Wicked Questions
In Wicked Questions, participants ask, “How is it that we are doing two things in tension with each other simultaneously?” These questions reveal entangled challenges that are unintuitive or difficult to discuss. Wicked Questions can reduce either-or thinking and engage everyone in thinking strategically about how to balance competing priorities. It can be particularly useful in transitions because it exposes the tension between what is being said and what is actually being done. This structure reinforces LS Principle #7, Emphasize Possibilities: Believe Before You See.
Goal
Articulate the paradoxical challenges that a group must confront to succeed
Materials
Instructions
Five Structural Elements—Min Specs
- Structuring Invitation
- Space and Materials
- Groups of four to six chairs [breakouts of four to six], with or without small tables.
- Paper for each participant.
- Examples of Wicked Questions (see below) and sentence template to display.
- Participation Distribution
- Roles include host [tech host] and participants.
- Minimum group size is two.
- Everyone is invited and has an equal opportunity to contribute.
- Group Configuration
- Alone
- Groups of four to six,
- Whole group
- Steps and Time Allocation
“Let’s identify realities that make progress in our work challenging and rewarding. We will look for opposite forces or tendencies that, when addressed together, can actually be complementary and lead to amazing solutions. Ask, "What opposing-yet-complementary strategies do we need to pursue simultaneously to be successful?”
- Intro: Share the structuring invitation and identify a shared challenge. (1 min.)
- Individual Reflection: Each participant lists things or forces that are true about the challenge, including both challenges and opportunities. (3 min.)
- Find Tensions: Participants circle two truths that are seemingly opposed or in creative tension. (2 min.)
- Explain Next Steps: Explain the format of a Wicked Question: “How is that we are ________ while simultaneously _________?” Display examples and the sentence template. (2 min.)
- Ask Wicked Questions: Participants use the template to draft a sentence using their circled truths. (5 min.)
- Form Groups and Refine: Participants form groups of four to six [breakouts] to help each other make the questions more wicked. You know you have a truly Wicked Question when you get “arrrgh” in response. (10 min.)
- All-Together Sharing: Everyone returns to plenary. A few participants share their most dramatic questions. Record the questions where everyone can see them. [Have each participant share one Wicked Question in the chat.] (3 min.)
- Group Reflection: The group considers which questions have the most potential to move the group’s work forward if they are creatively addressed.
Have everyone vote for the top three with applause or “arrrghs.” [Vote using likes, thumbs-up/down reactions, or a poll.] (2 min.)
The main advantage of using Wicked Questions online is the ability to easily capture insights digitally in the chat or on a shared whiteboard, which can accelerate the process.
Why? Purposes
- Describe the messy reality of the situation while engaging the collective imagination
- Develop innovative strategies to move forward
- Avoid wild swings in policy and action
- Evaluate decisions: Are we advancing one side or the other or attending to both?
- Ignite creative tension, promoting more freedom and accountability as the discovery process unfolds
Tips and Traps
- If the group does not have a shared challenge, invite participants to focus on individual challenges.
- Wicked Questions work best when a single word represents each opposing truth.
- Play with words that have different connotations until you get to “arrrgh.”
- Avoid questions that lay blame or complain.
- Make sure that participants express both sides of the paradox in an appreciative form: “How is it that we are ____ and we are ____ simultaneously?” and not in opposition of each other
- Use a variety of examples to make the paradoxical attributes accessible
- Avoid data questions that can be answered with more analysis
- Invite participants to include others in making their questions more wicked
- Draw on field experience; ask, “When have you noticed these two things to be true at the same time?”
- There are no quick fixes to Wicked Questions and you may need to return to the challenge periodically with additional rounds of Wicked Questions
Riffs and Variations
Draw on participants’ field experience by asking, “When have you noticed these two things to be true at the same time?”
Practical Applications
Wicked Questions are useful in a variety of contexts:
- Transitions: help a group move beyond old ways of thinking (e.g., "How is it that we both include and transcend the old way?")
- Next steps: consider options without closing doors (e.g., "How is it that we are deciding what to do while keeping all of our options open?")
- Global operationsL balance consistency with local adaptation (e.g., "How is it that we maintain our global identity and uniquely adapt to each local setting?")
- Personal challenges: surface individual tensions (e.g., "How is it that I am dedicated to my work while being fully present for my family?")
- Parenting: "How is it that you are raising your children to be very loyal/attached to the family and very independent individuals simultaneously?"
- Infection control: "As infection-control leaders, how is it that you have stepped up and stepped back to help a unit take more ownership of prevention practices?"
- Functional departments (HR, finance, legal, etc.): Surface the Wicked Questions that capture the essence of the function within the broader organisational context.
Attachments
- Wicked Questions Resources (Slides).pdf
- Wicked Questions cover image.PNG
Background
Attribution: Liberating Structure developed by Henri Lipmanowicz and Keith McCandless. Dig deeper by exploring the work of professor Brenda Zimmerman and the Plexus Institute, and neuroscientist Scott Kelso on complementary pairs and metastability.
Source: Liberating Structures
