Video: Introduction to The Right Questions Framework

What is The Right Questions Framework? The Right Questions is a conceptual tool to improve critical thinking, decision-making, problem solving and planning. Here is a short introductory YouTube video:

The Right Questions Framework Video Content

The video includes:

  • The story behind The Right Questions
  • Question technique using the seven main interrogatives
  • How the framework relates to decision-making, planning and better thinking

If you would like to find out more, then click on the link to read The Right Questions Framework Guide

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If you want the right answers you have to start with the right questions

About The Right Questions

The Right Questions is for people who want greater clarity, purpose and success. There is a wealth of resources to boost your effectiveness in achieving goals, your leadership of yourself and others, and your decision-making.

Wherever you are on your journey, I hope that you find information on this site to help you on the next leg of your quest. Even if that is just the inspiration to take one small step in the right direction, then that is a success. If you can take pleasure in learning and travelling as you go, then so much the better.

Need help navigating your journey to success?

I love to serve people, helping them unlock their potential, empowering them as leaders, and assisting them in achieving their goals. Please get in touch and let me know how I can support you!

The Right Questions Framework Guide

The Right Questions framework is a process and set of tools to help people who want to:

  • Lead themselves and others well
  • Think analytically and critically
  • Develop effective strategic plans and achieve goals
  • Set priorities and make better decisions

The Right Questions framework is based upon the main interrogative words in the English language, linking each to a key theme and further questions:

Interrogative Use Application
Why Reason Values, principles, priorities, passions
Where Place Situation (past and present), vision
What Thing Mission, end-state, success, USP
Which Selection Options, courses of action, risks, reflection
How Manner Plan, route, tasks, resources
Who Person Self, team, network, relationships
When Time Timing, programming, prioritisation

Navigating The Right Questions Website

To help you navigate the posts that explain the framework, follow the links under the headings below that correspond to the individual posts.

Beside each post, on the right sidebar, you will see the main categories that relate to the posts below. These are:

  • The Right Questions (Background and Overview)
  • Why (Values)
  • What (Mission)
  • Where (Situation and Vision)
  • Which (Options, Risk and Opportunity)
  • Who (Individual, Team and Network)
  • How (Goals, Planning and Resources)
  • When (Timing and Programming)

The Quest – Using The Right Questions on a Journey of Self-Discovery and Fulfilment

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Introduction to The Right Questions Concept

Overview of The Right Questions Framework

Stage 1: Strategic Framing

The initial questions of why (principles, priorities and passions) where (situation and vision) and what (mission, success criteria) provide the strategic framing for any plans we make. The quality of the options we develop to achieve success and the effectiveness of our planning depends largely on the development of the overall strategy.

Why? Values

Principles, purpose, passions, priorities

Where? Situation and Vision

Situational Analysis – where am I now?

Vision – where am I going?

What? Mission, success and end-state

Stage 2: The Reflection Point

The second part or stage is called the ‘reflection point’. In every decision making cycle you consider your options in the light of the situation, the risks and opportunities. This reflection point either takes you back to Stage 1, and a further iteration of refining the Strategic Framing, or onto Stage 3, Developing a Plan, where an actionable plan can be created for the chosen course of action, fulfilling the strategy.

Which: Route, risk, review, reflections

Stage 3: Developing a Plan

The third section on planning uses the questions how, who and when to explore the detail needed to deliver on your desired course of action in alignment with your overall strategy.

How? Planning, Resources

When? Timing, programming and prioritisation

Who? Self, team and network

Case studies, examples and application of The Right Questions

The Right Questions in Organisations

The Right Questions in Coaching Individuals

If you want the right answers you have to start with the right questions

About The Right Questions

The Right Questions is for people who want greater clarity, purpose and success. There is a wealth of resources to boost your effectiveness in achieving goals, your leadership of yourself and others, and your decision-making.

Wherever you are on your journey, I hope that you find information on this site to help you on the next leg of your quest. Even if that is just the inspiration to take one small step in the right direction, then that is a success. If you can take pleasure in learning and travelling as you go, then so much the better.

Need help navigating your journey to success?

I love to serve people, helping them unlock their potential, empowering them as leaders, and assisting them in achieving their goals. Please get in touch and let me know how I can support you!

How To Chunk Down Goals Into Tasks And Milestones To Succeed

How can you fulfil big dreams and visions? How can your overall target be split into goals? What further tasks and milestones should you identify to complete your goals?

Creating a plan to achieve success is all about breaking down our overall mission into smaller, measurable goals. From there we can deconstruct the goals to the point where we have a simple activity, a next step, that is achievable and easily actionable.

In this post, we will look at the importance of having a plan and remaining flexible, then drill down into how to break down the various goals. In the next section, we will then go onto how we go further still and chunk that down to the next actionable step.

Have a plan but remain flexible

Whether you are leading others or just yourself, you are much more likely to succeed – in whatever you want to do – if you have done some planning. If you can produce some sort of written plan, so much the better; especially if you need to communicate your ideas with other people.

Even if you don’t need to share your plans, the writing process still helps. That is because writing information down forces our brains to express our ideas clearly. In psychological terms, writing something makes it more real to us and connects more synapses in the brain, which in turn will make the ideas stick and improve our chances of success.

Going through the process of breaking down a mission statement into goals and steps is a large part of the planning process. When these tasks are connected to the people, resources and time needed to achieve each one, we have a complete plan.

When planning there must be a balance between getting the detail we need to act, while maintaining flexibility to adapt to the situation and unforeseen circumstances. To do this we concentrate on developing more detail for the activities that are closer in terms of time than those that are further off. The more distant the task, the broader and more flexible the approach can be. Circumstances will inevitably force you to amend your plan; hence the process of planning is more important than the plan.

“Plans are worthless, but planning is everything.” – Dwight Eisenhower

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Turning mission statements into action with goals, tasks, and milestones

To take a mission statement and turn it into something actionable we need to break down the overall mission into constituent parts. We then end up with a hierarchy of larger down to smaller activities.

These various elements can be called different things, but I think about the overall vision and mission, and then break this down into various goals. Each goal is then broken down into key tasks, activities, and milestones. This then becomes the basis for the overall plan.

We might not achieve every single goal or task. We may need to adapt our plan along the way. But having targets to aim for is important as it inspires action, builds confidence and helps us gain momentum.

“A goal is not always meant to be reached; it often serves simply as something to aim at.” – Bruce Lee

Once we have a goal we can consider what tasks and milestones will help us achieve our aim.

What is the difference between a task and a milestone? A task is best defined as a piece of work, an activity, that has a certain duration. A milestone is an event, a point in time, that indicates important stages of progression.

Example of breaking down a vision or mission statement into objectives, goals, and milestones: The Shard

Earlier in my career I worked as a project manager on large construction projects. One such project was The Shard in London, the tallest building in the United Kingdom.

Building the tallest tower in the UK was the dream but it was a highly complex project. Not surprisingly this overall idea had to be broken down into manageable chunks to make it a viable project.

The first phase or goal was planning. The next would be demolishing the existing building that existed on the site. The final goal would be to construct the new tower.

Each of these phases had multiple tasks and activities. For example, planning included designing the tower, estimating the costs, and making the planning application. The key milestone at the end of this phase was gaining planning approval which was the green light from the authorities to proceed.

As you can imagine, even for each task there were a myriad of smaller activities that needed to be completed, but when first creating the plan we did not go into the same level of detail for the whole programme. We kept the overall plan as a framework and then added subsequent detail as needed, and that particular stage got closer.

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Examples of tasks and milestones for a personal life goal: The Dragon’s Back

The same process, that I applied professionally as a project manager working on The Shard, can be applied to our own life goals. For example, one target I set myself was to run The Dragon’s Back Challenge, reputedly one of the hardest mountain races in the world. The race covers over 300km of mountain terrain in 5 days. Not surprisingly there is a high failure rate. In the year I completed the race over 800 people signed up, but fewer than 200 finished.

For me, the overall mission was to complete the race. It was simple; I had no set time or place that I wanted to achieve, I just wanted to finish.

Each of the five days could be considered a goal in itself. These stages were 60-70km on average and each was an ultra-marathon on their own. Completing each day became the constituent five goals of the overall mission.

Each day was further broken into four stages, each of about 15-20 km in length. These sections could be considered the tasks or activities making up the goals.

Each day had a start and finish line, along with three further checkpoints, that marked out the stages. Each of these points along the route equated to milestones.

So, as you can see, the overall mission (race) broke down into goals (days), which were then further chunked down into tasks (stages), which then had milestones (checkpoints). To achieve my mission, I had to complete all the tasks and goals. Along the way, I could measure my progress using the milestones.

The Right Questions Route Card Tool

To help with breaking down our overall dream, vision or mission we can use The Right Questions Route Card Tool.

A route card is a document that shows the breakdown of a larger route into smaller sections. For example, when you get directions from an app such as Google Maps, it will break down the journey to list each road and turn you need to make.

Similarly, when planning a hike, it is usual to create a route card that breaks down the whole journey into manageable sections, often using key landmarks or changes of direction as sensible endpoints for each leg.

1. Breakdown the overall vision or mission into goals

We can do the same with our own mission or life goal. When creating our route card, we start by stating that overall dream or goal at the top. We then list out the smaller goals down the left-hand column (as per the picture below). The number of goals may differ for your plan but three to five goals is a good benchmark.

2. Divide the goals into task and activities

For each of these goals, we break them down further into sub-tasks and activities. In the table, there is space for up to five tasks per goal.

3. Add milestone to measure progress

The final column is for milestones. Here you can add the measure that will help you know when you have achieved that specific goal or task.

The Right Questions Routecard Tool

Worked example of using Route Card Tool

For example, your dream might be to start a new career. To achieve this mission you might have several sub-goals such as gaining extra qualifications, researching the sector and applying for jobs. The goal of getting extra qualifications might involve tasks such as choosing the right educational institution, saving up money to pay for the course and then completing the studies. The obvious milestone at the end would be gaining the qualification award but you might also want to add milestones to the other tasks if you find that helpful.

Adding milestones has the benefit of giving frequent moments of achievement. Whenever we hit a milestone it gives us a feeling of satisfaction which boosts our confidence. This is leveraging neuroscience in our favour. Succeeding in a milestone gives us a dopamine reward (the pleasure hormone) which boosts our confidence and helps us press on to the next marker. If we did not break down our overall mission into smaller chunks we would miss out on these little neural encouragements.

Making your own route card of goals, tasks, and milestones

The best thing to do now is to have a go yourself. Take the overall vision, mission or life goal that you thought about in the ‘what’ and ‘where’ sections of The Right Questions Framework, and then use the Route Card Tool to break it down into manageable chunks. You can copy or print out the picture to use if you like or you can create your own template.

And remember, you don’t need all the detail at this stage so use the template to focus your mind on the most important constituent parts needed to achieve your target. Ask yourself:

  • What are the 3-5 key goals I need to achieve to fulfil my overall dream?
  • For each goal, what are the 3-5 major tasks or activities that I need to complete?
  • What milestones will mark the completion of each goal or task, so I can measure progress and celebrate the little wins along the way?

If you want the right answers you have to start with the right questions

About The Right Questions

The Right Questions is for people who want greater clarity, purpose and success. There is a wealth of resources to boost your effectiveness in achieving goals, your leadership of yourself and others, and your decision-making.

Wherever you are on your journey, I hope that you find information on this site to help you on the next leg of your quest. Even if that is just the inspiration to take one small step in the right direction, then that is a success. If you can take pleasure in learning and travelling as you go, then so much the better.

Need help navigating your journey to success?

I love to serve people, helping them unlock their potential, empowering them as leaders, and assisting them in achieving their goals. Please get in touch and let me know how I can support you!

The Next Step: How to Take Small Strides Towards Success

If you want to achieve your goal, what is your next step? When your vision feels overwhelming, what is the one small action that takes you closer to that dream? If you struggle to start towards your objective, what small stride can you take in the right direction?

When goals feel too big

In the previous section, I mentioned competing in the Dragon’s Back race, and how I broke down the overall race into various goals, tasks and milestones. That played a huge part in my overall success in the event, but there were times when even the next task or milestone felt too big.

There were moments during the race when I wanted to give up. The fourth day was probably the worst for this. By that stage of the race, I was physically exhausted, having already completed three ultramarathons over three days. My feet were in constant pain due to sores, created by blisters that had rubbed raw. And now I had to complete the longest section of the course, over the dullest, wettest terrain, a place called Elan Valley.

Make the big seem small

With my physical and mental strength at their lowest ebb, the thought of even another few kilometres became overwhelming. My brain was screaming out that it was impossible to go that far, and so I made deals with myself. I broke everything down even further. When it got tough I promised myself that in another five minutes I could have a snack. When it got worse still, I told myself that all I needed to do was jog the next hundred metres, and then I could walk for the hundred metres after that.

I completed the day within the cut-off time and could therefore progress to the final day. That evening, the thought of doing yet another ultramarathon the next day felt impossible. So yet again I made the big, small. I told myself that the only thing I needed to do the next day was to put on my running shoes. That was all.

The next day I did put on my shoes and so I set myself a new step of getting to breakfast, then getting to the start line, and so on until, many hours later I found myself staring at the finish line. It felt surreal to have done something that had felt so distant and difficult for so long. But I had completed it, one step at a time.

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Taking the first step towards your goal

So, this brings us to the final constituent part of our planning, the ‘step’.  This is the smallest and yet probably the most crucial part.  Defining the first or next step is important because many jobs and goals are never initiated, as it is too daunting to start, or they stall because the next step is not defined.

There is a known psychological hurdle when getting going on any task.  For example, a clean sheet of paper can lead to a mental block.  To overcome this an artist may give a blank canvas a simple wash of colour that will be painted over, or a writer may type a few lines on an empty page that may later be deleted. The first strokes or words don’t matter. What matters is that we switch from deliberation to action. Neuroscientists explain that this change of mindset improves our focus and confidence, instantly improving our chances of success.

So, whatever venture we are initiating, we need to make a small step in the right direction to get over the inertia of going from immobile to mobile.

“The Scandinavians have a phrase the “doorstep mile”, meaning that the first mile away from your front door is the hardest of all” – Alastair Humphreys

The Right Question Tool: Put on your shoes and take a STEP

One useful strategy when starting a project is to break down the first task into an easy step that can be completed in about 30 minutes.  If it can be done in 5 minutes even better!

If we cannot do it right now, we plan to do that one step at the next opportunity, for example, at the beginning of the next day. Then we ensure to set another step for the following occasion or day.  As things gain momentum you will find it easier to get into the work and complete your tasks. Success in small steps gives us little dopamine rewards in our brains. They also build confidence, as they are little data points that show that we can do it, it can happen. Therefore, the key thing is just getting going.

The metaphor we look to in the Right Questions Framework is footwear. We put on our shoes or boots to get going and take that first step. The word step can help us too, as this becomes an acronym for how we take action, relating it to the Route Card tool covered previously.

The STEP tool stands for:

  • Start with the overall success or mission statement
  • Target success by identifying the key goals that need to be achieved
  • Evaluate these goals, breaking them into tasks, activities and milestones
  • Plan the next step, making it small enough to be achievable

“When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don’t adjust the goals, adjust the action steps.” – Confucius

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Using the STEP tool: Planning exercise

Now it’s your turn. Think of what you need to do. You might focus on a life goal, but if not then pick something with enough complexity to test the process. For example, that could be planning a holiday or business trip, or purchasing a new phone or computer. But use a real goal that you need to achieve.

First state your mission statement and define what success looks like. Then follow the process, breaking down the overall outcome into key goals. Then evaluate these and pull out the necessary tasks and activities. Finally, identify the first or next step you need to take. These are the ones that need to go in your diary or be done right now.

Congratulations, you are a step closer to achieving your mission! Now complete the first step and follow the process again, always making sure you define the next step and can make progress.

If you want the right answers you have to start with the right questions

About The Right Questions

The Right Questions is for people who want greater clarity, purpose and success. There is a wealth of resources to boost your effectiveness in achieving goals, your leadership of yourself and others, and your decision-making.

Wherever you are on your journey, I hope that you find information on this site to help you on the next leg of your quest. Even if that is just the inspiration to take one small step in the right direction, then that is a success. If you can take pleasure in learning and travelling as you go, then so much the better.

Need help navigating your journey to success?

I love to serve people, helping them unlock their potential, empowering them as leaders, and assisting them in achieving their goals. Please get in touch and let me know how I can support you!

Resources: What Do You Need to Succeed?

What resources do you need to fulfil your dream? How much money, muscle and materiel, is necessary to achieve your goal?

We often limit ourselves and our goals to our present resources.  After all, it is reasonable to ask, ‘What can I afford?’ before committing to something, even if that is just a vacation.  Budgeting is good stewardship, and I would certainly not recommend getting into debt on a whim.

But, we won’t be able to dream big if we limit our goals to what we can achieve with the resources we have now.  It is better to ask first, ‘What are we most passionate about doing?’ Then we work out the resources required and can think creatively of ways to get what we need.  That is why this question comes some way down the planning process.

“First, have a definite, clear practical ideal; a goal, an objective.

Second, have the necessary means to achieve your ends; wisdom, money, materials, and methods.

Third, adjust all your means to that end.” – Aristotle

Resources: The importance of logistics

An army needs logistics. A large portion of every military is concerned with delivering the right resources to the right people in the right places.  In fact, there are many more logisticians than infantry soldiers in the average army.

“Amateurs talk tactics, professionals talk logistics” – General Omar Bradley

But the army does not exist for logistics. It has a mission to achieve. That aim is very rarely just to do with just moving men and equipment from one place to another.  Logistics is a large and essential part of achieving your aim. But it is there to support the mission, not to drive it.

History testifies to the fact that an army will beg, borrow and steal if necessary to get the job done if (or rather when) logistics fail.  You can still achieve your aim when resources are difficult to come by if you remain focussed; as the United States Marine Corps would say: you need to ‘improvise, adapt and overcome!’

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Resources are not as finite as you might think

There are very few occasions when finances and resources are truly fixed.  That is why the vision or goal is so important. They give us the correct motivation. A compelling dream will inspire us to innovate and overcome shortages. The idea of success motivates us to find the money, people and tools to get the job done.

Why is it that many people who win the lottery often struggle? Why do they end up having spent their money within a few years?  The gambling industry sells winning as the dream; it does not provide a vision for what comes beyond that.  Many people who win do not have a clear idea of what they want to do with the money. They might take a nice holiday and pay off the mortgage but that is not a grand vision.

People who make (and maintain) large amounts of money tend to use it productively. Resources that continue to grow are usually driven by a vision beyond that of just making cash.  Bill Gates, the richest man in the world for many years, was not motivated primarily by money.  When he started Microsoft with Paul Allen they had a vision of a computer in every home. This dream, of how computing could transform the world, drove Microsoft. It became the most successful software business in the world and made Bill Gates a multi-billionaire. This money is now being used to drive a new vision. Through their foundation, Bill and Melinda Gates are on a mission “to create a world where every person has the opportunity to live a healthy, productive life.”

Money, Muscle and Materiel

So, we start with the dream and then work out what we need to make it a reality.  When we need to make something happen it generally comes down to the three ‘M’s:

  • Money
  • Muscle
  • Materiel

Finance, human resources, and equipment are all important, but it is usually the first element, the money, which drives others. Therefore, we will focus on cash now and return to people in more detail when we consider the ‘Who?’ question.

The Quest

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Estimating the cost: Using the Route Card Tool

Once we have articulated our dream or goal, we can start to estimate the resources we need.  If it is hard to assess the cost for a whole goal we can break it down, as we have done previously, and cost each constituent task or step.

To do this you can use the Route Card Tool. Just follow these steps:

  1. Take your completed Route Card Tool, choose a goal and then estimate the resources needed for each task or step included in that row.
  2. Now add these up to create a total resource bill for that goal.
  3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 for your other goals.
  4. Add up the total costs of each goal to calculate your overall resource needs.

This should give you a reasonable estimate of what you need to succeed.

Counting the opportunity cost

Remember to put a cost against the time you invest in achieving the goal.  When doing something yourself you can feel you are getting it done for free but that is not true.  Our time is worth something, even if it is just the opportunity cost of not being able to do something else while we are engaged with a task we have decided upon.

Often it will turn out cheaper to pay someone else to do a task that can be delegated. This leaves you with just the things that no one else can do, meaning you will achieve your goal sooner.

We will look at delegation some more under the ‘Who?’ question, but now – having broken down tasks with costs against them – we are in a much better place to decide on the team of people you might need to support you.

Alternative funding

Once the cost for each task is estimated you will get an idea of the budget for the whole project.  Now you can start to think creatively about how to raise funds or reduce costs.

For example, instead of paying for a qualified professional, could you get someone to do the work voluntarily? Perhaps you could offer them experience as an intern? If someone is still in training or education they may value the experience more than pay.

Alternatively, think about what service or product you could offer someone in return. Bartering is as old as trade itself but sometimes people forget it. I have used this sort of transaction in building my business. For example, I have coached people in return for help with developing my website.

Fuel the dream

Considering the resources we need and how we are going to get them is an important aspect of how we make our dreams real.  An idea is more tangible as we think about the money, muscle and material we need for the job. It can take some time (and may not be as liberating as big-picture thinking) but it will help you succeed, so stick with it!

And remember:

  • Your calculation is just an estimate. The overall cost will change and is likely be higher than expected. It is worthwhile adding an extra 10% to the overall estimate to take this into account.
  • You don’t need all the resources right now. Focus on what you need for that first step or goal.

If you want the right answers you have to start with the right questions

About The Right Questions

The Right Questions is for people who want greater clarity, purpose and success. There is a wealth of resources to boost your effectiveness in achieving goals, your leadership of yourself and others, and your decision-making.

Wherever you are on your journey, I hope that you find information on this site to help you on the next leg of your quest. Even if that is just the inspiration to take one small step in the right direction, then that is a success. If you can take pleasure in learning and travelling as you go, then so much the better.

Need help navigating your journey to success?

I love to serve people, helping them unlock their potential, empowering them as leaders, and assisting them in achieving their goals. Please get in touch and let me know how I can support you!

The Secret of Perfect Timing

What is the best time to start towards our goal? How should we judge the right timing? When is the best time to act?

It is no surprise that the ‘when’ question in The Right Questions refers to time. Timing is critical, as time is the one truly limited resource, but selecting the right time to do something is not straightforward. Good timing makes the difference between success and failure but ideal timing is hard to achieve. It takes an equal measure of planning and wisdom to know when to implement strategies, to go for goals and ultimately achieve a mission.

Therefore we have to answer:

  • What are we going to invest our time in?
  • How much of our time should we invest?
  • When is the best time to do so?

Knowing when to move and how much time to invest in something is the secret of perfect timing.

“You may delay, but time will not.”

Benjamin Franklin

What should you spend your time doing?

Knowing what to spend your time on is a matter of prioritisation. You have to know what is the most important thing to do. To do that you have to understand why you even want to do something in the first place. If you are unsure then I recommend you read the following post on finding your values.

Once that you know why you are wanting to do something you can confirm what is the best thing to do. It may be that you already have a goal in mind.

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Application of time: the discipline of practice

We would all like quick success but our biggest dreams will take considerable time and a lot of hard work to achieve. One wise person once told me that people overestimate what they can achieve in one year and underestimate what they can achieve in five or ten years. I have found this to be true.

Don’t underestimate the cumulative effect of applied time. Investors understand the power of compound interest when it comes to money. The same applies to the time we invest in something, including our personal development. If we continue to invest our time wisely and with focus then we can achieve great things.

Malcolm Gladwell in Outliers: The Story of Success did a study that explored the lives of many of the world’s most successful people and looked at the patterns behind their achievements.  One large theme prevails: that it takes a concerted application of time to achieve anything truly great.  Gladwell estimates that it requires 10,000 hours of quality practice to become an expert at one given thing or become world-class in a particular field.  The key point here is not so much the 10,000 hours but the idea of effective or deliberate practice, something explained in detail by Robert Pool and Anders Ericsson in Peak: Secrets from the new science of expertise.

Deliberate practice:

  • Develops skills using a proven training techniques
  • Stretches the comfort zone; being just on the verge of one’s ability
  • Is based on specific, well-defined goals (both overall and for each practice)
  • Is purposeful and specifically focuses on those specific goals
  • Is a learning cycle reflective of Kolb’s model, where the concrete experience of practice leads to reflective observation, new abstract conceptualisation (mental representations) of what is being learned, followed by modification and active experimentation to get further feedback, and so the cycle continues.

So we not only make good habits and routines, but we then, through deliberate practice, make sure that the time we put in has the maximum impact and effect.

The Quest

Understand your values, unlock your purpose, set your priorities, achieve success. Click here to sign up and get the 1st stage for free!

Counting the opportunity cost

If we are going to be that focused and invest our resources in one particular way we are going to have to count the cost.  For every outlay of time or money there is an opportunity cost; the cost of not investing our resources somewhere else.  In other words when we choose to do one thing, by default we choose to not do various other things.

You can become good at almost anything, but you cannot be good at everything.

We watch sports stars, standing on a podium receiving their gold medal at the moment of glory.  What we don’t see is the years of training, the sweat and tears spent hour after hour, day after day, invested in the dream of that moment, in the winning of the prize.  How many days and evenings out with friends were sacrificed?  What number of holidays were foregone?  Which alternative careers were declined?  You can be sure that the opportunity cost was high.

There is no easy or quick win but through the right application of time, we can create our own perfect timing.  The fulfilment of a vision is going to take time and hard work.  That is why we need a dream to compel us, a mission to focus upon, and a passion to spur us forward, no matter what the obstacles are that lie in the way.  If we have that level of compulsion we can make the investment of time that is needed to succeed.

“Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.”

Tim Notke

Choosing the right time

Our time is finite; once spent we cannot claim it back.  Therefore we need to be careful about how we spend it and when we spend it.  Application is needed over the course of time to achieve success, but also there is often also a key moment to play the high stakes if you want to win big.

“I am building a fire, and every day I train, I add more fuel. At just the right moment, I light the match.” 

Mia Hamm, Olympic gold-medal soccer player

You can invest the same amount of money in the stock market for a given amount of time, but when you choose to invest, re-invest or spend that money will make a big difference to whether you gain or lose money.

A marathon may take hours to run, so for an athlete, choosing the correct moment in the race to dig deep and close down the front runner could make the difference to between winning and losing.

Picking the ideal time is vital in maximising our effect and fulfilling our potential.

Creating the conditions for perfect timing

What a casual observer might call serendipity or synchronicity, those involved in a successful venture would call the careful aligning of positive factors – however seemingly unrelated – to bring about a positive outcome. Successful people create conditions for perfect timing.

Steve Jobs, the late CEO of Apple, was a master of this. It would seem that he was fortunate to launch products just when people needed them.  The iPod, the iPhone and the iPad have all helped redefine the market for gadgets and made Apple a world leader in mobile technology.  But it was no chance.  Steve Jobs knew that you made your own luck, your own perfect timing. He produced a quality product but he also stirred people’s perceived need for his creations.  The genius of Steve Jobs was that he did not do what his customers wanted; he did what they were going to want.  Purchasers never quite knew what they needed until they had one, but upon owning an Apple product they were left unsure how they managed without one before.

Practice, patience and poise

It needs to be the right moment as even a good idea can fail because of bad timing. For example, there are good and bad times to change one’s career or launch a business.  Everything has its season.

Equally some visions are ahead of their time.  Leonardo de Vinci designed the revolving flying machine that preceded the invention of the helicopter by 400 years.  We just have to hope that our dreams do not take so long to come to fulfilment!

It takes discipline as well as wisdom to seize the moment.  Like a vigilant soldier, we need practicepatience and poise; practice to ensure we have all the preparation we need, patience to wait and poise in order to strike at the right moment.

How do you know when the time is right?

To have the best chance of creating the right conditions and picking the ideal time we have to be sure of where we are ultimately headed, of what we are doing and why. That is the reason that the ‘why, where and what’ questions of The Right Questions approach create the strategic framework within which we make our plans.

So what is the perfect timing for achieving your goal?

“Life is all about timing… the unreachable becomes reachable, the unavailable become available, the unattainable… attainable. Have the patience, wait it out. It’s all about timing.”

Stacey Charter

If you want the right answers you have to start with the right questions

About The Right Questions

The Right Questions is for people who want greater clarity, purpose and success. There is a wealth of resources to boost your effectiveness in achieving goals, your leadership of yourself and others, and your decision-making.

Wherever you are on your journey, I hope that you find information on this site to help you on the next leg of your quest. Even if that is just the inspiration to take one small step in the right direction, then that is a success. If you can take pleasure in learning and travelling as you go, then so much the better.

Need help navigating your journey to success?

I love to serve people, helping them unlock their potential, empowering them as leaders, and assisting them in achieving their goals. Please get in touch and let me know how I can support you!

How to Make a Successful New Year’s Resolution

What resolution could you make for this next year that, if you were successful in making the change, would really improve your life?

Do you want to give up smoking? Maybe you want to go on a diet, lose some weight and get into shape? Perhaps you want to learn a language? It could be that you want to achieve a better work-life balance, change careers or start a new pastime.

Whatever it is you that want to achieve, you need to do some thinking if you want your resolution to stick and you want to succeed in your goal. Here are some questions that you can ask in order to make your decision more effective.

Why do you want to make the resolution?

What is driving your decision? Why do you want to make a change? Understanding why we want to do something helps us to establish our motivation. This is important, as we need to really value something if we are going to succeed. If we are going to make a change, especially something that will be a challenge, then we need to prioritise it. The first couple of days after making your decision are likely to be the easiest, as you are carried along by your enthusiasm. After that, it gets harder and when it does you will start to question why you made that particular choice in the first place. Spend some time writing down the answers to the ‘why’ question. This will help fix the answers in your mind and remind you of their importance when things get tough.

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Where do you see yourself when you achieve your goal? 

What are you dreaming of? What is the picture of the thing you want to achieve? Being able to envision the endpoint is a very important psychological aid to success. If you want to change your career then maybe the picture in your minds-eye is of you walking into your ideal workplace for the first day of your new job. If you want to learn a language the dream might be you ordering a meal for some friends in another country. Whatever it is, make that picture real to you. Use your imagination to make the colours bright, the sounds loud, the smells and tastes inviting, and you will be consciously and subconsciously drawn towards that idea.

What is your definition of success?

How will you know when you have achieved your purpose? What is the finish line? As well as having a dream it is important to identify the exact parameters for success so you have something definite to aim for. This is often called a mission statement and it should be something short, memorable and clear in meaning. For example, if you wanted to get in better shape your mission could be “To lose ten pounds in weight” or “To run a half-marathon”. However you craft your mission statement, make sure that your terms are specific, so you will be certain when you have fulfilled them.

How will you achieve your aim?

Once you have defined what you want to achieve, you then need to work out how you are going to do it. In other words, you need a plan. One simple way to make a plan is to break down your goal into several smaller tasks. For instance, if you are learning a language – even in just three to six months – it can be hard to measure your progress. Therefore you can set smaller steps that feel more tangible; such as learning ten new words a day or setting yourself a week to finish a particular section of your course. You can then note these steps down in a journal, or on a calendar, and you have a plan. Writing the tasks down in a to-do list will also give you the satisfaction of ticking each thing off as you achieve it. This will help to reinforce your motivation.

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Who can help you with your decision?

Who can you speak to that has the experience or skills to help you succeed? There could be someone you know who has already done the thing you want to do. Alternatively, you might just want someone you trust who can support you in your goal. It may be that you want a person outside your normal network such as a professional coach. Whether the person you choose is an expert or not, winning through is much easier if you are accountable to someone else. As soon as you have made your resolution share your decision with another person. Give that person permission to regularly challenge you on how you are doing. If they know you well they will recognise how best to encourage you: whether that is a kind word or a kick up the backside!

When do you want to achieve your aim?

The New Year feels like a time of new beginnings and is opportune for making decisions. As well as picking a good time to make a resolution it is also worthwhile thinking about when you want to complete your goal. A whole year is perhaps too big a time frame, so it is worth identifying something shorter and breaking the goal into smaller tasks if necessary. For example, if you wanted to quit smoking then your mission could be “To not purchase, accept or smoke a single cigarette for the next forty days.” This statement gives clear parameters (not to purchase, accept or smoke a cigarette) as well as a timed measure of success; here being forty days. Forty days may sound arbitrary but studies have shown that you can establish a new habit in twenty to forty days. In other words, if you can create a new pattern in life for that long, there is a good chance that you will have established a more permanent change.

Which things will stop you from achieving your goal?

What are the risks that you face? What could cause you to fail? Whatever it is you are choosing to do, you can be sure that it will not be as easy to achieve as you would like. Take some time to consider the obstacles in your path. Identify the top five or ten circumstances that could hinder your progress and then make a plan to avoid or reduce those risks. Being aware of the potential risks and having a contingency plan will make sure that any setback need not lead to failure.

Now go for it!

If you have addressed all these questions then you should have a very good chance of success with your decision. Let me wish you all the best with your resolution and I hope this next year is a great one for you!

If you want the right answers you have to start with the right questions

About The Right Questions

The Right Questions is for people who want greater clarity, purpose and success. There is a wealth of resources to boost your effectiveness in achieving goals, your leadership of yourself and others, and your decision-making.

Wherever you are on your journey, I hope that you find information on this site to help you on the next leg of your quest. Even if that is just the inspiration to take one small step in the right direction, then that is a success. If you can take pleasure in learning and travelling as you go, then so much the better.

Need help navigating your journey to success?

I love to serve people, helping them unlock their potential, empowering them as leaders, and assisting them in achieving their goals. Please get in touch and let me know how I can support you!

How Heuristics Can Affect Good Decision-Making

Have you ever been caught out by heuristics? I have!

Cowering in a ditch, I knew that there was a good chance I could be killed or seriously injured by the explosion that was just seconds away. While awaiting my self-induced demise, I had a short time to consider my hubris.

I was a bomb disposal officer. I had been trained to deal with dangerous devices and I also had operational experience. So, if I was such an expert, how did I get into this mess? In a critical situation, despite my training, I had made an error in my decision-making.

Pride comes before a fall

Let’s leave me and the ditch for the moment and let me ask you a question:

How do you make good decisions?

Have you thought about the process of making choices? It turns out that, although we can all make decisions, the psychology is quite complicated. If you had asked me that same question back then, early in my career, I would have talked to you about the power of logical thought and how a systematic approach to decision-making would ensure good decisions.

Well, I was learning the hard way that there is more to decision-making than just assessing factors and choosing a course of action. There are also things called heuristics that – when used poorly – can spoil our plans.

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Going out with a bang

First, let’s get back to me in that ditch. In fact, let’s wind back a little and see how I got there.

The day had started well. It was beautiful. The sky was so big and blue I could stare at it and just lose myself there, wrapped in the warmth of the sun, as I waited for a call from my squad. I was doing what I loved, leading my team, trying to make the world a safer place by removing dangerous objects from this magnificent African landscape. And it was fun too, blowing stuff up is fun (until you are caught up in the explosion that is).

On that day there were over a hundred people out scouring mile after mile of the countryside looking for dangerous material. This could be unexploded artillery shells, mortar rounds and even the occasional big bomb. When they found something, they would call me, as they did that day.

I was hailed on my radio and was given a location some miles away. I drove as close as I could in my Landrover 4×4 with my colleague and then we advanced the last mile or so on foot; when the terrain got too difficult. We turned up to find a large pile of artillery shells that needed to be disposed of.

Situational analysis

At this point, our training and experience kicked in. We used our question technique to assess the situation and came up with a plan.

We had been instructed to use the 5Ws to help assess a situation. The 5Ws are the interrogative words of the English language: what, where, when, who and why. The other common interrogative of ‘how’ was generally added to these 5Ws.

The 5Ws would provide a structure to understand the situation. For example:

  • What are we dealing with?  In this case a pile of old artillery shells
  • Why are they there?  They have been fired from guns, but the fuse mechanisms have failed to detonate on impact
  • Where are they? Located in a difficult to access area of bush. So what? We will have to go in and out on foot
  • Who is in danger?  Just my colleague and I; the rest of the area is clear for miles
  • How can they be disposed of?  Correct application of plastic explosive and a manual timed fuse

The answers to the questions informed our plan. And, as we did not have our vehicle nearby, we needed somewhere close that would provide us with some cover. We looked around and chose a small hillock in the distance that looked promising.  We estimated how long it would take us to walk there and then cut the fuse to the correct length.

Bomb disposal: if you see me running, try to keep up

After checking our work, we lit the fuse, checked our watches and set off towards the small hill that would give us cover.  We chatted about important things such as how many letters we had received from home that week and how much we wanted a cold beer.  The funny thing was the escarpment was not getting any closer.  Our pace increased.

We laughed and joked, and we walked briskly along but looking at our watches gave us some cause for alarm.  We broke into a run.  There was no longer any laughing or even chatting.  All that was said was: “We are not going to get there in time, do you see any other cover?”  We spotted what seemed to be a series of gullies over to our left, so we headed towards them.  Upon reaching them our relief quickly turned back to anxiety because the shallow angle of the gully slopes would afford us little cover.  We ran on.  At this point in the proceedings, I sent up a quick prayer, and with only seconds to go we dived into a shallow pit and crouched down with our backs to the sand. We had to compress ourselves to keep our heads below the parapet of the depression.

Going out with a bang?

For a few seconds, the only sound was our thumping hearts, heavy breathing and the noise of a nonchalant fly investigating my hat. Then we felt the explosion – a pulse through the earth and a punch through the air.  We looked at one another.  No words were exchanged but much was communicated.  We were both thinking – that was a bigger bang than expected; we felt dreadfully close!

Next, there was a sound that made me flinch – it was like an angry hornet going past my ear – and then there was another, followed by little thuds and puffs of sand as the shrapnel came down around us.  As the deadly rain struck the ground there was little we could do, so I opted to laugh and my Sergeant used a varied, colourful (but sadly unprintable) string of expletives to express his feelings.

When our self-induced bombardment came to an end, and it was obvious we were both not only alive but also unharmed, we spent a few precious seconds enjoying the quiet.  The same solitary fly, who seemed oblivious to the proceedings, was still taking an interest in my hat.

Not surprisingly the whole experience made me ponder about my decision-making.

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The problem with heuristics and the dangers of bias

I had been trained in decision making and planning so what had gone wrong on that day?

Well in this case one good decision-making tool had been undermined by another. My plan for dealing with the bombs was sound, but it was let down by the simple heuristic that I employed to choose my cover.

When judging distance, I was unknowingly using a scaling heuristic, in other words, I was estimating how far away the hillock was due to its size. The problem is this method only really works well if you have a regular-sized object – such as a person or vehicle – and something to compare it with. In this case, I was looking at a hill – I did not know its actual size – and there was nothing else in the bare landscape to compare it with. The hill was a lot bigger and farther away than I estimated.

“This is the essence of intuitive heuristics: when faced with a difficult question, we often answer an easier one instead, usually without noticing the substitution.”

Daniel Kahneman

What is a heuristic?

A heuristic is a simple decision-making hack or rule of thumb. We use these all the time in our thinking and choices.

One example would be how we choose things when we shop at the supermarket. Most of the things we pick up will be the same items we usually get. If you examine your groceries, most will be from suppliers that you know and regularly use. We do this largely to save us from making endless decisions. If we had to start again every time we went to the shops – not knowing what we liked or could trust – then it would take an age to select each thing.

Considering the bewildering number of choices that are on offer in most shops these days. Without this simple heuristic, we could suffer from analysis paralysis. In other words, without a simple way to make decisions then the processing power of our brains could get overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of data.

That is why manufacturers fight so hard for brand recognition and product loyalty. They know they if they can make you switch to their product then you are very likely to stick with it. That is why they are willing to cut prices and make special offers to tempt you to switch your habits.

And that is just one example of a heuristic. We use these thinking tools in everything from catching a ball to choosing where we sit in a cinema.

Are heuristics good or bad?

Heuristics are not bad in themselves. As mentioned, they are useful mental short-cuts that save us time and generally help us to make quick effective judgements. But each heuristic is a simplified model so it cannot take in all the complexities of a situation. Therefore, heuristics must rely on certain assumptions. Once again, assumptions are not intrinsically bad, but some assumptions can be wrong, or just inaccurate in some circumstances.

That is why we need to be aware of the heuristics we use and when we are using them. Going back to my example, there is nothing wrong with the scaling heuristic. Using relative sizes and distances is a well-known and very useful tool for judging distance. The problem was that I applied the tool bluntly, not considering if any of my assumptions were wrong. The reason for my assumptions being wrong was due to cognitive bias, in this instance confirmation bias (but that is another subject for another post).

Use heuristics but beware of hubris

I had a good process for making decisions (using interrogatives) but in this story, one little mistake nearly cost me my life and that of my colleague. In my case, it was my estimate of distance that undermined my plan. My hubris or overconfidence was enough for me to not examine my assumptions.

That does not mean that the heuristic or the rest of the plan was bad. Far from it. Using heuristics, having a decision-making framework and other planning tools can help us make better decisions.

But, as we plan, we must be cognisant of the heuristics and other processes that we are using, especially if those decisions are important. If we are choosing a coffee, fine we can take a risk and assume the barista knows what they are doing and can make a coffee. But if you have a bigger decision to make, such as getting a builder to extend your house, then it is worth examining your options, not just assuming anyone can do the work just because they say so.

So, if you want to make better choices today ask yourself two questions.

  1. What heuristic or process am I using?
  2. What assumptions am I making and are they correct?

Then you will be on the path to better more effective decisions.

If you want the right answers you have to start with the right questions

About The Right Questions

The Right Questions is for people who want greater clarity, purpose and success. There is a wealth of resources to boost your effectiveness in achieving goals, your leadership of yourself and others, and your decision-making.

Wherever you are on your journey, I hope that you find information on this site to help you on the next leg of your quest. Even if that is just the inspiration to take one small step in the right direction, then that is a success. If you can take pleasure in learning and travelling as you go, then so much the better.

Need help navigating your journey to success?

I love to serve people, helping them unlock their potential, empowering them as leaders, and assisting them in achieving their goals. Please get in touch and let me know how I can support you!

How Not to be Limited by Your Assumptions

Assumptions are often necessary for decision-making, but we need to avoid wrong suppositions if we want to make the right choices. We can get things wrong by applying assumptions in inappropriate circumstances, basing expectations on bad data, or making assumptions based on wrong thinking.

I have experienced the results of decisons made on poor assumptions and, in the process, learnt a lot about how best to avoid them.

A truly immersive cinema experience

I was in my room, watching the Lord of the Rings (The Return of the King) on my laptop. I had my earphones in and, despite the small screen, I was gripped. It was the battle of Minas Tirith, and the city was surrounded by an evil horde of orcs with their siege engines. As the army attacked the city and the rocks flew from the catapults, pounding the citadel I could almost feel the walls shaking. Another huge stone soared through the air to strike. Boom! My chair wobbled.

The sound on my laptop was good but I had definitely felt something. I took out my earphones and listened. The was a crashing sound, this time from outside my room, not from my computer.

Bother I thought, we are under attack.

This was a fair assumption as I was in a military base just outside Basra in 2004. It just turned out that, in a weird bit of synchronicity, that the local militants had decided to attack our base with rockets, just when I was enjoying a bit of downtime and watching a movie. Very inconsiderate of them I thought.

So, I put on my helmet and body armour and – doing my best to exude calm – walked out of my room into the chaos outside, then headed to the operations room. All the while I was thinking, “we expected to be welcomed; we were coming to help after all.”  How wrong we were!

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Assumptions, decision-making and planning

There is a phrase about presuppositions, famous in military circles:

“Assumptions are the mother of all f***-ups”

Anon

This is not entirely true, but it does highlight the fact that bad assumptions can have disastrous effects. In the Army, when judgements often have life or death implications, making a wrong assumption could be fatal, as I nearly found out while working as a bomb disposal officer in Africa. And again now, in Iraq, it was turning out that the decisions and planning were based on some very poor assumptions. As a result, the situation was a mess.

What is an assumption and are all assumptions bad?

An assumption is something we accept to be true, even if we are lacking all the evidence. But assumptions are not necessarily bad. We sometimes need to make assumptions in decision-making as we cannot have absolutely all the information we want or need when making a choice.

For example, when I go to buy a flat white from a coffee shop, then I assume that the barista knows how to make one. I will probably look for information to back up that assumption such as, whether they list a flat white on the menu. To reduce the risk of the assumption I might also employ a heuristic (a decision-making hack), such as going to a shop I know and trust, to reduce the risk of getting a bad coffee. In this case, the assumption and the heuristic are sound. However, if I employed that same assumption in the wrong place, for example, a Turkish coffee house in Istanbul, then I might be disappointed when it comes to a flat white. Not only that, but I would also be missing out on some excellent Turkish coffee due to my bias for flat whites!

So, we can make assumptions in our thinking but first, we need to separate out what is a fact and what is an assumption. Once we identified an assumption then we must be sure it is a reasonable one, particularly if we take an assumption we often make and then apply it to a new context.

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Assumptions based on inaccurate information

Some assumptions are not just applied to the wrong situation, they are based on corrupt data in the first place. We can compound the problem by then taking this inaccurate or limited information and then processing it poorly, due to cognitive bias. Going back to my earlier story, this was certainly the case with the war in Iraq.

Donald Rumsfeld, the American politician, famously said:

“Because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns—the ones we don’t know we don’t know. And if one looks throughout the history of our country and other free countries, it is the latter category that tends to be the difficult ones.”

There is a lot of wisdom there; although it is unfortunate that Rumsfeld himself did not pay enough attention to his own advice. It turns out, what were thought to be knowns were not knowns at all. They were a mixture of assumptions and wishful thinking.

In 2003, a bunch of bad assumptions, built on poor information, resulted in the US-led coalition intervening in Iraq and deposing Saddam Hussein. The intelligence cited in the ‘dodgy dossier’ has long been challenged. The evidence was based not just on bad information but was also warped by cognitive bias.

Bad assumptions just breed further wrong assumptions

And these assumptions and biases played out at every level. I deployed to Iraq fully believing that we wouldunearth weapons of mass destruction at any moment. For me the logic was simple. Saddam Hussein had used chemical weapons before, in the Iran-Iraq war and even against his own people. Therefore, when I heard that he still had weapons of mass destruction that made perfect sense. Apart from the fact he didn’t. We were suffering from narrative bias, amongst other things.

One of the populations who suffered from these chemical weapons and other persecution were the Shia tribes in Southern Iraq. So, we assumed a welcome after Saddam was removed and we went to rebuild Southern Iraq. This was positivity bias at the very least, but also a massive lack of true understanding. It did not take many months, or many rocket attacks and roadside bombs, to realise quite how wrong our assumptions were.

So, we must not apply our assumptions to the wrong situation. Nor do we make assumptions on bad data. And that means not being selective in the information one chooses to consider. To reduce the negative effects of cognitive bias we must employ a range of information sources and a diversity of viewpoints.

Negative assumptions based on bad thinking

The other trap we can fall into with assumptions is bad thinking. By that I mean we can have wrong assumptions that are embedded, often unconsciously, in our minds. These beliefs often come from bad experiences or negative things that have been said to us in our past. If someone calls you “stupid” then you can start to believe it. We can start to believe these are facts when they are, at best, just subjective ideas.

Negative assumptions are often tied up with our feelings of self-worth. For example, you could be attracted to someone but afraid to ask them out on a date. You might be thinking “I am not good enough for them” or “they are out of my league.” These were certainly my thoughts when I met one particularly beautiful girl back in college. When I spoke about her with my friends, even they thought I was trying to bat above my average (thanks guys!) Fortunately, I overcame this wrong thinking (and bad advice) and nearly 20 years later I am still happily married to that wonderful woman.

“The most tenacious block to new ideas is limiting assumptions.” 

Nancy Kline

We all have hang-ups and insecurities that clog our neural pathways. The author and coach Nancy Kline calls these blockages in our minds limiting assumptions. Limiting assumptions stop us from thinking and acting properly. In my experience, a large part of coaching is listening out for such internal defeater-beliefs and asking incisive questions to help clear them away. And if you don’t have a coach to talk through your decision then ask yourself, what assumptions am I making that are just subjective thoughts?

We all must make a philosophical choice about what we choose to believe. Take a good look at what you think is true; examine it and test it before you make a decision – particularly an important one – based on that assumption.

The four steps to testing assumptions

As we have seen, assumptions are often necessary for decision-making but wrong assumptions can lead to poor choices and bad outcomes.

So, if we want to avoid poor assumptions follow these four steps:

  • First, separate out assumption from fact.
  • Second, only use an assumption in the appropriate context.
  • Third, don’t make an assumption based on bad information or selected through bias.
  • Fourthly, examine your beliefs to ensure they are not just limiting assumptions based on wrong thinking.

If we make these checks then we are much more likely to be able to make a good decision. You can start with a choice you have to make today. Have a think through the four steps. What assumptions are you making and are they rational?

And remember, as decision-making guru Darren Matthew observes,

“Your important decisions will work better with fewer assumptions.”

If you want the right answers you have to start with the right questions

About The Right Questions

The Right Questions is for people who want greater clarity, purpose and success. There is a wealth of resources to boost your effectiveness in achieving goals, your leadership of yourself and others, and your decision-making.

Wherever you are on your journey, I hope that you find information on this site to help you on the next leg of your quest. Even if that is just the inspiration to take one small step in the right direction, then that is a success. If you can take pleasure in learning and travelling as you go, then so much the better.

Need help navigating your journey to success?

I love to serve people, helping them unlock their potential, empowering them as leaders, and assisting them in achieving their goals. Please get in touch and let me know how I can support you!

What are The Right Questions for Decision Making and Strategic Planning?

So, having established in previous posts the background to The Right Questions and an idea of their importance, we can now get an overview of The Right Questions and how they are applied to strategic planning and achieving goals, both in a personal or business context. The questions come in an order of sorts but the process of asking The Right Questions is also iterative and cyclical. In other words, the answer to one question is likely to inform an answer to another, and even after we have worked through all the questions we will generally go back and revisit the others to refine our answers.

How to Use The Right Questions Decision Making and Coaching Framework to Achieve Goals

It is beneficial to explore the questions in two broad groups. The first is comprised of the where, what and why, and these encompass the strategic framing of a situation. The second group is made up of the questions how, when, and who and these help us develop a specific plan within the aforementioned strategic frame.

The two groups are joined by ‘which’ as this question deals with the concepts of options and risk. After looking at the overall strategic picture we use ‘which’ to explore courses of action from which we can choose an option to develop into a more detailed plan. We then return to this same question to weigh the risks as the plan progresses. Looking at these options and risks are the key decision points and can lead us to return through the strategic framing or planning loops again.

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Taken all together these seven questions create a template for strategic planning and also become a decision-making process that follows a figure of eight cycle, as demonstrated in the diagram below.

“I keep six honest serving-men, (They taught me all I knew); Their names are What and Why and When, And How and Where and Who.” Rudyard Kipling

STRATEGIC FRAMING

Why? (Values and Priorities)

The ‘Why?’ represents our values. Our values are our identity; the things at our centre that define why we have the vision in the first place, why we do the things we do, why we attract certain people. They are our beliefs and worldview. These are often things we hold in common with others at one level but the particular combination and application of the values make them unique to us. Knowing our principles shows us what we value most and therefore it also helps us to prioritise and make good decisions.

Where? (Situation and Vision)

‘Where?’ is the present location and the future destination, the situation and the vision. We look at whence we have come from and whither are we going as our journey is bracketed by these ideas of ‘where’. When you get out a map the first thing you do is identify where you are and get your bearings; only once you have done this do you plan to move. And when you move, you don’t want to wander aimlessly (movement in itself is not progress), there needs to be a destination, something we are aiming for. This destination is the dream, the thing that stokes our passion and gives us our drive.

What? (Mission)

‘What?’ represents the mission, the reality of what we are going to do. The mission is the bottom line, the tangible measured difference that we are to make. To work out the mission we need to define success so that we know our finish line. We can then sum this up in a pithy and memorable way to get our mission statement.

The Quest

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REFLECTION INTERSECTION

Which? (Options, Risk and Reflection)

Options

We have to choose which way to go and therefore ‘Which?’ deals with the idea of selection. First, we have to generate a range of courses of options we can choose from. This is a creative process, requiring divergent thinking, and taking time to step out of the purely logical process in order to examine unorthodox ways of problem-solving. Generating these options is something we can do before looking at the how, when and who questions. We are generally faced with various strategy options and we have to select a route by assessing relevant factors.

Risk

One of the major factors affecting a decision is risk. If a venture is deemed too risky it is the surest thing that will stop us from acting, no matter how attractive the option first seemed. To make good decisions we need to identify, assess, mitigate risk and then manage the risk accordingly. Capacity for risk varies between people and situations so it is important to remember that this is an ongoing process of management. At the same time we don’t want to become defensive, timid or risk averse; achieving bold visions means taking risks. We just need to make sure we have counted the cost before we commit ourselves.

Reflection

The option does not have to be perfect. What we are looking for is the minimal viable product (MVP) approach to problem-solving. When an idea good enough to add some planning to it, but then we need to test it. This is where the ‘which’ question becomes the reflection point in the interlinking loops between strategic framing and planning. We test our ideas, reflect and learn from them, then adjust our plans and go again.

PLANNING

How? (Strategy, Goals, Planning and Resources)

‘How?’ is the method or plan by which we achieve the mission. Goals and activities support the overall strategy and propel us towards our dream. Breaking down the route into manageable steps gives us the basis of an action plan and makes the dream an achievable reality. Once we have worked out the detail of each task it is much easier to assess the correct resources we need for each step and therefore, by adding up these resources, we can get a better estimate of the total resources we need to achieve the whole mission.

When? (Timing and Programming)

It is no surprise that ‘When?’ refers to time. Timing is critical. Choosing the right time makes the difference between success and failure and it takes an equal measure of planning and wisdom to know when to implement strategies, to go for goals and ultimately achieve missions. Time is key to planning and is the one truly limited resource. As we overlay our plan with time we create a programme with milestones that help us to measure our progress towards our goal.

Who? (Roles, Team, Structure and Network)

The ‘Who?’ is primarily about the roles different people fulfil, the makeup of our team, the structure of our organisation and the people we connect within our personal network. Sometimes we have a mission and then we go out and put together a team and therefore we need to know what we are looking for. At other times we may need an existing team to adopt a new strategy. In this case, we need to know how best to place people as we re-structure the existing team. Even if we are operating alone, not having a specific team or organisation, we always have a unique network of contacts to draw upon. People are always involved one way or another on our journey and they are the most important resource that we can draw upon.

Now that we have looked at an overview of The Right Questions we will look at each one in greater detail in future posts.

If you want to know more about the background and evidence for the approach I recommend you read:

Beyond the 5Ws: Ask questions like a philosopher, answer as a visionary

If you want to start going through the process I recommend you ‘start with why’ (like Simon Sinek) and read the following:

What are your personal values?

If you want the right answers you have to start with the right questions

About The Right Questions

The Right Questions is for people who want greater clarity, purpose and success. There is a wealth of resources to boost your effectiveness in achieving goals, your leadership of yourself and others, and your decision-making.

Wherever you are on your journey, I hope that you find information on this site to help you on the next leg of your quest. Even if that is just the inspiration to take one small step in the right direction, then that is a success. If you can take pleasure in learning and travelling as you go, then so much the better.

Need help navigating your journey to success?

I love to serve people, helping them unlock their potential, empowering them as leaders, and assisting them in achieving their goals. Please get in touch and let me know how I can support you!