One of the key questions we needed to address was as a group what makes us stand apart and what role should we all play individually towards this?
We started listing out some of the potential areas of expertise:
- Decision making process ✔
- Goal setting tools ✔
- Change negative beliefs ✔
- How to increase focus and visualization ✔
- Identifying and working with Values ✔
- Creating action plans ✔
- Building habits ✔
- Create a unique action plan for individuals ✔
However, it soon become very apparent that we all had skills in most of the categories, yet we also knew that we brought our own unique mix of talents, passions, values & experience which led to very different processes and experience for clients.
Tick lists with broad categories are a starting point but they don’t really address the question of what is our key differentiator or put another way, what makes you, you?!
The discussion made me think back to a conversation I had with a client many years ago. She referred to me as a problem finder.
At first you could be mistaken for thinking that was rather an insult, in fact I was a little taken a back when I first heard this. We all have enough problems in our lives without finding more and I had always prided myself on looking for solutions rather than dwelling on the negatives.
However, after explanation and reflection I think she might be right.
With increasing time pressures and fast paced lives when faced with a project or potential issue we can often jump straight into action, start ticking things off our to do list and feel that we’re getting things done, it feels good!
However, we don’t always take a step back to work out what the root cause of the problem may be. Without identifying the right problem, how can we work on the right solution?
As Steven Covey says …
“If the ladder is not leaning against the right wall, every step we take just gets us to the wrong place faster.”
So next time you are working on a solution, make sure your ladder is in the right place.
And if you need a problem finder, you know where to find me!