Curiosity Ping Pong

This exercise is perhaps the easiest, most relevant way to spark immediate curiosity, connection and conversation. It is also infinitely flexible and adaptable to different contexts.

Frame It

“Before I share anything that I know with you, I’d love to hear your responses to this question: [fill in your connection before content question here]? … Great! Now seeing (or hearing) each other’s responses, I’d love to start a little game of Curiosity Ping-Pong.”

Objective

Listen to what others have shared. Pay attention to answers that pique your curiosity and follow up with a question to that person. We’ll continue this for multiple rounds to experiment with what happens when we pursue our curiosity.

Guidelines

✓ Respond to the question posed by the facilitator. Ask a question following up on somebody’s response to take the conversation further.

✓ Each question must be directed at a new person that hasn’t shared yet.

✓ Enact the “Law of Unmutation” where everybody is invited to respond and ask a question at any time (i.e., come off mute anytime).

✓ Continue for anywhere between two and seven questions.

Leadership Tips

✓ Start off with a question right off the bat. Don’t over frame the start of this exercise. Just dive in. This sets the tone for contribution—not consumption. And you get a ton of data out first which allows you to personalize the rest of the session.

✓ The ping-pong part happens once all that data is out in the chat or verbally via the popcorn method. Like ping-pong, don’t worry about questions flying around in a variety of directions. Diversity in responses adds spice and intrigue to the conversation.

✓ This is a perfect way, especially when you are remote, to replace the organic connection and conversation that may not otherwise happen in a virtual environment. When used in person, it immediately invites people into the role of contributor which turns the brain on.