Having thought through the different options that could help my friend’s son get his career back on track, he first came up with a sixth option (F) for prior exercise. This was – ‘List practical career options: choose top three – research until decision made.’ My friend then proceeded to pursue another option solving exercise to figure how he could best approach his son to start the ball rolling.
My friend then started this new round of option solving by asking another appropriate question, which was: “What is my best option for approaching my son about getting his career back on track; considering 1) he’s been through a traumatic experience, 2) he’s very capable at certain things, 3) his work experience is rather limited, and 4) he’s not readily open to advice?” For obvious reasons, the question was similar to the prior one, although with a different intent. There were other considerations to these four, although he reckoned these to be the most pertinent ones. So he decided to continue with them to keep his ultimate approach relatively simple.
Again he went ahead and produced two yin and yang “bookends,” as these would also further aid his son’s focus. Bookends such as these are vital for preventing people’s fertile intuitive minds from wandering and losing focus. We are mostly unaware of how powerfully valuable but foot-loose our intuition can be unless properly focused.
Those bookends turned out to be: “Leave it in abeyance,” will possibly allow him to drift, and “Find a way to confront him,” would likely backfire. We italicized why they were his least likely options. Even so, they got my friend’s intuitive mind working and he produced six realistic options (A-F) – see our Latest Worked Example.
He was now ready to pursue emotional distancing – a form of objective thinking – before making his choice…perhaps after 2 hours, later that day thinking, or first thing the following morning. He ultimately decided to pursue Option C – Take him out to lunch and approach him about his options. Suddenly he realized he needed to decide how best to broach the subject over lunch, so now ‘Peeling the Onion’ was required.
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 a friend’s optimum option for approaching his son about getting his career back on track- Option C: Take him out to lunch…How do I broach the subject at that lunch?” 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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