Thinking in possibilities
Last weekend, we went out to dinner at a nice restaurant. There were two waitresses who helped us, each with a completely different mindset. One waitress was focused on giving us a pleasant evening, the other on performing her job as well as possible. With both, the order computer malfunctioned. The waitress who focused on taking the order dealt with the failing mechanism and then went to the management with the problem. The waitress who focused on us, the customers, looked for a solution to serve us well. She enthusiastically brought the dishes, took the order by heart, and wrote it down in the kitchen for the chef. Only then did the malfunctioning order computer get attention.
I am curious about examples of problem-oriented and solution-oriented behavior in your teams. You can help yourself and your team(s) to change from thinking in problems to thinking in possibilities by asking good questions. If you hear people thinking in problems, try one of the following powerful questions:
- Suppose you are the best-performing team in this company; how would you solve the problem?
- Suppose it is your own company, and you are at the helm; what would you do?
- Suppose you can’t fail; what would you do?
