TAOI Online Learning - Trio Exercise

TRIO Exercise (45 minutes)

To prepare, please read Trio Exercise page 117 from the paperback and PDF e-book of The Art of Insight or in the Exercise Reference Manual you downloaded.

You need a third partner for this exercise. Once you find one, it's best if either you or your original partner takes them through the previous exercises. If you don't have a third person, it doesn't make much sense to do this exercise. There is no real difference between this trio and the previous duo.

Here is a video illustration:

Summary

Part 1 Stage Setting (90 seconds or less)

•Speaker: Describe a current situation, problem or topic.

•Listeners: Listen silently and quietly.

Part 2 Fresh Thought Hunt (5 minutes)

•Listeners: Swivel chairs and Fresh Thought Hunt.

•Speaker is silent and out of the line of sight of the Listeners.

Hints

Before you try, one of you should read these hints out loud (first round only)

Listeners: Share you Fresh Thoughts while being “overheard” by the Speaker. It’s as if the Speaker is the audience watching a performance on a stage. Don’t ask questions about the content or the situation. Don’t try to solved their problem. Don’t give advice.

Speaker: Sit silently aside. Your instinct will be to analyze, correct or dismiss what the others are saying, but drop those thoughts. Instead look for fresh thoughts and insights, perhaps jotting down on a notepad the thoughts that seem particularly fresh.

Be careful not to judge the listeners based on their lack of knowledge or experience in the subject. Someone with no experience in your issue can with a simple remark, trigger an insight within you.

Reflection and Debrief

Once the Fresh Thought Hunt is done, the Speaker should step back into the mix and comment on the experience. Take up to 2 minutes and report any new insights that may have occurred during the exercise. Also, comment on what it was like listening to the others discuss the topic using only fresh thinking. (2 minutes)

Now the Listeners should join in and describe what the experience was like for them. Everyone should continue to speak only from fresh thought and avoid giving advice. The tendency will be for the Speaker to talk as much if not more than the two Listeners, but this should be avoided to get the best value from the exercise.

This is one complete Trio round. If you like, at this point you can switch roles and repeat the exercise using a new speaker with a new topic.

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If you have any comments, suggestions for improvement or reports of success you

would like to share, please send an email to [email protected]

and reference "Insight Trio" in the subject field.