Coaching Tips
Setting Direction.
Part 4 - How will you know when you’ve got it?
“Success is getting what you want.
Happiness is wanting what you get.”
Dale Carnegie
Anyone familiar with project management will be familiar with the phenomenon of “scope creep” – when the customer keeps adding things they’d like to have as part of the project.
Whilst this can be quite useful from a customer perspective, for a project manager, this can be a challenge. This is why the project needs to have a clearly defined end-point or deliverable agreed upon early in the project cycle.
The same is true for client goals, it is important to have them clearly defined, so they will know when they have achieved it.
So, when we ask our client “How will you know when you have it?”, we need to help the client make the outcome as clear and vivid as possible.
Of course, to do this we might ask what will they see, what will they hear, and what will they feel, smell and taste when they achieve the outcome they’re after. These questions, asked individually, help to define the goal through the five senses, thus making it tangible and as real as possible, so the client will know when they have got it.
To further enhance the goal and make it even more enticing and real, ask the client what will they look like, what will they sound like and what will they feel like, when they have it. You could also ask them what they may smell like too, if that would be appropriate. This has the effect of helping the client to be “disassociated” in the final picture (they see themselves as they want to be) – this helps to set a direction for them to go in.
Once we have this image of what they will look like sound like etc. the next step is to ask them to demonstrate this.
Like buying a new suit or a new dress, you would want to know what it looks like when you wear it. If it is comfortable, though that might not necessarily be that important if the look is right (I’m sure we’ve all gone through a bit of pain for the right look).
Having the client demonstrate how they will stand, move, speak etc. when they have attained their goal, allows them to build in the “scope creep” as you are setting the goal itself. It also allows us, as the agents of change, to ramp up the experience and broaden the goal, if appropriate.
For example, a client wanted to feel comfortable speaking in front of a group of her colleagues in their departmental meetings. Upon further questioning, it turns out that the client’s knowledge and experience were very valuable and likely to be shared far more widely. Upon further questioning, their expertise was such that they were likely to present to leaders in the field at international symposia.
So when it came to having them demonstrate how they would be, having achieved their goal, we began small and led them to bigger and bigger meetings. By having them experience each meeting, feeling comfortable and at ease, then moving to a bigger, more important meeting and maintaining that level of comfort, we were able to increase the goal until they saw themselves as having become the expert in their field, delivering talks at international events.
“Shoot for the moon.
Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.”
Norman Vincent Peale.
Today, begin to actively build in an appropriate level of “scope creep” early on, into the goals you set. Help your clients try them on for size, and allow a little room for growth.
Next time, we'll look at what will happen if you get it.
© NLP Liverpool Limited 2024
