Complex thinking brings more choices.
Situation: having too few choices
In his younger years Vince had wanted to play professional tennis, but having “blown his knee,” had been forced to move into business, originally in sales and now in his current position. He had purchased this business from several partners so that he could “control and manage” his own efforts. However, most of the time his heart lay elsewhere – first in golf, which he played with a two handicap, and then in flying and auto racing. He talked enthusiastically and at length about how he had quickly mastered these adventure sports.
At the start of our third session, Vince stated that without knowing why, he’d suddenly become more focused in his work. (I realized that he was taking action on what we'd discussed, even though he was unaware of this process.) We proceeded to look at the various ways he approached his business and his avocations, and from this we developed a skills profile of Vince. In looking over his profile, he noted how he used his stronger skills with his avocations and his weaker ones with his work. Astounded, he began questioning why he was in this business at all; and, he talked about changing his goal from “achieving more” to becoming “more fulfilled.”
Problem -- thinking in simple terms
In the next session, I wanted Vince to get more in touch with his stronger skill set, so I asked him to describe at length his thinking about a particular golf hole he’d recently played. His thinking was quite detailed and complex: he developed an initial strategy for the hole; while playing the hole, he knew the exact physical positions of himself, his partner, and his opponents; with each shot, he sensed the mental status of himself and the other players; and he successfully altered his strategy as the physical and mental conditions changed.
In the fifth session, Vince again mentioned that he’d become more focused in his work, saying that several clients had noticed the change. He attributed this new focus to my intervention, but I pointed out that it was he who was picking up the ball and running with it. Then hoping that Vince might apply to his work the kind of complex thinking he'd used on the golf course, I suggested that he discuss in a similar way his strategy for a software product he was developing. We took some time to set up the scenario, and he made several stabs at developing a more complex strategy. In the end, however, he couldn’t see the new product development with anything near the complexity of his golf thinking.
At this point, then, I had evidence that Vince was beginning to make changes (he was more focused at work). Yet I felt that any real achievement or fulfillment could only come if he were to operate from his stronger skill set, specifically by making more complex decisions at work, much like he’d done while playing golf.
In sessions six and seven, Vince seemed to move away from the issue, discussing instead his family and work history, and wondering all the while about his true interests and values and what might motivate him to change. As he talked, I tried to push him back to the issue by getting him to reflect on his decisions and by gently outlining his tendency to view himself as a failed athlete who had to settle for a business role. He gradually began to see the either-or decision making that he’d employed over the years. Not understanding this on a gut level, however, he continued to think aloud in terms of either trying something new -- he didn’t know what that would be -- or simply settling for his current business as something that would support his real love, golf and adventure sports.
Solution: complex thinking, more choices
In the eighth session, Vince, at his own insistence, planned to present a review of his work decisions for the past week. From this review, we hoped to see what decisions might more clearly fit his strong skills set and, hopefully, echo some of the complexity of his golf thinking. From the start, however, he appeared unsettled, saying that he hadn’t worked much that past week. Instead, he had spent an inordinate amount of time agonizing over whether or not to go on a golf trip to South Carolina. Demoralized over this apparent waste of his time, he reverted back to the general discussion about interests and values that he’d exhibited in the previous two sessions.
Frustrated at this turn of events, I attempted to guide Vince back on topic, asking him to talk about any business decisions he’d made during the past week. Catching the frustrated tone in my voice, however, I hesitated in mid sentence. On some intuitive level (I know now), I remembered his tendency to act on what we’d discussed, even if those actions occurred on a level outside his unawareness. (I guess I was recalling the improved focusing he had mentioned in sessions three and five.) Feeling that something similar might be occurring here -- that he really had been trying to apply more complex thinking to his actions -- I asked him to talk about the only decision he had make that week, namely, whether or not to play golf in South Carolina.
Calling this a trivial matter, he reluctantly began to talk about the choice. Over time, however, the elaborate nature of his decision making began to emerge: he had checked with his wife and daughter about their concerns; he had talked extensively with several guys who also planned to take the trip; and, he had balanced the trip against work and money concerns, ultimately deciding to spend the time at home with his wife and daughter.
In parsing out the decision, he began to see that what he’d considered to be vacillation was actually a thorough weighing of the numerous elements. As he reviewed the various turns in his decision making process, he became more and more animated. Finally and with a firm stroke, he banged his hand on the table, saying, “That’s right, I didn’t just say ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ I really did look at it in a complex way.” He then smiled delightedly at his discovery.
In the final two sessions, we discussed and tested various ways Vince might apply this more complex thinking to his work. As we talked, he started to replace his either-or decision making with more elaborate thinking that took into account his family, his work, his time, and his values. He began to speculate about the more fulfilling vision this thinking might create, anticipating a life where he could be more than just a sports person or a business person.
What specifically would that new vision be? That was left for Vince to work out as he played through his experiences with his newer, more complex way of thinking.