Option Solving Blog

I was recently made aware of a key executive who had been with his organization for many years, who was forced out of his position as a result of executive board members. There were no clear cut reasons because it was a political rather than performance matter. He was naturally stunned and quite disappointed that he was treated this way. I took it upon myself to figure out what his options might be, if he decided to seek reinstatement.

Once I understood his scenario I set about putting an appropriate question together. This looked like : “What it my best option to be reinstated to my former role, considering I feel I have been treated unfairly, the reasons for being pushed out don’t stack up, likelihood of reputation sullied with outsiders, and Executive Board members feel embarrassed to have me around?” There were several considerations, but these were the top 50% of those listed.

Now I set about devising two Yin and Yang “bookends” to help me frame the most applicable options once the extremes are in place. You can find these in our Latest Example and were as follows: “Let it go,” at one end, with, “Take out a legal action against the Board” at the other. It quickly becomes apparent why these are untenable options and the reasons are stated, but they were good ammunition to inspire the following five options.

One of my five options for this key executive was: “Go to past senior collea-gues to ask them to make an appeal to Executive Board members” …option D. Having shared these options with him, I left him to use some emotional distancing before coming to a decision. Whatever conclusion he comes to, shaped by the tremendous power of his intuition, he would be wise to pursue it. Once he does that, I would be happy to assist him put an action plan together while it was still fresh in his mind. That will give him the impetus to proceed.

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: “Our elderly relative has an abusive housekeeper. What are her options?” We’re always interested in your COMMENTS or go to peter@ileadershipsolutions.com to connect with the blogger.)

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