Focus Question: “What’s the real challenge here for you?”
WITHOUT A GOOD QUESTION, A GOOD
ANSWER HAS NO PLACE TO GO.
Clayton Christensen
Symptoms of Proliferation of Challenges
Have you ever made popcorn? One “pop.” Then another. Then
another. And then the popping goes crazy. Problems proliferate in
the same way.
Solution to Proliferation of Challenges
Resist the temptation to do the work and to pick one of the many
challenges as the starting point (even though, no doubt, you’ll
have an opinion on which one it should be). Instead, ask something
like this:
“If you had to pick one of these to focus on, which one here
would be the real challenge for you?”
Coaching the Ghost
“What,” you say with genuine curiosity, “is on your mind?”
“John.”
“John?”