“Now, I think in general, the challenge with culture change is
that there’s a difference between what the leaders experience and
what the rest of us experience. I heard it called ‘the marathon
effect,’ which means the leadership crosses the line and ‘finishes
the race’ before everyone else. Edgar Schein has some interesting
things to say about it in his book...”
Your heart sinks a little. Maybe she’s never going to get to the
point.
It’s not that this type of conversation isn’t interesting, because
quite often it is. It can feel more like a slightly academic discussion
or an executive summary of what’s going on. What’s entirely
unclear is how it is ever going to turn into one in which a problem
gets identified and solved.
This is the time you need to ask the Focus Question: “So what’s
the real challenge here for you?”
Symptoms of Abstractions & Generalizations
You’re in the midst of a big-picture, high-level conversation about
what’s going on. It’s almost as if the person talking isn’t involved
in it herself but is an observer. Quite often there’s talk about “us”
and “we,” but there’s no talk of “me” and “I.”
Solution to Abstractions & Generalizations
If you feel yourself drifting, you need to find a way to ground the
challenge and connect it to the person you’re talking to. Just as
with Coaching the Ghost, it’s about bringing the focus back to the