes. • Downloading (level 1) - protecting ego from reality that keeps changing • Debate (level 2) - creating new knowledge • Dialogue (level 3) - discovering relational truth • Deep presence (level 4) - creating new future • Source: Otto Scharmer

6. 4 field structures of listening

7. 3 enemies of building capacity for presencing

8. What is generative interviewing Generative interviewing is expanding the skills of emphatic and generative listening into the co-sensing and co-presencing phase of the U. Generative interviewing brings forth creative energy and collective intelligence out of a personal sense of connection to the whole. It’s about “not simply to gather information-this is a point which is often not understood. Rather, through the process… curiosity, commitment, and excitement are generated about the potential … and relationships are built.” Source: Generon Fieldbook

9. Preparing for generative interviewing 1.Identify initial dialogue interviewees. Develop an initial list of potential dialogue interviewees consisting of the key individuals you and the convener(s) believe are essential for moving the system toward a better future. Include any individuals who will sponsor the project or whose support will be important. Also include individuals who donﾕt hold formal positions of authority but who exercise leadership in informal ways, such as the ability to inspire others or generate a sense of shared urgency for change. Find out (from others, from the Web) something about the interviewee, their background and interests, why they are important to interview, and how you might connect with them. 2. Compose an interviewing team of two (one primary,the other secondary). The secondary interviewer will take notes during the dialogues, so the primary interviewer can focus on the conversation and have a partner for reflection on the exchange. The notetaker should take full notes, trying not to judge what is or isn’t important and paying particular attention to (and taking down semi- verbatim quotes) points that seem important to the interviewee. Make sure the two interviewers always have at least 30 minutes immediately before each interview for preparation and role clarification, and one hour immediately afterwards for debriefing. 3. Schedule dialogues. Explain on the phone or email a brief note about the context and purpose of the meeting (do notsend interview questions). Ask each dialogue participant to set aside at least two hours for the conversation at a time when they have the flexibility to go longer if desired. Conduct the conversation in the person’s ‘home base’ if this can be done without interruptions. If the person expresses surprise or concern about the amount of time involved, explain in practical terms why such an investment is necessary: that it will enable an in-depth understanding of their view of the system and the actions that may help move the system forward. 4.Prepare a list of sample questions. Although you will want to remain free to let the dialogue take whatever course naturally emerges, think through a list of questions that you believe will help you get at the issues at hand. Include questions that probe deep systemic aspects of the system. 5. Connect with your intention. Immediately before a dialogue, take time to enter into a state of mind conducive to your purpose, potentially through meditation. Visualize yourself, for example, as an instrument whose purpose is to be of service, bringing forth from the interaction the latent possibilities for growth and change. Your goal is to become deeply centered, relaxed, and open to embracing whatever emerges during the dialogue. Source: Generon Fieldbook

10. 12 principles of generative interviewing • 1. Preparation: collect background infro; develop a questionnaire; schedule the interview • 2. Intention: “the most important hour is the hour before the interview” (Jaworski); develop a sense of profound openness and an intention of discovering and serving the highest potential of the interviewee • 3. Initial contact: create transparency and trust about the purpose and the process of the interview; establish a direct eye-to-eye (heart-to-heart) connection early on (Jaworski) • 4. Access your ignorance: pay attention to and trust the questions that occur to you; don’t be afraid to ask simple or “stupid” questions (Schein) • 5. VOJ: suspend your VOJ (voice of judgment) and develop a sense of wonder (Ray) • 6. Access your empathic listening: put yourself in your interviewee’s shoes--and thoroughly appreciate/enjoy/love the story you hear unfolding • 7. Access your generative listening: listen for your interviewee’s highest self--his or her highest future possibility--and at the same time try to listen from that placee--not just from who she is today, but from her evolving future Self • 8. Go with the flow: let go of old ideas and concepts (Schein) • 9. Questions: focus first on What, not on Why or on confrontational questions; you want to get into a flow, not into a debate (Schein) • 10. Generative silence: this may be the most important (and least visible) intervention you can perform: while you remain silent you slow down the interviewee and help her to access the deeper aspects of her story, her work, and her life; generative silence requires the interviewer’s utmost level of attention, presence, and intention • 11. Journey question: if appropriate, reconnect the interviewee’s biography (for example, why he or she pursued a certain profession or embarked on a particular journey) with what that person now senses wants to unfold in her life or in a social context around her. • 12. Post-interview: ”debrief” and crystallize right away; capture observations and insights in your journal; don’t even make phone calls or have short conversations between the interview and recording your thoughts and impressions; use a structured debriefing process. • Source: Otto Scharmer