Folks,

A theme emerged for me last week that I didn't see coming. Yet, when it arrived, it made sense.

A bit of backstory:

Two coaches, one a grassroots coach and the other a creative, came to me with their courses. One was established but getting very little traction, and the other was just getting started — "could I take a look?"

It's not the first time this has happened. I had a financial advisor send me their course a little while back. What's going on?

Then I got it. Validation. But not the useful stuff — the "do you think I should do this?" kind.

It's clearly not enough to have a great idea. It helps, but it's not enough. In the gap between idea and execution sits validation — not the "you always come up with great ideas!" kind, but the "should I, and can I, commit" kind.

So, here goes. A few questions worth sitting with:

Is your idea a solution or a problem? If it's a solution, are you sure it's solving a problem?

If it's a problem, do you have the solution?

And does anyone else care?

Figure that out, and the only thing left is to see if you can create the change you seek.

Let me show you how it works.

The validation question for me is:

Tell me about the last time you changed what you do in your practice, and what changed?

If I am working to help coaches see the choices they make, the first thing to do is ask the question. If they have never stopped to think about their practice — well, the silence is data. And if they have, we have a conversation. No solutions, no answers to imaginary problems. Just information.

The alternative is to ask, "Would it be useful if you could see the choices you make?" What follows is a "yes" or "no" answer. Or much more likely, a confused face.

Choices I face? WTF do you mean!

It's a hell of a shift for a coach who has spent a lot of time learning to be an expert — and as Michael Bungay Stanier points out in The Coaching Habit, being a problem solver is an easy trap to fall into.

If you think you have the solution, maybe you do. Just check to see if you have a problem to go with it 🙂

Have a good week.

Simon

P.S. If you need help "seeing" the choices you make, you know where I am.