What’s one skill that virtually every job posting includes?
What’s that same skill that almost everyone makes sure to include on their resume?
If you guessed being a good problem-solver, bingo! You’re right.
Regardless of the industry, good problem-solving is a must.
Face it: If you have the unfortunate experience of breaking your leg, you definitely want a doctor who can:
Diagnose the problem
Figure out how bad the break is
Identify other damage that may have occurred
Take the right steps to repair the break and any other damage . . .
. . . and return you to full functioning as soon as possible.
Right?
Or, say you open the cupboard beneath your kitchen sink and find the base horribly warped and moldy because of a slow, steady leak. You want a plumber who can:
Get down under the sink to do a full investigation of the problem
Find the source of the leak
Fix it for good . . .
. . . and not cost you a whole month’s salary.
Right?
But not every problem is best addressed by the approach illustrated by the examples above. These follow a very basic 4-step problem-based model: assess, diagnose, find cause, fix.
In fact, when it comes to human behavior (not broken legs or leaky pipes), a wholly different approach may prove far better, far quicker . . . and a lot more pleasant.
Let's dive into this a little bit more by following the stories of two fictional characters. We'll call them Problem Paul and Solution Sally.
Both Problem Paul and Solution Sally have big pitches to make for their company. Both are relatively new to the company and a lot is on the line for them. The company doesn’t flat out say it, but both Sally and Paul are in a period that their boss considers “probationary.”
If they do great jobs at their pitches, their boss will make a big check mark in the “made a good choice, hired right” column for new employees.
If they screw up their pitches, well, that’s a whole different story . . .
You can imagine that Problem Paul and Solution Sally are concerned about how they’ll do.
So what, in fact, do they do to prepare?
Problem Paul’s heart sank when he first was given the assignment because he hadn’t done many pitches in his previous position. He thought about the last one he’d done and remembered that it hadn’t gone as well as he would have liked.
It’s true that Problem Paul made the sale and his clients ended up pleased with what he and his team had created for them. But Paul’s clients hadn’t bought everything he had proposed nor did they end up paying as much money as the company had hoped for.
The memories of the gap between what Paul had hoped to do with the pitch and the final result haunted him as he prepped for his new pitch. In fact, those memories acted like a wet blanket not only on his creative process but on his motivation.
He became consumed with worry: Would he do better this time? Or, would he repeat his last adequate-but-not-great performance?
Within a short time, Paul was tied up in knots. And that made procrastination a very attractive option . . .
With just a few days to go before the presentation and nothing done yet, Paul finally bit the bullet. He cleared his desk, opened a fresh doc on his computer, and got down to business. First, he reviewed the specs for the pitch. Then, he went back to reflect on the several spots in his last pitch that had gone badly. Finally, he cobbled together a plan for fixing what had gone wrong.
But without much time left, it was down to the wire.
Solution Sally, faced with the same challenges, took a different route.
Like Paul, she also didn’t have a lot of experience making pitches. Those she’d given before had gone well enough, especially for a first-timer. They weren’t perfect, far from it. But her company did make money. And, she opened the door for ongoing relationships with clients that continued to be profitable.
When Sally first got her new assignment, she was a little concerned, a little anxious, and even a little fearful because of her limited experience. And just as Paul had done, Sally also reflected on her past performance. But she knew that any problems she’d had in the past weren’t the problem. The issue was what she had to do to succeed in this new situation.
So, instead of beating herself for what didn’t go as well as she would have liked in the past, she started by zeroing in on what had worked for her.
By the way, Sally’s zeroing in was a lot more than a quick fly-by at 30,000 feet.
Instead, Sally examined, in fine detail, the many things she did that contributed to her previous success.
Every factor--from what she did independently, the help she got from other people, the tools and processes she used, the little rewards she gave herself as she hit milestones along the way, and even the working environment she created to help her concentrate, minimize distractions, and maximize her productivity--went into her examination.
At the end of the process, she had a clear idea of the many strengths and skills she had used to succeed. She knew what worked.
Sally also revisited the things that didn’t go as well as she would have wanted. With a fresh appreciation of her existing strengths, skills, and resources, Sally realized exactly how she could apply them to do better this time.
By leveraging the many solutions that already existed for her, Sally was confident that she would turn her previous OK-enough performances into A-pluses now and into the future.
In her own way, Solution Sally called on her own hero within to help her make the journey from fearful and anxious to confident.
Of course, her hero’s journey wasn’t like scaling tall mountains or battling wild animals.
But, Solution Sally did answer the call to adventure to do something for which she was relatively untested. She faced her own inner trials: her concern, anxiety, and memories of imperfect performances. By journey’s end, she was able to prove herself because she overcame the trials she faced. And she carried with her the reward of transformation.
So, when you are faced with a new challenge, do you go down the rabbit hole of problems to try to fix them, or do you tap into your own hero within by starting with what’s already working and doing more of it?
What is just one strength, skill, or resource you have right now that has helped you succeed?
Learn how you can use your unique strengths, skills and resources to follow Solution Sally's example during The Hero Within workshop.
Check out all the details when you sign up HERE >>