A question is a doorway to transformation
One of the fastest ways to create change, find creativity or kickstart innovation is through the Art of Powerful Questions.
Find out how you can take your skills to the next level in a stimulating one day workshop.
Scroll down to find the workshop nearest youWhat makes a question so important?
A question can open new doors, let in some fresh thinking, close the gap between people, be a bridge to understanding. You can hold a serious question and still find the inquiry fresh and fun!
Finding, shaping and living a powerful question is a key leadership and life skill everyone needs in their back pocket.
Here's more about The Art of Powerful Questions.
Why you should join us for The Art of Powerful Questions
No matter who you are or where you are in your journey, The Art of Powerful Questions can polish a skill you can use for a lifetime.
Most of interpersonal and organisational conflicts we have currently in our world might be traced back to what might be called "question illiteracy", that is the failure to ask a good question that could have created different results.
But it doesn't have to be that way. Anyone can put their question skills into practice to create something vibrant and new for themselves and others.
The two parts of the workshop pack a powerful punch -- learning where to find, how to craft and how to sharpen powerful questions. Then taking those questions into The Flow Game -- a uniquely playful way to find the next solid steps you're seeking around something that really matters to you.
In your question you find direction and focus. In the Flow Game you'll find your action plan.
What does that look like in practice?
During the morning of this workshop, we’re going to be focusing on how to find, craft, and sharpen a compelling question. We will use three specific ways to help us hone in on questions that can be instrumental in your wider work practice. This is the kind of skill that can be used anywhere, supporting your life and work.
After nearly 30 years of working with groups, I can reflect that so many of them did not achieve the results they had hoped to because either there were habitual ways of working and assumptions getting in the way, or they had not learned how to craft a compelling question which could open new doorways and new perspectives for them.
For anyone who wants to get more out of meetings or who knows that participatory practice is the way to go but wonders how to put it to work, the question is actually both core and key to every other methodology that helps groups work at their best.
In the afternoon, we’re going to use the Flow Game as an integral part of working with our questions. Although it may have a very simple appearance, the game enables us to go deep in working with co-creative intelligence leading to collective wisdom on behalf of every player. This experience should help you to craft a very focused and targeted action plan for yourself in line with your inquiry.
It’s also a very good way to practice being wisdom council for each other, which is a skill that can be taken into many other aspects of working life, where challenge and complexity mean the old ways of working simply don't work anymore.
Especially if you are someone interested in the levels of listening, Theory U, or the IDGs, this is an great experience to take part in. It’s a practical way to practice this level of listening and deep contribution to individuals and the collective.
Here's why you should join us:
As a leader...
You want to help things take off with energy, enthusiasm and direction. You want to support your organisation or team to fire on all cylinders, sparking more success. A powerful question can create a new foundation, set the direction and open doors to new opportunities.
In community...
You want to get people into conversation where they can bring their strengths and contribute to a better future. You want them to cut through challenges that keep them stuck or divided. Compelling questions can help them align on what's most important to them.
As an activist or entrepreneur...
You want to shine a light on new opportunities and innovations, helping to create positive, fresh contributions to make the world a better place. Powerful questions can offer the torch to illuminate the path forward, keep you going, and motivate fresh thinking.
In your own work & life...
You want the spark of creativity to shine brightly, with new ideas flowing to you on how to show your gifts to the world and have them requested. Questions can help you explore new avenues and opportunities you've never thought of before or felt stuck taking action on.
If you're interested in facilitation or group process...
...especially if you are interested in or have been to an Art of Hosting training or you are a trained Flow Game host, come and join us to brush up your skills and meet other practitioners. In various locations we will be offering gatherings to deepen your practice around The Art of Powerful Questions one day workshop.
Check the schedule below for locations and details.
Find a workshop near you...
This series of workshops began in Innsbruck in May, then journeyed to Prague and Vilnius, Lithuania.
Have a look at this list to see where The Art of Powerful Questions is popping up next. Keep checking back as we will be adding new dates.
Want some Sacher Torte and coffee to go with your questions? Then Vienna is your choice! We'll be putting some unique Austrian style into our work here on The Art of Powerful Questions in the capital of coffee culture. Join us on Monday, November 11th.
Co-hosted with Melinda Varfi and supported by local Flow Game Hosts.
We will also offer a Practitioner's Day for those who have experienced -- or want to experience -- the Art of Hosting on Sunday November 10.
Join me for two half day workshops at the annual Evaluation Conference in Prague on November 13.
Choose one or both of these topics:
The Art of Powerful Questions
A good question is a doorway to transformation. It can bridge the gap between people or shift perspective. Yet, evaluation commissioners often struggle with the development of evaluation questions, which turn out to be multiple and complex. For evaluators, it is not always so straightforward how to craft a spot on questions for the “informants” in the field in order to capture their multifold realities and the root causes of the issues they face.
No matter who you are or where you are in your journey, this workshop can polish your skill you can use at work and beyond.
The Art of Participatory Leadership in Evaluation
The Art of Participatory Leadership, often called “The Art of Hosting,” is a worldwide practice field that focuses on supporting people everywhere to host and harvest conversation and work that matters. It has a suite of methods and tools, and a solid practice foundation that can support evaluators to not only collect data, but also to connect different actors, ask the right questions, tap into the collective wisdom for answers and co-create the next steps.
No matter if you are an evaluator, programme manager or if you have another role, join us to discover some of the simple secrets that can turn your experience from “extraction” to hosting a willing field ready to advance a joint purpose.
Registration is FREE and open until 30 October. Find out more & register here.
We particularly want to support those working for systemic change and activists of all kinds in this Art of Powerful Questions. Join us in Sheffield on November 18 to deepen your skills and find new mates to be at your back as you step courageously into your work.
Co-hosted with Efua Uiterwijk and supported by local Flow Game Hosts.
Preceded by an Info & Practice Day on the 17th for those who are interested in learning about or deepening their skills and approach to participatory practice. And followed by a half day Flow Game host gathering on the 19th.
Join the Info & Practice Day using this link.
Let Mary Alice know if you intend to join the Flow Game Host Gathering.
Montreal is a city bursting with creativity and innovation. Even in chilly wintertime, you'll get a warm welcome! In cooperation with Percolab, we open the doors to everyone interested in the skill and art of powerful questions, especially our Art of Hosting colleagues, wherever you are.
Join The Art of Powerful Questions on December 6.
Co-hosted with Samantha Slade, Paul Messer, the Percolab Team and supported by local Flow Game Hosts.
Preceded by a Flow Game Host gathering on the afternoon of December 5th. Followed by a full day Art of Hosting practice gathering on December 7th.
The Art of Powerful Questions comes to Japan! Everyone who is interested in the leadership skill of asking powerful questions or supporting groups, teams and organisations to be more focused and intentional is welcome to join us. The art of powerful questions is a foundational skill for working in a more participatory way and supporting groups with a wide variety of experience, interests and mindsets to find common ground together.
Join The Art of Powerful Questions on January 21.
Co-hosted with Toke Paludan Møller, co-founder of Art of Hosting.
Preceded by an Art of Hosting Practice Gathering on January 20th. And followed by a Flow Game Host training 24 - 26 January.
Find out more & register for Practice Gathering here.
Find out more about the Flow Game Host training here.
アート・オブ・パワフルクエスチョンズ
とその実践 東京ワークショップ
2025年1月21日（火） 10:30-17:30
大切な人達や組織、コミュニティーのために問いを作り、研ぎ澄まし、投げかける技術は、どうしたら伸ばすことができるだろう？
「力強い問い」を立て、投げかける実践へのお誘い（The Flow Gameのプレー付き）
アート・オブ・パワフルクエスチョンズが日本にやってきます！
力強い問いを作り、投げかけるリーダーシップ・スキルに関心のある方、グループやチーム、組織がより焦点を絞り、意図を持って活動するサポートをすることに関心のあるすべての方のご参加をお待ちしています。
パワフルな問いを作る技術は、より参加型で仕事を進め、さまざまな経験や関心、考え方を持つグループが、共によりどころを見つけていく上での基礎となるスキルです。
アート・オブ・パワフルクエスチョンズ 東京ワークショップ
日時: 2025年1月21日（火） 10:30-17:30
場所: 東京都品川区大崎2-10-1
NBF大崎ビル（旧ソニーシティ大崎）24F ブリッジターミナル
＊大崎駅より徒歩約5分
ホスト: Mary Alice Arthur (SOAR)、Toke Paludan Moeller (Interchange CEO, Art of Hosting 共同創設者）、Tove Kinooka （Global Perspectives)、伊勢田麻衣子（アート・オブ・ホスティングジャパン）
関連イベント: 1/20. Art of Hosting Japan Reunion
1/24-26 The Flow Gameホストトレーニング
お問い合わせはTove Kinooka もしくはMary Alice Arthurまで。
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What past participants say about "The Art of Powerful Questions"...
"Asking questions is entering a field of not knowing. Shaping powerful questions helps you to become clear about what really matters. Those questions go to the core and develop their own power. This is power with, not power over. The art of asking powerful questions leads us to go as deep as we are willing to open ourselves, to reveal the power and the magic."
-- Katharina Erlacher, South Tirol
"Working with others on my questions really helped me to get to the roots of the issue. When I finally asked the recrafted question, it made me shatter -- it was really powerful! I would love for everybody working with others to experience this workshop and realise how a little change in the way they ask questions does wonders."
-- Inka Bartošová, Prague
"I really enjoyed diving deeper into questions. Life these days seems like constant looking for answers and sometimes even forgetting what questions we are trying to answer and why we want to answer them. It helped me see my whole situation from a totally new perspective. With Mary Alice’s amazing facilitation, and a great community of practitioners, I learned much more than I could have ever done on my own."
-- Aurimas Razanauskas, Lithuania
"Mary Alice Arthur is a master in crafting questions and transmitting her art of powerful questions with succinct elating stories. Rarely have I endorsed a practitioner so wholeheartedly."
-- Mischa Oliver Altmann, Vienna
Meet your host
You are in good hands!
Mary Alice has been facilitating groups for almost 30 years and is an internationally respected process host and trainer, supporting practitioners around the world as a steward of the Art of Hosting. and is also an active Flow Game steward, supporting the international field of almost 500 Flow Game hosts.
During the workshop she will be supported by a local team and other Flow Game hosts.
More about Mary Alice
