Option Solving Blog

A team of executives had recently completed a retreat to formulate a strategic framework, followed by different initiative teams that would put together appropriate activities to move things forward. That done, it was now time to share the overall picture companywide, so that everyone was on the same page and fired up to participate to their best ability. The key team’s challenge: to communicate this picture in the most effective way.
This key team got their heads together to create the right question that would engage their collective intuitive minds…a collective wisdom resource so large, between the seven of them, that it’s virtually impossible to define it. That question started with: “What is our best means for conveying our important company strategic initiatives, considering…”
Finding the right considerations to accompany this question was going to be vital, since these factors would challenge their intuitive mind to search life-experience data bases for similar situations and outcomes. These turned out to be: current budgetary restrictions on company travel, the need to get everyone’s “buy-in,” make any presentation as simple and engaging as possible, and to encourage ongoing participation by everyone. You can see the full question in the Latest Example.
Their next step was to find two “bookends”…almost non-starter options that would help frame the option picture. Ones that immediately came to mind for them were: “Just send everyone a copy of the strategic materials,” which would imply no personal introduction or explanation and “Give everyone a personalized overview of strategic materials” …equally unlikely. Team intuitive minds would naturally reject these extremes, but then come up with more plausible options.
With these in place, they now exercised their collective intuitive minds to produce a more plausible range of options between these two extremes. The third was: “Key team make a video presentation and distribute to all company areas.” You can now take a look at the four other options in our Latest Example.
At the moment their option solving picture was complete, they ventured into some “emotional distancing.” Such activity included reviewing some other unrelated matters for about 10-15 minutes. Emotional distancing makes time for peoples intuitive mind to subconsciously consider past experiences and make trade-offs on each option. Pictures are such a good way of engaging our intuitive mind and sorting out all the implications. It does so with the speed of light. It is incredibly fast. Our intuitive minds also cannot resist answering questions, which nature has trained them to do.
Our group of 7 was now in a good position to make its choice, which it did without any fuss. We won’t reveal this choice because you would end up second guessing them rather than focusing on this great technique. Needless to say, they were happy with their choice. They also had “peace of mind” knowing they had looked at all their other options, therefore were content with their choice. Happy holidays.
If you have an example of your own, please share it with this blogger, through the COMMENTS area. Thanks Option Solving. (NOTE: Next posting in 2 weeks: “Using Option Solving to decide on ‘What is my best option for handling my team’s holiday party?’” Let’s have your COMMENTS or go to peter@ileadershipsolutions.com to connect with the blogger.)

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Quite recently I was talking with an executive about his current career dilemma. He had been in discussion with some potential business partners for some good length of time about joining them. Two of them had recently made their first move and things were beginning to develop rather rapidly. He had no immediate successor. The one woman who could have replaced him left a few months back for another better paid opportunity. He was now wrestling with what to do.
It was natural for me to introduce him to Option Solving, a great way to resolve career dilemmas. So, needless to say, we quickly set to work creating the right question that his rational mind could use to tap into the significant wisdom of his intuitive mind. The question started to build like this: What is my best career move right now, considering…?”
Picking the right considerations was going to be important, since they would challenge his intuitive mind to search for many similar experiences over the course of his school and professional life. He ultimately came up with four: I don’t have an immediate successor, I have outside partners nudging me to join them, my current organization has stood by me for the past four years, and I don’t wish to alienate anyone (especially important when leaving a job).
His next step was to frame things further with two “bookends.” These were the “yin and yang” extreme possibilities that would come to mind from his overall question. The ones that immediately came to mind for him were: “Play along with the situation” and “Build my own empire within XYZ” – in other words, not leave but continue to build on what he had developed so far. It was clear neither of these were appropriate in the circumstances, but they would stir his mind into far more creative activity.
Now these were in place, his intuitive mind was already whirring to come up with a more plausible range of options between these two extremes. The second was: “Make a proposal to XYZ for 25% more resources.” You can find the other four in our Latest Example.
Once all five were in place, we turned this picture over for some “emotional distancing.” We began discussing some other unrelated topics for about 10 minutes. This permitted time for his intuitive mind to subconsciously dwell on the picture of options we had created, as well as make the appropriate trade-offs. Everyone’s intuitive mind does so well at assimilating and evaluating pictures, especially when they have questions attached to them. Our intuitive minds cannot resist questions.
He was now primed to make an optimum choice, which he did pretty readily. We’ll not divulge his optimum choice but leave you to pick the one that you feel best meets his situation. Suffice it is to say, he was happy with his choice, in addition to having that “peace of mind” knowing he had solved another quandary.
If you have an example of your own, please share it with this blogger, through the COMMENTS area. Thanks Option Solving. (NOTE: Next posting in 2 weeks: “Using Option Solving to decide on ‘What is our best means to convey an important company message?’” Let’s have your COMMENTS or go to peter@ileadershipsolutions.com to connect with the blogger.)

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