thinking; the tone was even and slightly hard. There were few
pauses in her presentation.
Given the feedback about her style and the likelihood of her
client’s needing to make decisions through a feeling, she
associated into the presentation and changed her tone of voice
to make it softer and lower toned (communicating and inviting
feelings). She spoke with greater certainty, whereas before she
had raised her voice at the end of most sentences. The next time
she presented to this customer they stopped her part way
through the presentation and told her that she need not
continue—they liked what she was saying and she had got the
business. This presentation and subsequent ones broke the
record for time needed for the client to make a decision.
Think of a goal you have for yourself right now. It can be a
personal goal or a work goal. It can be short or long term. Be
aware of how you are thinking about this goal. Are you
imagining what it would be like to achieve the goal, i.e., what
you are seeing, hearing, and feeling? Or are you aware of what
stops you and what you don't want? For example, if you are
thinking of slimming, do you imagine yourself slim and fit or do
you think of the food you want to avoid and the weight you
want to lose? What is in your mind? Your ability to think about
what you really want is known as towards thinking. Your ability to
think about what you don't want is known as away fromthinking.
I have just received a request for some training with the
senior management team of one of my clients. Their request is
framed as follows:
“How to avoid letting strength of personal view get in the way of
management.”
This is a classic “away from” statement. Before I commit to the
work I will want to know what it is that they really want. And I
have drawn some conclusions already!
The concept of towards/away from is explained further in
Chapter 15. In the context of goal setting, people who think
FILTERS ON YOUR WORLD 41