Are you constantly solutioneering?
The modern business world is full of metrics, KPIs, results, percentages and we’re berated if we don’t have solutions to problems quickly. Practical ones that we can evoke immediately to give business a profit boost.
“I don’t want problems, I want solutions” yells the Managing Director
Sound familiar?
it’s this context that many coaches find themselves particularly front line coaches with hectic timetables and results oriented targets. And when faced with this scenario, as we coach with the intention of listening and helping the coachee find solutions, we listen with a solution filter.
We don’t mean to, but as we listen, we figuring out a solution. It’s in-built into our DNA to do this and makes us impatient to listen, wanting to move onto solution stage as soon as we can.
This is dangerous, especially when the coachee would benefit hugely from discovering the solution themselves.
Instead switch off your solution filter, listen in the moment, don’t think about what the coachee is saying, just hear them. Listen to their point of view, their issues, problems…hear what they are saying, how they are saying it, try to read between the lines with the emotions and non verbal signals. Use your intuition. Don’t interrupt them, don’t follow up with another question too early, just hear them, appreciate them and playback what they just said, before moving onto the next stage.
So next time you’re in a coaching situation, is your solution filter at the ready? It often is with me, and I have to switch it off deliberately and move into the moment with my listening.
It works – try it.
