There are many ways to pass on ideas. Paul McGinley, who captained the European Ryder Cup Team, described one approach that he found helpful when meeting Sir Alex Ferguson.
Paul contacted Sir Alex to ask his advice about things to bear in mind when leading a team of strong individuals against the USA. One of the questions he asked was:
“How do you get the best from superstars?”
Sir Alex responded by saying that he would be happy to share ideas from his own experience. But before doing so, he asked Paul something along the following lines.
“What is your instinct? What are the ideas you already have about how to get the best from these individuals?”
Paul began sharing his own ideas. Sir Alex listened and then, according to Paul, responded by doing the following things during their conversation.
First, he affirmed some of Paul’s ideas and encouraged him to build on these when working with the team.
Second, he then added some ideas from his own experiences of getting the best from superstars.
Third, he shared some of his techniques for encouraging a team of champions to stay hungry and keep winning.
Paul came away from the conversation feeling a sense of ownership after have some of his ideas affirmed. He also took away some of Sir Alex’s ideas that he could add to his repertoire.
Imagine that a person has asked for your advice about a particular topic. As described here, one approach is to say something along the following lines.
“Looking at the topic you have mentioned, there are several ideas that seem to work. Before sharing these however, what is your own instinct and views about what to do in the situation?”
Such an approach can help: a) to clarify the person’s own views about what to do in the situation; b) to lay the groundwork for you to then add some ideas.
This approach can work if the person is already thinking along lines that could help to reach the goals. You can then build on some of these and share practical tools that work.
There could be times, however, when the person’s instinct may not help them to achieve their goals. In these cases, you may want to say something along the following lines.
“That is one option going forward. There are also several other options you may wish to consider that could help to achieve the goals. Would it be okay to share some of these?”
Let’s return to your own life. Can you think of a situation where: a) you may want to invite a person to share their instinct about what to do; b) you can then add your ideas in a way they can use to achieve their goals?
If you wish, try tackling the exercise on this theme. This invites you to complete the following sentences.
Leave a Reply