Option Solving Blog

The two most senior executives within a client company found themselves talking about wanting a senior executive colleague (Jack) to leave the company in the most seamless way possible. They had worked together for a number of years, but the relationship had become more fractious by the day in recent times. There was clearly limited respect among the two sides anymore, with Jack on one side and his two senior colleagues on the other.

A recent blow up between the two sides within the past few days had set the stage for the twosome to seriously consider Jack’s departure. They almost couldn’t stand each other anymore. So came the opportunity to show them the value of Option Solving.

Once they became familiar with the option solving technique, the twosome were encouraged to engage their rational minds for setting an appropriate question to commence the OS activity. With due facilitation, this turned out to be: “What is our best option for negotiating an exit strategy with Jack; considering it may not be easy for him to swallow, our business may flourish better if we go our separate ways, it could take a strain off our leadership team, need to keep discussions quiet until the right time, and risks of discussions becoming fraught and going nowhere?” Several other considerations were discussed, although these proved to be the most pertinent ones.

Now they had to convert this question into options. They started with pinpointing two “bookends” for setting option boundaries. These bookends, because they are really not viable, will spur the creative, intuitive minds of the twosome to find their most plausible options. After some due discussion they produced: “Had enough. Ask Jack to leave tomorrow ,” at one end, with, “Continue current struggle in the hope it will work out – status quo” at the other. You can see why neither were acceptable in our Latest Example.

The stage was now set to develop at least five. In fact, one of these proved to be: “Develop joint principles for Jack’s departure and formulate into a legal business agreement”… Option C. Their other four options are available for your thoughts.

Our twosome were then encouraged to sleep on this Option Solving pictogram overnight as a form of emotional distancing. A natural break like this would create the opportunity for their intuitive minds to draw upon their many life experiences for comparable situations and then produce an optimal choice when the time came. This would happen immediately they woke up, since their choice would be ready and waiting.

Once they made their choice, they were to formulate an action initiative, while their choice was top-of-the- mind. A good time to figure out what next steps to take. If you have an issue example of your own, please share it with this blogger, through the COMMENTS area.
Thanks Option Solving. (NOTE: Next posting in 2 weeks: “Best way to take care of our elderly, sick relative?” We’re always interested in your COMMENTS or go to peter@ileadershipsolutions.com to connect with the blogger.)

Filed under: Uncategorized |