Humble Inquiry: The Gentle Art of Asking Instead of Telling

If the tasks that society faces are becoming more complex and interdependent, and if the problem solvers working on these tasks are increasingly of different ranks, statuses, and cultures, the ability to ask in a humble way will become ever more important.

TABLE 3.1 Diagnostic versus Confrontive Inquiry Diagnostic Inquiry Confrontive Inquiry Sense making Why do you suppose they were acting that way? Were they acting that way because they were scared? Feelings How did that make you feel? Didn’t that make you angry? Action-oriented What did you do? Why didn’t you say something about it? Systemic How we