Sizing the problem

Every FAST coaching conversation is built on quantum questions, but sometimes you need more information before you are satisfied that the tangibles have been identified. This is where it can be helpful to size the problem.

Your staff member delivers a torrent of information relating to an issue that is impacting on their performance. As you listen it becomes difficult to separate out the issues, and to know where to begin. A shortcut route is to ask them to physically draw the problem and those things that are impacting on it as a series of circles, and to consider how large or small each circle should be.

E

Sally is about to go on maternity leave just as a series of initiatives she has been involved in are coming together. She has a team in which she has a strong role as the nurturing mother, and she is concerned that they will not perform to the same level if she is not there to drive their delivery.

While she knows it is irrational, she hates the thought of someone standing in for her while she is away, and perhaps changing things that she had planned to do herself.

The presenting issue is sustaining performance while she is away.

Affecting team performance are a number of issues, which Sally then places within the circle.

Visualized in this way, Sally is able to recognize that it is herself, rather than the skills of her team, that is her main concern, and her Manager Coach can work with her on planning for going on maternity leave and managing the transition back.

C

S

Ray had been offered a job by a friend. It offered the possibility of great earnings in the longer term, but it also would mean a total commitment at a time when he was about to become a father. He was excited by the job offer, but said he could not take it because his wife would not want him to take on more responsibilities at this time. He was also not sure if he had the best match of skills for the role, and was concerned at letting his friend down. After to-ing and fro-ing between the various options, his coach asked him to map out the issue as a series of circles, whose size represented their importance in his mind.

Ray interpreted the exercise in his own way and represented the circles as seen in Figure 6.7.

Sustaining team performance

Fear of being sidelined

Losing influence on key initiatives

Team not having the skills to deliver on key objectives

Team not doing things my way Losing

confidence in my

management skills

Figure 6.6 Sally’s interpretation of the issue

When he looked at the issue visually it became clear to him that his partner was not putting any pressure on him. She was happy to go along with whatever he decided. However, he had a real anxiety about not being there at an important new stage in his life and it was this, rather than the skills issue, that was holding him back from agreeing. He was able to use the information to define how the job would need to be if he was to be able to commit to it, and to then discuss it with his friend.

Expressing it openly allowed his friend to share his concerns that the timing of the job was not right for Ray. They were able to agree that he should not take on the job at this time, but that he would offer some paid consultancy on areas where he had particular skills. Their friendship remained intact and Ray felt better for having acknowledged his own feelings rather than deflecting them as being those of his partner.

Sizing the problem is a useful tool for working with individuals who are getting lost in multiple aspects impacting on an issue.

For visual thinkers, being asked to draw something can be more comfortable than continuing to talk about it. They enjoy the process of getting the sizes right, and it provides a shortcut in their thinking.

For auditory thinkers, who will talk long and fluently about an issue, cutting across their usual pattern by asking them to stop talking and draw

The Job Offer

Partner’s concern about the job Wanting to be

around during his child’s early years

Anxiety about own skills Fear of

upsetting a friendship

Figure 6.7 Ray’s interpretation of the issue

will challenge them. However, it often provides the rapid clarity that their words are not providing.

E

Experiment for yourself. Identify an issue that is currently unresolved because you have multiple perspectives on it. It could be work-related, or it could relate to your home life, e.g. deciding where to go on holiday, deciding whether to spend more money on your home or to move.

Identify the perspectives that are crowding into the issue and preventing you from committing to a decision. These could be factual or emotional.

Draw them out according to the size of importance they have in your mind, as they relate to the decision.

Reflect on whether drawing them out in this way puts a different perspective on the issue and what you need to focus on in getting the decision right.