15 Minutes Coaching: A "Quick & Dirty" Method for Coaches and Managers to Get Clarity About Any Problem (Tools for Success)

by Shmaya David

In life we often need to do some analysis. Go too deep into the details at once, and you could get confused. Do not go into details, and your understanding remains superficial. I believe that

Introducing the second lens I ask the client to list down all the different issues that resides under the general "My Work" header. When this is done face to face, I can actually draw a new wheel and ask the client to fill it up with this information. However, as I usually do this on over the phone or the internet, it is simpler to just have him write a list. Such a list could look something like this: My Work My Boss Time Management Compensation Level of interest My co-workers Overtime cutting into my family time commuting Chances of promotion Respect from colleagues Safety Then, just like with the wheel of life, I ask the client to score each point from zero to five. Zero means terribly bad, five means everything is just great. For this example, I will assume that my client scored it this way My Work My Boss - 4 Time Management - 1 Compensation - 3 Level of interest - 4 My co-workers - 4 Overtime cutting into my family time -1 Commuting - 3 Chances of promotion - 3 Respect from colleagues -4 Health & Safety - 5 Again, I am only interested in the worst scores. I am looking for the "thorn in his backside". In this example, the client noted two issues as "worst", with a score of 1; Time Management and his overtime cutting into his family time. I could randomly choose one and continue. However, to me, such a situation indicates that these are two aspects of the same problem. If the prospect knew how to manage his time efficiently, he would probably not have a problem of n...

1. If you had a year to come up with a plan to fix your problem, what is the one thing that you could come up with? 2. If you had only one week to devise

a solution, what could you do to take your first idea and compress it from one year to a week? 3. Based on 1&2; what can you go ahead and implement tomorrow morning that would help you fix your problem?

Joseph introduced himself as a software engineer, married with 2 children. When I asked what made him go looking for a coach, Joseph answered that he felt that he is stuck and he feels that he needs a change. Joseph's first lens came out like this: 2: Joseph's First Lens Joseph gave the lowest scores in this lens to "Recreation & Hobbies" and to "Prospects for the Future". I chose to go with the future and asked Joseph to create his second lens, which came out like this: 3: Joseph's Second Lens In this case, the lowest score was given to work, with low scores also given to fulfillment, health and ratio of work to free time. Combined with the information gathered through the first lens I could conclude that Joseph is has a good job, but that he does no wish to continue doing it, and in fact, it is probably this job that stands between him and want he really wishes to do, as well as denying him the time to enjoy free time and keep pay attention to his health. Joseph confirmed this assessment by explaining that his job is interesting and challenging, and pays quite well, however, it requires very long hours, and he no longer enjoys it as much as he used to. Answering the three questions, Joseph came up with the following solutions: Question One If you had a year to come up with a plan to fix your problem, what is the one thing that you could come up with? Joseph: I would like to teach. I think that I can be a good teacher. If I could find a way to support my family I would ...