When the Answer Eludes

As a coach, one of the fundamental premises upon which I operate is that as human beings, we all have our own answers.  In other words, no matter the question, you know the answer — sometimes you just need to dig a little to unearth it.  That is the premise.  One of the things I’m encountering this week, however, is the feeling of “not knowing” — which is disconcerting given my fundamental premise.  I mean, if I have my own answers, how come I can’t find them?  It’s a bizarre scenario to be in, let me tell you.

What I’m realizing is that sometimes, answers aren’t all that accessible.  For whatever reason, they’re buried deep.  They’re camouflaged.  They’re silent.  So what are you to do?  Particularly as a leader, the one who’s supposed to  have the answers, to be all-knowing, what do you do when the answer is elusive?  Well, here are 5 strategies to implement; at the very least, they’ll be a starting point.  And, at their most successful, they’ll open the solution floodgates:

1. Ask for help.  Enlist the support of a colleague or mentor.  Sometimes, an outsider will be able to see what you’re missing.
2. Move around.  Get your blood flowing, move your body and watch your mental processes start to move as well.  Answers can start to flow from there.
3. Change perspective.  If you’re sitting down, stand up.  Facing the wall?  Move to the window.  A fresh perspective can illuminate answers previously hidden from view.
4. Let it go — the question that is.  Stop thinking about the problem at hand, put it aside and come back to it later.  Sometimes, letting go of a question allows the answer to emerge with ease when you least expect it.
5. Make it into a game.  Gather a few cohorts, present the problem at hand and have fun discovering answers.  Switching the “problem” into a game changes the energy — and oftentimes, things are so much easier when the energy is fun.

Bottom-line:  even leaders come up against situations in which the answers are elusive.  You simply can’t know it all, all the time.  Or perhaps, more accurately, you can’t access it all, all the time.  In those moments, there are strategies to try.  And when you do, the answers will flow.

When do you find it hard to access answers?  When does the world seem a little foggy to you?  And how do you cope?  Would love to hear your thoughts.  Feel free to leave them here or email me at info@stellarcc.com.

1 Comment

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  Kimberly Beaven April 22, 2011 at 9:39 am

  This is a great article Gail, well done