This week we are going to kick off a series inspired by video games I’ve played with my kids.  This week is about diagnosing the situation before offering any coaching or guidance.   

The other day my kids were playing Shovel Knight, and they were struggling with a boss.  It would have been easy to take the controller from them and do it myself, but that wouldn’t help them develop skills.  Whenever I see them struggling, I go through a series of questions to identify the problem.  First, I ask them what they are trying to accomplish.  If they are clear here, we move to the second question, and I ask them if they even want to accomplish that thing.  Sometimes they do, and sometimes they just want to do other side missions for fun.  Assuming they want to accomplish the goal, I go to the third question, and I ask them if they know HOW to accomplish the goal.  Assuming they are good here, I go to the final question and ask if they are capable of doing the thing.  Turns out they knew what to achieve and wanted to do it, they just didn’t know HOW to do it.  Once I helped them there, they had the physical skills to do so, and they ended up defeating the boss and advancing.   

You might be wondering where this is going.  In the video game example above, I give my kids guidance, based on the specific issue they have.  For example, building their skills to do something is very different from helping them gain clarity on the objective.  There is a sequence of things we need to work through, so they can perform at their best and I need to meet them where they are.  Now reflect on work for a moment.  When you give advice/coaching to someone, do you ever jump right in without fully understanding the situation?  I’ve done this.  What happens when you do this?  I’ve found that when I jump right in without diagnosing the situation, I often solve the wrong problem.  If I solve the wrong problem, then the advice/coaching is not relevant, and the issue still isn’t solved. 

The challenge- Will you take the time to diagnose the situation before providing advice/coaching?

Bonus 1: My flow chart of questions to diagnose the issue.

Bonus 2: Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove is an AWESOME indie game.  It’s kind of like a different take on Megaman. I’d highly recommend it.

Bonus 3: This blog is partially inspired by takeaways from the book: Coaching for Improved Work Performance by Ferdinand Fournies.  The book helps you be more methodical in diagnosing issues.

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry