That’s what Max said he wanted as we were establishing his goals for his Leader Coaching program—minimum input, maximum output.
Especially these days when we’re attempting to “get more juice from the lemon”, minimum input, maximum output sounds like a pragmatic goal to me. We don’t want to work more hours than we have to—and yet we want to make a contribution and produce results that we’re truly proud of, right?
So, Max and I agreed on this primary goal, and then set about determining what strategies we’d need to implement to accomplish the goal.
Given the context in which Max worked and his current behavioural habits…
He Needed To Be More Influential With Others
Let’s think about that…
Isn’t it so, that often your meetings would be shorter if you were more persuasive? And often you’d only need one conversation instead of two or three, if you were more convincing?
You don’t need to input as much when you’re a top-notch influencer!
In that regard, let me quickly describe Max…
Max is highly motivated and one of the most enthusiastic and focused leaders I’ve met.
He’s always clear on his targeted outcomes—however I noticed that there was a key ingredient missing when he attempted to influence others to think or behave differently.
Max wasn’t sufficiently cognizant of the fact that…
The Map Doesn’t Equal The Territory
I’ll describe where I’m coming from here by continuing with the Max example…
His excitement and enthusiasm had him being so tied up in his own domain, he seldom put nearly enough energy into sufficiently investigating others’ domains.
He seldom attentively, and with genuine curiousity, explored the other person’s position, thoughts, feelings, concerns or desires—because he assumed that their position, thoughts, feelings, concerns and desires, that is, their “map”, looked just like his.
After all, Max presented them with a rational and logical argument, at least from where he sat!
And that was the problem—his argument was good from where he sat, BUT the others so often had a different map. His audience didn’t sit where Max sat.
As a result, Max’s targeted outcomes were not always realistic from the other person’s perspective. And he therefore wasn’t able to influence them as he intended.
Max realised that when he puts more time and energy into discovering the other person’s position, thoughts, feelings, concerns and desires—their “map”—he better understands their perception of the “territory”.
That puts him in a much, much better position to persuade and influence them—thereby taking a significant step towards his minimum input, maximum output goal.
Your Leadership Call to Action
Do your behaviours sometimes resemble Max’s behaviour?We probably all need to answer, “Yes, sometimes” to that question.
Which then begs the question, “What’s in it for you to put more time and energy into investigating the other person’s map?”
I reckon if your goal is to influence them, and therefore be better placed to have minimum input for maximum output, it’s going to be time and energy well invested!
I’m curious to hear your thinking on this. Will you let me know what your “map” looks like?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Carolyn Stevens has worked with leaders for more than 25-years—hundreds of them.
She’s supported leader after leader (including those who previously struggled to confront the difficult, let alone persuasively deal with the it) flourish—and become confident, courageous and impressively influential.
Carolyn is authentic and results-oriented. She draws on an eclectic array of approaches, tools and techniques to suit the situation.
