I’d like to firstly thank my Facebook Friends (you are a small but mighty number) for being super active on my site this week after sharing about this endeavour. WOW – I got tons of visits! This one is for you.

In January 2021, in the middle of COVID (btw in one week-ish, it’ll be 3 years since this all started), I decided to start a professional development book club of sorts. I had the time, we all did, and I figured people would be game. Here is the exact email I sent to the “Chosen Ones”:

Good morning Chosen Ones,

You are getting this email because you have played a key role in my personal growth in 2020. Thank you for that. I selfishly want to continue my development and thought to myself: “Boydy – why don’t you start a Professional Circle Series with this group?”

So here we are. And we can change the name.

Attached you will find a brief description of what I would like to begin. Is it geared towards coaching, and many of you are not coaches, but will all one day lead teams in some capacity. I think this working group is for you, too.

I ask that you consider this invitation and send along potential dates for a first meeting via Zoom. I will run the meeting and send any prep work you need to do well in advance.

Here are dates to choose from – don’t reply all. Let’s avoid getting annoyed with one another before we even begin.

[Various dates provided.]

And that was it! Everyone said yes! I had more friends then…

Anyone who knows me won’t be surprised to hear that I prepared a PowerPoint for the first session. Needed to impress, ya know. There was 1 slide:

Rules of engagement

1. Give what you can for as long as you can.

2. Be present.

In hindsight, that’s a metaphor for life, isn’t it? I’m sure I was being intentional.

It’s funny looking back on my notes from that PCS. It was not an overly happy time for anyone but we made the most of it. I learned so much during our 11-week “program” and I suspect everyone else did, too. It was great. I may start this up again. You in?

Anyway… I guess I need some sort of Life Lesson with Boyd for today’s post. So here it is, literally copied and pasted from my first lesson plan from my first ever PCS in January 2021. The session was centered around asking good questions. Asking good questions is an art. Toyota have a unique approach to solving problems; it’s why they are one of the most efficient manufacturing companies on earth. It’s called The Toyota Way and, essentially, is about asking “Why?” five times to get to the root of any problem. This, however, is not my life lesson. This is:

“Essential questions are questions that probe for deeper meaning and set the stage for further questioning. Essential questions foster the development of critical thinking skills and higher order capabilities such as problem-solving and understanding complex systems.” (https://nvsd44curriculumhub.ca/)

7 defining characteristics of good essential questions:

1. Is open-ended; that is, it typically will not have a single, final, and correct answer.
2. Is thought-provoking and intellectually engaging, often sparking discussion and debate.
3. Calls for higher-order thinking, such as analysis, inference, evaluation, prediction. It cannot be effectively answered by recall alone.
4. Points toward important, transferable ideas within (and sometimes across) disciplines.
5. Raises additional questions and sparks further inquiry.
6. Requires support and justification, not just an answer.
7. Recurs over time; that is, the question can and should be revisited again and again.

What question(s) are you willing to you ask of yourself?