Our building work has thankfully all but finished and I look back with fond memories of our builders. Not. One foible that used to really wind me up was their ability to bring problems to me on regular basis and this used to cause me all sorts of stress.
Reading at the weekend that Lord Young is tackling the compensation burden of our “Elf “n” Safety” culture, and he has plenty of admirers. Margaret Thatcher said that when he was her trade secretary, he used to bring her solutions, not problems.
Problems, problems, problems who wants them? We want solutions.
Think about when you’re coaching your team in action, and you want to give them some feedback. Do you give your coachees problems or solutions? Do you tell them what they are doing wrong or the phrases they are saying which are not working, or how they don’t listen enough or have a negative body language?
Or do you give them solutions, suggestions and tips to do it differently, ways to make them better than they are. To match your posture with the clients, or to try pausing more often.
And as I look around the house now, all I can see are those problems the builders pointed out to me…getting bigger and bigger…if only they had suggested solutions I might have done something about them at the time.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
