Transformational Interviewing

How asking good questions can change your community

If it weren’t for editing, I would be a podcaster. I love interviewing people, getting to talk with someone for an extended period of time, asking questions that interest me (and hopefully my audience). That feeling when you ask a good question, and your interviewee gives you an inspiring answer is incredible.

Podcasting was also just a great excuse for me to interview people. I sat with my dad for over an hour and asked him all about his year long road trip in the 1970s in a Volkswagen bus, I talked with my 98-year-old grandmother-in-law and recorded some family stories for future generations, I heard how pastors were adapting various parts of ministry during the covid pandemic. I’ve since retired from podcasting, but I still find interviewing to be a powerful practice.

The Listening Project

Researchers in New York City developed a method of “transformational interviewing” for middle school and high school students to practice listening and build meaningful connection called The Listening Project. According to their website, “The Listening Project addresses the global crisis of connection by teaching educators and students around the world in a framework that disrupts the hierarchy of humanness implicit in modern society and a method of transformative interviewing that breaks down stereotypes, builds connection, improves mental health, and fosters a sense of a common humanity.”

Students interview their teachers, school personnel, and each other, practicing active listening, asking questions based on their own curiosity. One 7^th grader reflected, “It helped me realize how important listening was which helped me discover how if you listen you can make connections.”

The researchers found that through transformational interviewing, schools could become places of active curiosity and connection, which leads to supportive communities and a more equitable world.

Church-Based Interviews

Interviewing can transform your church as well. What would it look like to challenge your congregants to interview one neighbor, to ask good questions, to listen actively, to explore their own curiosity and then report back what they learned? It could change everything!

In the Spiritual Listening Plan I have a neighbor interview activity that you can access for free here. It offers some insights into forming good questions and has some examples.

You don’t need to be a podcaster to interview people. Make up an excuse, go out into the community, and learn from others.