Silence in Discovery

Building on our facets of discovery from last week, what do you think is one of the absolute most important elements of a discovery session? Keen insights? Not quite. A bingo on the consulting jargon card? Nope.

Silence.

You heard us. One of the most important components of a discovery session is silence. Since we’re on a fact-finding, dot-connecting, insight-generating mission, we need to leave plenty of space to hear from discovery participants as we can.

Yes, we need to ask thought-provoking questions. But if we don’t give space for people to think and then respond, we’re leaving information on the table.

Sitting in silence can feel incredibly awkward, but it’s worth it. Many of us take a few beats to have a meaningful response to a new question. Even if we’re working through the starter questions we shared in an agenda beforehand, the nature of a discovery session is that we’re all taking in new information, so we need to give a bit of processing time.

And if the same people keep speaking up while others remain quiet, we as the facilitator have an opportunity to intervene. Often this means asking specifically for a thought from someone who hasn’t shared yet. (Ideally, in laying the ground rules for the session, we shared that we really want to hear from everyone. This makes the mid-session nudge less awkward.)

We typically don’t call on someone by name unless we already have considerable relational capital and trust built up. If we really didn’t hear from someone in the group session but we sensed that they were on the edge of sharing, we can circle back with them after the session. “I really do want to hear your thoughts on this topic. Are you comfortable sharing just with me or maybe in writing?”

If the idea of leaving several seconds of silence in a meeting terrifies you, we encourage you to think back to a one-on-one mentoring or counseling conversation you’ve had. What was the flow of the session? Were one of you always speaking? What did or didn’t you get out of the session, and what dots can you connect between the structure and the outcome?

We hope you’ve had the benefit of generous, spacious silence. And, if we see you in a discovery session soon, know that we have a knowing glance and a smile ready for those moments of silence, as we exercise curiosity and aim to gain as much understanding as we can!