Charles has an “important” project he put on the back burner. But, every time he thinks of it, which he says is often, he’s bothered by not having moved it forward. He knows he has to do it, wants to do it, and the positive impact it can have, but more “urgent” projects keep taking all his attention.
He’d like to delegate some of this important project to one of his direct reports, but he’s afraid Dennis won’t do it at the level he would and hates the thought of having to accept a “watered down” version of it.
I asked Charles to flip his thinking and visualize involving Dennis – and others – to make the outcome better, stronger, more beneficial to all who will be touched by it. Think of the combined power and possibilities that could come from their unique minds focused on this project when he explains its purpose, value, and his interest in their input. He hadn’t thought of it that way.
But first, Charles has to clarify his thinking, because there’s a lot swirling in his mind. What prompted his idea for this project? What’s an ideal outcome? What other potential benefits are there? Who and what could be involved and impacted? What makes working on this a valuable use of his and their time?
Rather than feeling overwhelmed by it, I asked if he could take 20 minutes and dump all his thoughts about it into a Word doc (he prefers to type than write). Allow himself to just unload his thoughts. Then save it, and put a date on his calendar to revisit it in July.
Unloading thoughts about this project that have been clogging his brain will allow new thoughts to bubble up that have been buried. Space will open up for new, creative thoughts to percolate.
What vision are you carrying around that would benefit from being dumped into a Word doc or written or drawn – a rough draft – to clear your mind and allow new thinking to grow?
