Grand Designs In The Garden - Staying Resourceful!

Grand Designs In The Garden - Staying Resourceful!

My Blog today was inspired as I stepped back to admire my work of art after applying the final coat of paint to our long awaited, elegant shed. I reflected on the events that had occurred over the last 12 months which had created delays and much frustration due to miscommunication, incorrect delivery and inflexibility of the company we were dealing with.  
 
From my reflection I realised how my resourceful thinking had helped me to overcome the barriers that I had been faced with during the process of acquiring the shed and how differently my responses would have been to the series of events that had occurred if I hadn’t have acquired the amazing skills that Coaching had equipped me with.
 
Having the valuable knowledge and experience to recognise that I am in charge of my state and the ability to remain flexible and resourceful in my thinking, allowed me to deal effectively with the unexpected occurrences that had arisen:  
 
Delays – “Ok, they (the company I bought the shed from) are doing the best that they can with the resources they have”
 
Broken Promises – “Good intentions are often influenced by unexpected happenings”
 
In-flexibility – “They need to consider logistics and effective planning in order to maintain cost efficiency, let’s see how flexible we can be to work with them”.
 
Prior to each call that I made I ensured that I prepared my state by checking in with myself, “What is my desired outcome” and “What do I need to do promote the best chance of reaching it”.  Often our default response pattern is to become frustrated and agitated when we are not hearing what we want to hear, or not feeling heard or acknowledged by the person we are communicating with. This can draw us into an un-resourceful state, influencing how we think and what we do.  How we react to this can have a profound effect on the response we get and what happens next.  
 
One of the fundamental and natural principles that we apply as a Coach is to demonstrate Unconditional Positive Regard, which means that we are non-judgemental and appreciate other people’s map of the world; their environment, experiences, values, beliefs, response patterns, etc.  
By applying this principle, I was able to appreciate that the person I was speaking to is doing the best that they can with the information and experience that they have available to them.  This helped me to manage my expectations and communicate as clearly and respectfully as I could.  When an action that had been promised didn’t get followed through, I maintained my state and acknowledged that the person who made the promise was probably not the person who had the influence to make it happen.  When someone was evasive or dismissive of my situation, I reminded myself that their customer service approach was probably being modelled on the people that employed/trained them. Seeing things from this perspective allowed me to maintain my resourceful state and find a different way to reach the outcome I was seeking.
 
We may not have received our shed within the time that we hoped or received the best customer service that we would expect but we got there in the end.  Things don’t always go to plan; unexpected things happen and people aren’t always provided with the knowledge and experience that they need to work effectively. We are not always in control of what others do or don’t do, but we are in control of how we manage our own states to deal with the situations we are presented with.
 
So… the next time that you find yourself in a situation that could potentially cause you to respond un resourcefully, prepare your state by asking yourself the questions…. 
 
“What is the desired outcome I am looking for” and “What do I need to do to in order to promote the best chance of getting there”.  
 
By making this small adjustment to your thinking and response pattern, you will be amazed at the difference it can make to how you communicate and the outcome it can induce.
 
Kathy xx