Do you know someone who is a one-trick pony?
Sometimes, maybe not all the time. But do they have a pattern that they repeat – whether as a person, a leader, a parent, a teacher – that might not be the best answer for every situation?
You can see these patterns in others. The Jokester. The Talker. The Cynic. The Guy Who Always Has the Answer. The Negative Nelly.
Think about that person. You want to have a serious conversation and they joke about it. You want to solve a difficult problem and they point out all the problems but don’t provide a solution. You host a small gathering or a business meeting and they crowd out others’ thoughts or ideas by dominating the conversation.
And you silently eye roll and wish, “Gosh, if they could just shift that one thing, they’d be great.”
Through coaching conversations, 50 leaders in my book, The Shift Effect, did shift that one thing. And that shift made them better leaders; or changed operational results; or brought out the best in other people; or enhanced a key relationship at work.
What’s some result you want at work, at home, with an employee, with a peer, with a child, that so far has been chronically stuck?
And what has been your pattern in dealing with that situation? What is something that you might just do or think “too much” that could be keeping the situation stuck?
For example, are you initiating too much? One coaching partner was puzzled why her employees wouldn’t speak at her meetings, despite the fact that she said, repeatedly, please, I want your ideas. I asked, “Who starts the meetings?” “I do,” she replied.
She shifted, using icebreakers (quick meeting starters) to get her folks’ voices in the room from the git-go. The ideas started to flow. And, the team liked the icebreakers so much, they volunteered to do their own.
You might have a child or an employee who does illogical things. Or employees who don’t initiate. Or peers who won’t cooperate.
What is your pattern in these situations? Are you the one who always wants to provide the answer? Are you the talker? The initiator? The cynic?
What small shift could you make that might get a chronic, negative situation unstuck? A shift in your behavior. Even just a shift in your mindset or attitude.
See more about simple shifts 50 leaders made in my new book, The Shift Effect, now available on Amazon.
If you would like more stories and solutions from The Shift Effect, email tom@tomfinnassociates.com and get on our email list.
