Workshop: The art of questioning
Asking the right questions and disciplining the conversation-behavior makes you steer a conversation in a direction that you want, be it an individual or a group. With a good question, you can influence the thinking and the behavior of your client, partner, student in a very thorough way. This seminar/workshop is aimed at improving this questioning technique in your job. Special attention is drawn to the Socratic style in questioning. Starting from a specific interpretation of Plato, we will explore and evaluate a style that enables you to be as efficient, clear and thorough as possible in questioning your client. The seminar is based on experiential learning. Some theoretical material will nevertheless be provided.
Objectives of the workshop:
– You are creative in asking questions
– You are efficient in asking your questions: you get what you want
– You are quick and alert in questioning
– You can demand accurate and precise information
– You are aware of the nature of the intervention of your interlocutors
– You can distinguish different types of questions and their effects
– You practice the Socratic questioning attitude (of not knowing)
– You can ask the right question with the right words at the right time to the right person
– You have a sense of the ‘appropriateness’ of a question or intervention
– You can intensify the (self)reflection of your client
– You can make the other one (more) responsible for what he/she says or does with your questions
– You can be non-empathical when needed.
Kristof Van Rossem (°69) is Master in Philosophy (KULeuven) . He is an independent trainer in Socratic Dialogue and teacher trainer of philosophy in at the University of Leuven where he conducts an annual seminar in „didactics of philosophical conversation“. He also teaches Business Ethics at the Odisee University College of Brussels. He leads an annual training course in Socratic Dialogue facilitation a.o. at the ISVW (International School of Philosophy). He has worked with all kinds of organizations engaging in dialogue and reflection. He is the author of ‘The Philosophical Conversation. The Basics’ (JohnHuntPublishers, 2023).