Episode 224 - The Leader’s Mindset - Part Four - Options Thinking

Summary 

We each have mindsets that we bring to our leadership. In this fourth of a five part series, we explore Options Thinking and the role it plays in The Leader’s Mindset.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to episode 224 of the Leadership Today podcast where each week we share practical tips to improve your leadership. In this fourth of a five part series, we explore Options Thinking and the role it plays in The Leader’s Mindset.

We are continuing to explore The Leader’s Mindset which has four elements: Goal Orientation, Optimistic Outlook, Options Thinking and Drive for Growth. I encourage you to listen to the three previous episodes first and also take the time to complete our free Mindset to Action assessment. This provides detailed feedback on all four areas along with development suggestions. Just go to https://leadership.today/mta 

We often aren’t great at coming up with multiple options when we encounter challenges. Typically we will generate one option, and then become stuck if that option doesn’t work. 

Options Thinking is like identifying various pathways to the destination on your journey. With Options Thinking, a person identifies ways around emerging challenges and problems. They are confident in their ability to come up with another way around obstacles they might face. Without Options Thinking, a person gets stuck when things don’t go to plan. They find it hard to identify new ways to reach their destination when the first pathway is blocked.

So Options Thinking has two parts - the identification of options up front, and then immediately focusing on options when you become stuck. 

There are five ways you can build your Options Thinking:

  1. Brainstorm Options: When you face an obstacle, immediately start to brainstorm options. Recognise that option generation and option evaluation are two distinct steps. If we are trying to evaluate our options while we generate them, we will often throw out too many options that could have merit. Instead, spend time generating multiple options before evaluating them. 

  2. Ask Yourself Questions - Use these questions to help prompt further options: 

    • What are your options moving forward?

    • What else might you do? 

    • What has worked so far? 

    • How could you do more of that? 

    • Who else could help? 

    • What are the pros and cons of these options? 

    • What are the easiest options that will have the biggest impact? 

  3. Engage Others: Ask a trusted colleague or friend to help you generate new options. Having someone asking you for further options and guiding you towards new areas to consider is extremely helpful. It's often even better if the person isn't close to the problem so they can take a more objective view.

  4. Change Your Setting: Consider where you come up with your best ideas. Most people develop their best ideas when they’re relaxed, maybe having a shower or going for a walk, and when they’re interacting with others. Make sure you give your brain time to relax and consider options, and bring others around you to bounce ideas off. 

  5. Reflect on Past Successes: Take time to reflect on moments when you have overcome challenges or worked through adversity. Reflecting on our past successes can encourage us to keep going and generate new ideas to move forward.

As always I encourage you to select one of these to practice over the coming week. In our final episode of this series we are going to explore Drive for Growth. Have a great week as you become an even better leader.

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