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The 7 Questions

1. What's on your mind?
2. ... and what else?
3. What's the real challenge here for you?
4. What do you want?
5. How can I help?
6. If you say yes to one path, what will you have to say no to?
7. What was most valuable?

Q1

Tell less and ask more
Your advice is not as good
As you think it is

Q2

The human brain groups information by count of four at the most usually. Anything beyond four is "lots". It's best to narrow potential options down to four.

Committing to an answer and then having a chance to reflect on it creates greater accuracy. Determine a best possible path, but revisit to see if there's new information or new discoveries to be considered. (Note this is aligned with the gospel principle of "study it out in your mind" and then move forward and test your feelings on it.)

Q3

Every organization is tuned to solve problems and do it fast. But "people in organizations like yours around the world are working very hard and coming up with decent solutions to problems that just don’t matter." Resist the temptation to just throw out solutions too quickly. You are likely not looking at the real problem. Focus on the real problem, not the first problem.

Q4

Side point: Organizations must have as their foundation absolute clarity about the "Why" of their existence if they’re going to inspire people — customers and employees both — to stay engaged with their brand. That may be, but stick to the "What" questions for coaching.

Replace "why did you do..." with "what were you hoping for...".
Replace "why did you think..." with "what made you ...".
Replace "why are you..." with "what is most important for...".

Rosenberg's Nine Universal Human Needs
Affection | Creation | Recreation | Freedom | Identity | Understanding | Participation | Protection | Subsistence
Any answer to this question comes from one of these four needs.

Q6

Being busy is no measure of success. Ferris "Being busy is a form of laziness". Let's ban the idea of a good busy.

Shaw: “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”

Work Smarter, Not Harder is a True But Useless (TBU) sound bite. In fact, “strategic” has become an overused qualifier, something we add to anything that we want to sound more important, more useful, more thoughtful, more… good. Strategic meeting, strategic report, etc... it can all leave employees indifferent to the idea of strategy. It's too important and common to be left as only work that higher-ups do.

Porter: "The essence of strategy is choosing what NOT to do."

A yes is nothing without the no that gives it boundaries and form.

It's easiest to say NO to those closest to us, and those most distant from us - much harder to anyone else, like those we work with. In most corporate cultures, the default is yes or probably. What gets us into trouble is how quickly we commit. Saying Yes more slowly means being willing to stay curious before committing. Ask more questions!

Say Yes to the person, but say No to the task. It's easier. How? Try writing down the request on paper or white board and add "I'm afraid I have to say NO to this".