Option Solving Blog

Last time we considered a number of options for pulling the company’s leadership together, bearing in mind there are now 2+ new members. In considering their six sub-options they opted for D: Have monthly strategy sessions commencing 3.00pm onwards + dinner.

Since the key team members were more than familiar with the option solving approach, they set about posing a new rational question, which looked like this: “Peeling the Onion: Option D – What is our best approach for running monthly strategy sessions with our key leadership team for 6 months; considering 1) willingness to devote the time, 2) two new members have joined the team, 3) need a compelling purpose to unite the team, and 4) we have a bright future?” We only used 4 primary considerations so as not make such an overall question too complex for our general sensibilities.

They then moved into finding two yin and yang “bookends.”  These would be used as extreme unlikely possibilities and serve as bookends to help focus their intuitive minds toward their most realistic options. Bookends like these are vital for preventing people’s imaginative intuitive minds from losing focus away from the issue at hand.

The yin and yang bookends that came through were: “Give one try and then drop it, if members are not sufficiently interested” and “Offer big team bonus if team sticks it out for 6mths,” both of which were unlikely possibilities in the circumstances. However, they would again serve the purpose of inducing more realistic possibilities into their thinking – see our Latest Worked Example on the blog site.

Now that their bookends were in place, they created the necessary focus for producing at least five realistic options, so as to stretch the number of available possibilities. They ended up producing six to make allowance for their key team to produce their own favored option(s). Such bookends also aided pinpointing all likely and realistic possibilities. They then turned to emotional distancing to help choose an optimum solution. Feel free to review their potential six in our Latest Example, one of which was: “Option-F: Have an enjoyable social get-together after every session.”

With their “pictogram” potentially ready for a decision point, they now pursued some emotional distancing: which could be a couple of hours, several hours, or end at “getting-out-of-bed-time” the following morning: a great time for an epiphany –providing you don’t then second guess yourself. If you second-guess yourself, you’ve pretty much lost the whole benefit of option solving.

Emotional distancing would allow them to utilize their intuitive minds to the fullest extent in scanning their sub-conscious range of options: against so many similar life experiences and choices, thereby seeking an optimal solution. Which option would you have chosen?

By using “Peeling the Onion” they were able to dig deeper to discern the best approach to their choice. In this instance, they wouldn’t wait until the following morning. They’d probably decide within 2-3 hours of emotional distancing and then act accordingly.

If you have an example of your own, please share it with this blogger, through the COMMENTS area.  Thanks Option Solving. (NOTE: Next posting will be in two week’s time: “What is my best approach for handling a sensitive prospect situation?” Let’s have your COMMENTS or go to peter@ileadershipsolutions.com to connect with the blogger. Also consider buying the book: “Smart Decisions: Goodbye Problems, Hello Options” through amazon.com)

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It is not unusual for a growing company to outgrow its existing leadership team and therefore feel the need to revamp with some fresh talent. So, once it moves through those steps and finds itself with a combination of fresh executives and existing members, it senses the requirement to pull them together as early as possible. A case in point is particularly churning through your editor’s mind.

The owners have become familiar with option solving over time and therefore use it to help them decide. Hence they set about posing an initial rational question, which looked like this: “What is our best option for pulling our revamped leadership team together; considering 1) we’re growing nicely, 2) our organization is in good shape, 3) morale is good across the board, 4) we have ambitious intentions, and 5) our executive team is a mixture of new and established players?” Here they used 5 primary considerations, although we normally recommend 4 so as not make such overall question too complex for our general sensibilities.

They immediately set about devising two yin and yang “bookends.”   These would be used as extreme unlikely possibilities and serve as bookends to help focus their intuitive minds toward their most realistic options. Bookends like these are vital for preventing people’s imaginative intuitive minds from losing focus away from the issue at hand.

The yin and yang bookends that came through were: “Demand that they work closely together” and “Offer a big team bonus if they show strong collaboration over the next year,” both of which were unlikely possibilities in the circumstances. However, they would again serve the purpose of inducing more realistic possibilities into their thinking – see our Latest Worked Example on the blog site.

Now that their bookends were in place, they created the necessary focus for producing at least five realistic options, so as to stretch the number of available possibilities. They ended up producing six to make allowance for their key team to produce their own favored option(s). Such bookends also aided pinpointing all likely and realistic possibilities. They then turned to emotional distancing to help choose an optimum solution. Feel free to review their potential six in our Latest Example, one of which was: “Option-B: Take team away for monthly overnight retreats over next 6 months.”

With their “pictogram” potentially ready for a decision point, they now pursued some emotional distancing: which could be a couple of hours, several hours, or end at “getting-out-of-bed-time” the following morning: a great time for an epiphany –providing you don’t then second guess yourself. If you second-guess yourself, you’ve pretty much lost the whole benefit of option solving.

Emotional distancing would allow them to utilize their intuitive minds to the fullest extent in scanning their sub-conscious range of options: against so many similar life experiences and choices, thereby seeking an optimal solution. What option would you have chosen?

In this case, they decided to share their pictogram with their executive team and invite it to produce a sixth option or more. Then they would encourage the use of “Peeling the Onion” to find the best overall approach to their dilemma, as well as buy-in by their team.

If you have an example of your own, please share it with this blogger, through the COMMENTS area.  Thanks Option Solving. (NOTE: Next posting will be in two week’s time: “Peeling the Onion: What is our best option for pulling our re-vamped executive team together?” Let’s have your COMMENTS or go to peter@ileadershipsolutions.com to connect with the blogger. Also consider buying the book: “Smart Decisions: Goodbye Problems, Hello Options” through amazon.com)

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On more than one occasion in recent times, your editor has discussed situations where people in key positions are not performing in the way they should. In one instance, a client had Mary acting in somewhat of an immature way; although he wanted to retain her talents and commitment within his company. He thought she had potential, if it could be developed in the right way.

Since he was fully aware of the option solving technique, your editor encouraged him to apply it in this instance. He therefore created his initial rational question, which came through as follows: “What is my best option for getting Mary onto an optimum career track; considering 1) she likes to be somewhat different, 2) she’s a relatively ambitious person, 3) she doesn’t take criticism too well, and 4) she’s a rather proud person?”?” Again, he was using 4 primary considerations, so as not make his overall question too complex for our general sensibilities.

He now created two yin and yang “bookends.”   These would serve as extreme unlikely possibilities. Such bookends would then help focus his intuitive faculties toward his most realistic options. Bookends like these are vital for preventing people’s imaginative intuitive minds from losing focus away from the issue at hand.

The yin and yang bookends that surfaced were: “Demote or transfer her to another area of the company” and “Send her on a personal sabbatical for 6 mths,” both of which were unlikely possibilities in the circumstances. However, they would again serve the purpose of inducing more realistic possibilities into his thinking – see our Latest Worked Example on the blog site.

Once his bookends were in place, they presented him with the necessary focus to produce at least five realistic options, so as to stretch the number of available possibilities. He ended up producing six, which aided pinpointing all likely and realistic possibilities. He then turned to emotional distancing to help choose an optimum solution. Feel free to review his potential six in our Latest Example, one of which was: “Option-B: Send her to Center of Creative Leadership in Colorado or Self-Reliant Ldrsp – latter in the wilderness.”

With his “pictogram” potentially ready for a decision point, he now pursued some emotional distancing: which could be a couple of hours, several hours, or end at “getting-out-of-bed-time” the following morning: a great time for an epiphany –providing you don’t then second guess yourself. If you second-guess yourself, you’ve pretty much lost the whole benefit of option solving.

Emotional distancing would allow him to utilize his intuitive mind to the fullest extent in scanning his sub-conscious range of options: against so many similar life experiences and choices, thereby seeking an optimal solution. What option would you have chosen?

Once he made that choice, he was advised to stick with it and then draw up an action initiative involving WHAT, HOW, WHO, WHEN and WHERE to go for allies, for advice, new ideas and encouragement.

If you have an example of your own, please share it with this blogger, through the COMMENTS area.  Thanks Option Solving. (NOTE: Next posting will be in two week’s time: “What is our best option for pulling our re-vamped executive team together?” Let’s have your COMMENTS or go to peter@ileadershipsolutions.com to connect with the blogger. Also consider buying the book: “Smart Decisions: Goodbye Problems, Hello Options” through amazon.com)

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