Option Solving Blog

Faced with a forthcoming trip to the UK within a week a couple of weeks ago, to visit relatives and friends, I was left pondering my best option for renting a car at the UK airport once I got there. Fortunately there were several options, so applying Option Solving, to ensure I adequately considered them all, seemed the right thing to do.

Moving straight to formulate my question it came out as follows: “What is my best car rental option for my forthcoming UK trip; considering 1) overseas airport rental, 2) Europe more expensive than US – barring exchange rates, 3) full-rate by the clock: bargain rates by full 24 hr rates, and 4) appropriate insurance issues?” There were other possibilities, too, but I kept my considerations to these top four choices so as not to overly complicate my dilemma question.

With my question ready, I needed to devise two yin and yang “bookends” for focusing my intuitive mind to figure out my most viable option. My bookends were as follows: “Show up and rent” and “Treat self to luxury rental.” Take a look at these option framers in our Latest Worked Example.

Now it was my task to formulate at least five realistic options for ultimate consideration. Option Solving prescribes that you produce a minimum five, in order to stimulate the broadest genuine thinking.  In this instance we have defined six alternatives in our Latest Example – one is: “Option A: Rent thru regular Avis account at $316.00 for 4 days.” Having created this “pictogram,” I set aside some time for emotional distancing. Emotional distancing would allow time for my intuitive-mind to compare this pictogram with my many car renting experiences.

When I returned to this pictogram the following morning, I scanned it briefly and made my choice. My intuitive mind had already come to a conclusion. With my choice made, I immediately set the decision in motion while everything was still top-of-the-mind. Which option would you have chosen?

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 weeks time: “What is President-Elect Trump’s best option as Secretary of State?” 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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Many companies and organizations could find themselves wondering about what would give their customers or clients the greatest degree of satisfaction? It would be useful for them to consider the key options that customers might seek. Getting the right people together in the company to determine this would be a valuable exercise. Of course, they would need to initially be briefed on the option solving technique and then set to work on resolving their initial question.

A typical question could be as follows: “What is likely to provide the most impact on our customers/client satisfaction today; considering 1) a recovering economy, 2) organizations are reinventing themselves, 3) an election year, and 4) adjusting to a changed media/promotional approach?” Again, there are other possibilities, too, but these considerations are likely to be the top four choices without overly complicating such a dilemma question.

With this question now in place, they would devise two likely yin and yang “bookends” for focusing their intuitive minds to produce the most viable options. Typical bookends could be as follows: “Keep a low market profile” and “Get in your customers’ faces.” Take a look at these in our Latest Worked Example.

They would then produce a minimum of five options for ultimate consideration. Option Solving expects that you produce at least five, in order to stimulate the broadest genuine thinking.  In this instance we have defined six alternatives in our Latest Example – one is: “Option F: Your market image.” Having put this “pictogram” in place, your chosen group would need to set aside time for some emotional distancing. Emotional distancing would allow the group time for their intuitive-minds to compare this pictogram with their life- long experiences, which are recorded in their 3 pound brains.

Give them at least 20 or more minutes to focus on other company or organizational issues, while their intuitive minds subconsciously review their pictogram. Then you would ask them to return to a visible view of that pictogram – our intuitive minds prefer to absorb pictures rather than words – to allow them to quickly decide their best option. Those choices are then aggregated to determine their optimum choice. Which option would you have chosen?

Once they have made their choice, they will be encouraged to put together an action initiative straight away to optimize their chosen option while everything is still ‘top-of-the-mind.’

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 weeks time: “What is my best rental car option on a forthcoming UK trip” 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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Having been fortunate enough to have a group of executives to lend their wisdom on another member’s option solving dilemma, where they focused him on “clarifying his firm’s Purpose and Vision:” the prior example meeting executive now faced the decision as to the best way to take his organization with such an exercise.

Since he was now familiar with the option solving approach, he immediately set about producing a question as follows: “From Option D in prior dilemma: What’s our best option for clarifying our Vision and Purpose to increase organization performance; considering 1) need to get my key players on board, 2) we’re feeling a lot of market pressures, 3) have not had much success in the past with “vision” exercises, and 4) unsure about internal resistance?” There were other possibilities, too, but these were his key four choices without overly complicating such a dilemma question.

With his question set, he then produced two likely yin and yang “bookends” for powering his mind’s focus on developing more viable options. His bookends were as follows: “Let our Vision and Purpose evolve through osmosis” and “Hold open competition for outsiders to develop our Vision and Purpose.” Take a look at these in our Latest Worked Example.

He then set about producing a minimum of five options for his ultimate consideration. Option Solving requires that you produce at least five, in order to stimulate genuine thinking.  When you look at his five alternatives in our Latest Example, you will notice one is: “Option E: Include my key team in developing my Vision and Purpose: then roll out – BUT do I have strategic thinkers needed?” He intended to sleep on these and then decide which would be his best option tomorrow morning – not a bad idea for emotional distancing, see below. Note how he was asking himself the question of whether he had the strategic thinkers on his team to play a part in the exercise.

With his “pictogram” ready to go, I encouraged him to give himself that time for some emotional distancing. Emotional distancing would allow his intuitive-mind to compare with his life- long experiences recorded in his 3 pound brain.  Which option would you have chosen?

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 weeks time: “What will have the most impact on Customer Satisfaction?” 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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At a recent executive workshop, where we discussed the use of option solving, one of the participants was willing to share his current dilemma regarding the need to induce greater organization performance effectiveness. He had the great possibility to draw from “the wisdom of the crowd” of executives that were participating in the workshop. In fact, they all had an opportunity to work through a dilemma. He just happened to be the lucky one, pulled out of the hat, to receive “crowd” input on his situation.

He came up with the rational question as follows: “What would be the most valuable approach our organization could take today to increase its performance effectiveness; considering 1) resource limitations, 2) competitive environment, 3) current leadership team, and 4) employee turnover?” He apparently considered other possibilities, too, but these were his primary four choices without overly complicating his dilemma question.

Once he laid out his question, he immediately set about producing two likely yin and yang “bookends” to increase his mind’s focus on generating more viable options. His bookends were as follows: “Complete freedom autonomy” and “High level of micro-management.” You can see these in our Latest Worked Example.

He then gave a lot of thought to producing a minimum of five options and left open a sixth for his key team to produce one or more additional options, once he returned to his corporate offices. By doing this, it would increase the chances of their buy-in to the whole option solving approach. The ‘pictogram’ would stretch each person’s intuitive-creativity as much as possible.

When you look at his five alternatives in our Latest Example, you will notice one is: “Option D: Clarify Purpose and Vision.” This happened to be the collective wisdom choice of all the participating executives in my workshop. So, apart from the possibility that his key team will arrive at an even more appropriate choice, in the sixth ellipse, he already gained some strong advice from these workshop participants.

With his “pictogram” ready to go, I encouraged him to give himself and his team some emotional distancing time, when the moment arrived at a key team event. Emotional distancing would allow their intuitive-minds to compare with their life- long experiences recorded in their 3 pound brain and then revisit their choices.

Once they revisited their pictogram, they shouldn’t spend a lot of time dwelling on it, but rather go with their best intuitive instincts and formulate an action initiative right-away, while the issues and options are still fresh in their minds. Which option would you have chosen?

Their action initiative will consist of:  What –their choice, How –necessary steps to accomplish, Who –will be involved, When –steps will be completed, Where –to go for allies for assistance.

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 weeks time: “Peeling the Onion: Increasing my Organization’s Performance through clarifying our Purpose and Vision?” 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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Not so long ago, I was discussing with a hotel general manager about not getting all the rave reviews he hoped for with his restaurant operation. He and his catering executive had been spending many hours wrangling over the best way forward. From our two-way discussion, we set up a meeting with his catering executive to introduce the idea of Option Solving.

I brought them up to speed on the option solving concept, so they could set about formulating a rational question,  so as to stimulate their whole mind, as follows: “What is our best option for encouraging hotel guests to perceive extraordinary value in our restaurant operation: considering 1) dining is perceived as an amenity, 2) meeting expectations that guest expenses will be reduced, 3) guests are not necessarily educated in restaurant classifications, and 4) we need to offer greater consistency?” They came up with other considerations, too, but these four became their primary ones without overly complicating their quest.

With their question now in play, they set about coming-up with two likely yin and yang “bookends” to become their focusing framework for all other viable options. Their bookends were as follows: “Close down our restaurant” and “Turn-over our restaurant to a local provider.” Take a look and you will see that neither of these were realistic options – see our Latest Worked Example. However, such “bookends” are vital for challenging their intuitive mind to produce the most viable options.

They worked hard to generate a minimum of five options and then went on to produce six. This stretched their respective intuitive-creativity as much as possible. When you look at these six alternatives in our Latest Example, You will notice one is: “Option D: Recover earlier regular business and special event catering.”

Now their “pictogram” was in place, I invited them to set it aside for some emotional distancing. Emotional distancing would allow their intuitive-minds to compare with their life- long experiences recorded there. I encouraged them to allow their subconscious minds to mull it over and pick out their optimal option later that day.

Once they revisited their pictogram, not to spend a lot of time dwelling on it, but rather go with their best instincts. These are likely to produce their most optimal choice. Where they differ, they should discuss their two choices and then agree on one. When that happens, they should formulate an action initiative right-away, while the issues and options are still fresh in their minds. Which option would you have chosen?

Their action initiative will consist of:  What –their choice, How –necessary steps to accomplish, Who –will be involved, When –steps will be completed, Where –to go for allies for assistance.

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 weeks time: “Increasing my Organization’s Performance?” 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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A couple of months ago I was talking with the Country Executive for an international company. While he enjoyed a certain degree of autonomy, he also missed the opportunity to discuss leadership issues, through having his boss’s office just next door; as well as the nearby opportunity for face-to-face meetings seeking specialist advice on sensitive issues. At that moment, he was grappling with the dilemma of how to get closer to his team members and therefore inspire them to even greater levels of performance. Those team members had also hinted at a similar feeling, since they wanted closer involvement with him.

He was already familiar with the option solving concept, so he readily came up with an appropriate rational question as follows: “What is my best approach for discovering my people’s leadership needs: considering 1) a small office team, 2) differing cultural personalities, 3) prefer to provide a loose-lead, and 4) seasoned players not expecting tight-management?” There were other considerations, too, but these were his key ones without overly complicating his quest.

Now that his question was in play, he immediately sought to produce two likely yin and yang “bookends” to act as his focusing framework for all other viable options. These bookends were as follows: “Let team members do their own thing and not bother them” and “Extreme tight control and pester them for answers.” As you can see, neither of these was a likely option in the circumstances, despite being more fringe options – see our Latest Worked Example. However, such “bookends” were useful for challenging his intuitive mind to generate the most viable options.

After further deliberation, he sought to come-up with a minimum of five options, so as to stretch his intuitive-creativity as much as possible. In fact, you can see he produced six options without trying to stretch too far. Looking at these six alternatives in our Latest Example, you will notice one is: “Option C: Quarterly/ six monthly individual sessions focused on progress…. and more.“

Once his “pictogram” was in place, I invited him to set it aside for some emotional distancing. Emotional distancing would allow his intuition to sub-consciously mull over his six options, combined with his initial question, and allow his intuitive mind to absorb the possibilities and compare with his life- long experience base. I encouraged him to sleep on it and pick out his optimal option first thing in the morning when he woke up..

I advised him to immediately work through an action initiative, once he knew his choice, to figure out his course of action while everything was still pretty fresh in his mind. Which option would you have chosen?

His action initiative will consist of What –his choice, How –necessary steps to accomplish, Who –will be involved, When –steps will be completed, Where –to go for allies for assistance.

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 weeks time: “A resort executive’s challenge.” 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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Having decided on Option A in prior blog –“Don’t bother with advance tickets – buy on the spot” – my wife and I proceeded on our journey to Milan. We had booked to catch the first of two daily trains between Milan and Nice, France at 11:05 AM. However, once aboard our plane in New York we experienced a ground delay of 2½ hours which would put us at least 1½ hrs late at Milan’s Malpensa airport. It would take us 52 mins. by commuter train to reach Milan’s Central Station to catch our train to Nice.

I spent much of our overnight flight contemplating our options, in between naps, with occasionally consulting a worried wife. I mapped out our question as follows: “What is our best sub-option bet in view of a late plane arrival in Milan’; considering 1) wait 3½ hrs for only other train to Nice, 2) getting a refund on train tickets, 3) expense of other options, and 4) communication difficulties in foreign country?” We had other considerations as well, but these were our main ones without overly complicating our situation.

With this question in mind, I contemplated two likely yin and yang “bookends” to act as our framework for all other viable options. These bookends were as follows: “Put our hands in divine providence” and “Hire a helicopter.” Neither of these were viable options in the circumstances, even though they are clearly options – see our Latest Worked Example. However, these “bookends” were useful for challenging our intuitive minds to come up with the most likely viable options.

I eventually produced the minimum of five options, so as to stretch our possibilities as much as possible. I asked my wife for her thoughts, when there was an interlude between in-flight movies J,  so she would feel included. From these alternatives in our Latest Example, you can see one is: “Option C: Rent a car and drive 5-6 hours to Nice.”

Our emotional distancing occurred as we were coming in to land, with another retake depending on how long it would take to collect our bags. Emotional distancing would allow us to sub-consciously mull over all five options combined with our initial question.

Fortunately our bags came through pretty quickly, since we were in business class, so we made our choice of “Option D –Hope for a miracle and still catch planned train in 1hr 15 minutes time.” Which option would you have chosen?

Fortunately the miracle happened, as our train was 5 minutes late in leaving, in an absolutely packed train station, with the additional challenge of traversing 19 platforms with suitcases. A helpful rail worker helped us to discern the required platform.

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 weeks time: “An executive’s leadership options.” 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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Virtually a month ago my wife and I were facing a travel dilemma our planned arrival at Milan Malpensa airport eleven days ahead, and intent to use a rail link to Milan’s Central station, prior to catching a train to Nice, France. There was method in our madness of making this inter-country play, which I won’t bore you with. Since we would be tired from an overnight flight, we wanted to catch the mid-morning train – one of two trains per day. That would leave us a 3 hour window to catch our onward train once we arrived at Malpensa. We tried several times to book tickets through the train company’s Website, to save on-the-spot time, but the site seemed to be malfunctioning and so our dilemma multiplied.

With that I resorted to Option Solving to resolve our time-travel dilemma of getting between Malpensa and Milan Central. The question I came up with looked like this: “What is our best option for a Milan Airport to Milan Central Trenord train: considering 1) the convenience of having tickets in advance, 2) Trenord’s Website is malfunctioning, 3) will possibly require an overseas call, 4) likely language difficulties, and 5) limited time window for our mainline connection” There were other considerations as well, but these were our key ones without making things overly complicated.

Now that our question was ready, I produced two likely yin and yang “bookends” to act as our framework for any viable options. These bookends were as follows: “Take a taxi” and “Rent a car at airport instead.” Neither of these would clearly resolve our issue, given the circumstances, even though they are clearly options – see our Latest Worked Example. However, these “bookends” are used to help stimulate the minds of any participant’s intent on solving their dilemmas through more optimal solutions, since they are provocative.

I then produced a minimum of five options, so as to stretch our possibilities as much as possible to figure-out a minimal number of helpful options. I would then ask my wife for her suggestion so she would feel included and more likely buy-into our final choice. From the six given alternatives in our Latest Example, excluding my wife’s proposal, you can see one is: “Option E: Call New York Italian tourist office for other booking options.”

When we author our next blog in two weeks, you will see my wife’s contribution in the pictogram, as well as learn about our emotional distancing activity to allow our intuitions to choose our best option. Emotional distancing would allow us to sub-consciously mull over all six options combined with our initial question. Once we made our choice, the chances are we may have to consider Peeling the Onion to figure out the best sub-options for implementing that choice. At least we were now ready to handle the situation. Which option would you have chosen?

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 weeks time. It will further deal with our travel issue through: “Peeling the Onion: Our best train option in Milan, Italy?” 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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Business development issues come up on a regular basis, especially during these tougher times. So, true to form, I was enjoying breakfast the other morning with someone I know in the consulting field, when the issue of business development came up. She started talking through the various options she had, when I stopped her short to talk through the benefits of option solving. She liked the idea, so we immediately applied it to her situation.

Without further ado, we started to develop an appropriate question to spark her creative juices and turn-on particularly helpful options. Such a question, with appropriate considerations would form a framework for assembling likely possibilities. After some thought, her question looked like this: “What is our best option for business development right now: considering 1) the marketplace/economy continues to be slow, 2) traditional methods are virtually dead, 3) using social/electronic media are tough to master,  4) it’s essential to reach senior decision makers, and 5) I now have a stronger message and value” She had other considerations, too, but these were her key ones so as not to make things too complicated.

Now her question was ready, I encouraged her to produce two appropriate likely yin and yang “bookends” to act as a framework for any viable options. These bookends were as follows: “Sit back and wait for prospects to emerge” and “Use the services of a marketing agency.” Neither of these would solve her issue, given the circumstances, even though they are clearly options – you will see why in our Latest Worked Example. However, these “bookends” are there to help stimulate the minds of those intent on solving their dilemmas through more optimal solutions.

I then quietly challenged her to produce a minimum of five options, so as to stretch her mind as much as possible to figure-out a minimal number of helpful options. She, in fact, produced a sixth option that occurred to her, which is fine. You can see these six alternatives in our Latest Example, where one is: “Option A: Compile prospect list and start calling.”

We then turned over this pictogram for a while and continued with our breakfast to allow some emotional distancing to occur. Emotional distancing would allow her mind to sub-consciously mull over all six options combined with her initial question. After a while we returned to her pictogram, where I encouraged her to make a speedy choice. By being speedy she would call on her intuitive responses rather than second-guess herself. Which option would you have chosen?

We won’t reveal her choice, which was based upon the circumstances as she saw them. Even so, once she made that choice, I encouraged her to put together an action initiative while her choice and dilemma issues were still fresh. That way she would reinforce her resolve to proceed and generate the best outcome.

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 on August 5^th following the authors forthcoming vacation. It will deal with a travel issue he has been dealing with: “My best train option in Milan?” 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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When I had written a recent article about organization “in-breeding,” where enterprises get so wrapped up in themselves that they begin to atrophy, I was wondering what picture I could use to illustrate the point. I already had two or three options on file and I created another diagram that I thought would be interesting. I also had the option of finding out what possibilities my daughter may dig up. However, it wasn’t an easy choice, so I decided to make use of my own decision-medicine and apply option solving.

So, as I often advise others to do, I set to work on developing a rational question with considerations, since it’s the first step within option solving, so as to create a framework for any likely possibilities. After some thought, my question looked like this: “What is our optimum picture for use in article: considering 1) daughter put in effort to come up with interesting choice, 2) picture needs to capture people’s interest, 3) topic is not easy to pictorialize, and  4) may open new doors?” There were other considerations, but these were the most important ones so as not to make things too complicated.

With my question in place, I set about producing two appropriate likely yin and yang “bookends” to act as a framework for any viable options. These bookends were as follows: “Drop article all-together” and “Start all over again.” Neither of these seemed appropriate in the circumstances, for reasons indicated – go to our Latest Worked Example. However, they would serve the purpose of stimulating my mind to come up with the most viable options.

I then set about conjuring-up a minimum of five options, in order to stretch my mind to fathom a minimum number of helpful options. I inserted a sixth option to allow any relatives to inject their proposal(s).This would help entice other family members to take part in the decision process. You can see these six alternatives in our Latest Example, where one is: “Option E: Power Point with graphs showing improving- declining performance.”

Once I had received thoughts from family members, I turned my pictogram over on the table and went about my other business for a while to allow emotional distancing to occur. Emotional distancing allows my sub-conscious mind to mull over all my options. When I returned to it, somewhat later on, my intuition was ready to make a choice, where I chose option B. Which option would you have chosen?

With my choice I was ready to act and insert it into my article. I thought it was interesting enough to capture people’s attention, even if it wasn’t the most illustrative possibility. To that extent it served its purpose.

If you would like to review a copy of the article, “The Good Sense of Avoiding In-breeding,” then please contact the author at peter@ileadershipsolutions.com

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: “Another business development dilemma to solve?” 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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