Circular Questions

Comment l'animer

1. 1

   Introduce the technique briefly: explain that you will ask some questions that invite participants to speculate about each other's views — the goal is curiosity, not correctness.

2. 2

   Identify a relevant tension, decision, or topic where multiple perspectives exist in the room.

3. 3

   Pose a triadic question to one participant, asking them to speak from another's perspective. Example: 'If you had to guess, what do you think [name/role] would say is the biggest risk here?'

4. 4

   After the response, ask the person referenced if the guess resonated — what fits, what is different.

5. 5

   Continue rotating the questioning: ask others how they see the relationship between two other parties, or what they imagine an absent stakeholder would think.

6. 6

   After 3–5 rounds, pause for a collective reflection: What surprised you? What new view emerged?

7. 7

   Capture key insights on a flipchart and connect them to the group's actual topic or decision.

Conseils

• Normalize speculation upfront — say explicitly that there are no wrong answers, you are exploring possibilities.

• Use absent stakeholders (customers, leadership, future colleagues) to unlock fresh angles without interpersonal friction.

• Watch for deflection ('I don't know what they think') — reframe it as an invitation: 'Just a hypothesis — what's your best guess?'

• Keep a light tone; overly serious delivery can make people feel put on the spot.

• Works especially well when a team is stuck in positional debate — the shift to 'what would they say' often breaks the deadlock.

Variantes

In large groups, use circular questions as a fishbowl inner-circle exercise. With remote teams, use breakout pairs where partners interview each other from a third-party perspective. For retrospectives, ask 'What would a new team member think about how we handled this?'

Méthodes associées