Tell Me More About That

Why we need to keep an open mind to make change in the world.

“Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.”
― George Bernard Shaw —

I have a natural inclination to ask a lot of questions.

I like to learn about people and I’m especially keen to learn how different people see the world.

It’s something that serves me well in my day job as a researcher and I like to think in my personal life too.

It’s likely why I became a researcher in the first place.

But I’ve been told on occasion that I sometimes/often ask too many questions.

For me there’s no such thing.

But I get that it can come off like I’m trying to interview every person I interact with.

So I’m trying to scale back a little bit on the questions while still learning more about the people I encounter and the things they say so I can get a sense of how they see the world.

Lately I’ve been using a prompt to get people to unpack something they’ve just said that I want to learn more about.

Tell me more about that.

It’s simple and direct but also open ended.

People can run with it in any way they want to and I learn all sorts of interesting things.

I’ve been using “Tell me more about that” a lot lately when people disagree with me.

When they tell me they see something differently I ask them to tell me more about that.

I’m careful to say it in a way that makes it clear that I am curious and open and interested in what they have to say.

Truly.

It’s not accusatory or defensive.

It’s rather an invitation to tell me how they see things.

I always learn something new each time.

If we’re going to change the world we’re going to have to learn to connect to each other a whole lot better.

Being curious and open is a big part of that.

So is active listening.

Because once you invite a person to elaborate on something they’ve said, you better be listening to the answer.

That’s all I wanted to share today. Now it’s time to jump online and get interacting with my people. Have a lovely day!

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