23. |
Focus on What Is Working |
In his wonderful book Breaking the Rules, Kurt Wright writes about employing intuitive questioning as a means to solving problems within an organization.
One of the key questions, which I consider quite powerful and which I use regularly, is “What’s working?” In any situation, either at work or in your personal life, you can use this value-finding question to tap into your creativity and solve problems, regardless of their scope.
We tend to do the opposite. We typically look at what’s wrong in a situation and attempt to solve it from that perspective. The problem with that, as they say in New England, is that “you can’t get there from here.” You cannot be on the same wavelength of the problem and expect to devise effective solutions. It’s as Albert Einstein said: “You cannot solve a problem from the same consciousness that created it.”
By shifting your focus from what’s wrong to what’s working, you will be able to tap into your intuitive, creative right brain and to find new ways of accomplishing your objective. This technique is especially applicable to sales teams. A traditional sales meeting goes like this: The sales manager announces that sales are down for the quarter and begins asking (note the perspective here), “What’s wrong?”
The salespeople in attendance begin coming up with all sorts of reasons (excuses) for the poor performance. They blame the economy (everyone’s favorite whipping boy), government regulations, their health (“well, I was not feeling well, you know”), and whatever else they can think of to answer the disempowering question. After all, you can’t not answer the boss’s question, can you?
Since like attracts like, the entire meeting takes a downward turn. By the time the meeting is over, everyone is depressed as they head back to their desks. How likely are they to have a productive day of selling?
On the other hand, by using the value-finding approach, the team will begin discovering more and more things that are working. The conversation will remain positive, and people will begin coming up with creative solutions to the problem at hand.
Rather than following the typical meeting format and sitting around talking about all the problems and all the things going wrong, including the economy — an exercise that does a little more than suck the energy out of everyone present — ask the question, “What’s working?,” and you will create a new powerful, positive, upbeat dynamic, which will lead to more of the same. This is the first in a series of questions that I use with my business coaching and consulting clients as well as in my own business. It has proven, over a ten-year period, to be an invaluable tool for growing not only my clients’ businesses but also my own.
I am not suggesting you ignore problems, just that you minimize their impact and never, ever allow them to set the tone of a meeting. If I want to explore what’s wrong or not working, I can find endless reasons (excuses). But as a manager or business owner do you really care why sales are down, or do you want to change things?
Assuming that you would rather change the situation, where is the payoff in studying the problem? By identifying what is working, and employing other value-finding questions, you will learn what actions and activities are succeeding, and from there, you will be in a position to do more of what is actually working in order to grow your revenue.
By asking the “What’s working?” question, you will stop spending time on low-value, low-return actions and concentrate your efforts where you are already succeeding.
By the way, this practice is critically important but rarely used when businesses evaluate their advertising. Too many business owners continue to buy worthless advertising simply because it’s “what we’ve always done.” If you measure your advertising against the “What’s working?” yardstick, you may be surprised at what you learn.
The good news is that you can stop wasting money on what’s not working and invest more in the activities and the media that are bringing you results. The net result of this is a big “cha-ching.”
I can personally attest to the effectiveness of this technique. Each Monday morning my wife, Georgia, and I do this exercise for my business. To be perfectly honest, there are days when the list of what is working is pretty short; however, as a result of focusing on what is working, no matter how sparse, we align with the power of the law of attraction. Sometimes, even before the end of the day, we can add to this list since new opportunities come into our lives.
Whenever you find yourself stuck or feeling down about a situation, employ this simple technique and watch your circumstances improve.