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Why Now?
The next category of questions are Why Now? questions. Why now? Why not wait 6 months? We have a big project coming up we need to be ready for. Because we’re losing $1000 an hour that it’s not fixed. Their answer will help you understand the urgency. Is this something they need fixed right now,…
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Why This?
When you conduct a Why Conversation you are like a doctor looking to diagnose the problem your patient has before you decide to prescribe medication. Let’s start with Why This? questions: “Why not leave things the way they are?“ “Why embark on such a costly and risky endeavor?“ “Why not do something cheaper?“ “Why not do [other…
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The Braindump
The first part of the Why Conversation is the brain dump. The client has a problem and it usually doesn’t take more than “Why did you want to get on a call today?” to get them to spill their long story. The goal of this first ~15 minutes of conversation is to take good notes,…
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The Why Conversation
When you have an initial conversation with a client, what questions do you ask them? What do you say? How do they respond? If you’re like my clients and my self, you probably feel like this conversation could go better than it has in the past. We have found a tool that helps us with…
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Co-Creation
I was talking to a client yesterday about this agreements concept and he told me about an agreement he wanted someone to accept. I then told him a true agreement is not just one side making an agreement, but both sides working together to co-create one. I referenced the story about an executive and a…
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Handling Group Commitments
I was in a coaching program where the first small group meeting started with each of us saying whether we agreed to some specific agreements for the program. It took about two minutes, and made a big difference for me. Our agreement was implied by signing up, but there was something special about verbally committing…
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Agreement Example
When I shared the agreements concept with a client, it wasn’t obvious how to put it into practice. Because of that, I wanted to share an example with you from a business mastermind where we co-authored this agreement (edited for clarity): We agree to commit to this for six months, then we can re-evaluate. There…
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Agreements Pt. 2
The agreements I spoke of can be simply verbal agreements, or a few bullet points. It’s not meant to be a legal document, but simply two people truly commiting to an idea or course of action. Josh
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Silence
Silence gives the other person time to think and absorb the information you’ve told them. This is especially true after a label, “It seems like…”, “it sounds like…”, or “it feels like…” I remember the power of silence with an intervention for a friend who was working 120 hours a week. I said something and…
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Focus on Who’s Next
Focus on who’s next. Not the distant future. Not the bills you have to pay. Not what you have to do later today. Just focus on who’s next. Think about what you might say in your next conversation to help the other person become better than they are. Prepare yourself and your mind to listen. …