After recently reading an Harvard Business Review blog on great bosses and leaders, I found it interesting that one of the many traits found in great bosses is that they are “Masters of the Obvious.”  As CEO of iPEC and someone who regularly interacts with coaches, I found myself asking the ‘obvious’ question  “What does this mean to coaches?”  While it’s great to imagine and feel the energy behind earth-moving type ideas and “A-HA moments,” it’s quite often the basic, obvious insights that are right in front of our own noses that can make the biggest, most visible, near-term impacts.  This is a key piece in self-awareness.  We often look past solutions that are right within our grasps. When we take the time to get real clarity on the basics of life, we can then use them as solid stepping stones and reference points for deeper challenges that appear later on in day-to-day life.

Interestingly enough, once you start to look for the obvious, you’ll find it everywhere (obviously!).  You just have to put the simple, basic solutions on your radar screen and in turn allow your mind to look for them.

Three techniques that assist you in becoming a Master of the Obvious:

1.    Ask:   What would a complete stranger or objective observer notice about this situation?

By separating ourselves from the situation in a personal sense and not having any emotional attachment to the challenge at hand, we clear up any feelings that may be blocking our view of the obvious.

2.  Reflect:   What’s my real goal?  And what would be the “straightest” path to it?

This time, it’s the goal that gets separated from all of the disjointed thoughts of our mind. It’s a fresh look at why this challenge came up to begin with. It takes away any frustration of wrong answers and gives you a brand new canvas to work with.

3.  Challenge:    If I’m over-thinking this, what aspects might I be making more complicated than they need to be?

There is a humorous, sarcastic response that often comes from a good friend, when we unintentionally point something out that everyone else already knows, that usually goes along the lines of something like this… “Thank you Captain Obvious!!!”  So if you feel like you’re over-thinking a situation, it may be helpful to ask yourself ‘What would Captain Obvious think the answer is here?”   If there is more than one aspect to the solution, you may need to get Captain Obvious’ perspective on a couple of things before you come up with a final solution.

‘Obviously,’ by combining all three of these techniques at any given time you’ll most likely have a more efficient outcome.

I appreciate your time!
(Though I think that was obvious)

D. Luke Iorio, CEO and President of iPEC Coaching

Tags: leadership

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 6th, 2010 at 10:10 am and is filed under Business Development, Energy Leadership. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.