The following is a frequent scenario in my coaching experience. The coachee describes a problem or business challenge concluding with the question - ‘What shall I do?’
My standard answer is – ‘What do you want to achieve here?’ After a bit of stunned silence, typically, the coachee can come up with a clear picture of what he / she wants. And, funnily enough, once the objective is clear the action items are much easier to define.
So, whenever you face a challenge, ask yourself – ‘What do I want to achieve here?’ – ‘What is the desired outcome?’ Sometimes – ‘What can realistically be achieved looking at the (adverse) circumstances?’ Once you are clear in your mind of what you really want, don’t be surprised that often the actionable items just fall into place.
Some examples:
- If you want to discuss career prospect, be clear in your mind what you want and how in your mind that can be achieved. Obviously, you will not always get exactly what you want, however, you can make faster decisions to argue for what you want, or adapt. Also, looking back at my active management time, I never promoted staff who didn’t demonstrate clear thinking and planning for their own career.
- If you have to settle a disagreement with somebody, be clear if you want a good future working relationship and / or settle the issue, or ‘Win’.
- If you are unhappy with a situation, think first about the desired outcome, the way you want things to evolve before engaging in a discussion or deciding your action.
My standard answer is – ‘What do you want to achieve here?’ After a bit of stunned silence, typically, the coachee can come up with a clear picture of what he / she wants. And, funnily enough, once the objective is clear the action items are much easier to define.
So, whenever you face a challenge, ask yourself – ‘What do I want to achieve here?’ – ‘What is the desired outcome?’ Sometimes – ‘What can realistically be achieved looking at the (adverse) circumstances?’ Once you are clear in your mind of what you really want, don’t be surprised that often the actionable items just fall into place.
Some examples:
- If you want to discuss career prospect, be clear in your mind what you want and how in your mind that can be achieved. Obviously, you will not always get exactly what you want, however, you can make faster decisions to argue for what you want, or adapt. Also, looking back at my active management time, I never promoted staff who didn’t demonstrate clear thinking and planning for their own career.
- If you have to settle a disagreement with somebody, be clear if you want a good future working relationship and / or settle the issue, or ‘Win’.
- If you are unhappy with a situation, think first about the desired outcome, the way you want things to evolve before engaging in a discussion or deciding your action.
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