Although questions may appear as open ended, they are actually the best ways to help you define your problem. Properly worded and delivered, a question can cut directly to the heart of an issue and lead to growth and change.

People are inclined to ramble when given the opportunity because it is hard to stop talking at the right moment. It takes patience and discipline to know when to stop and shift the attention to someone else.

The most effective way to make progress in a chaotic situation is to slow down and step back. Having a larger view of any issue will give you a sense of the other factors that may be influencing your work.

With the knowledge of the big picture, once you zoom back down to the experiential level, you will have a better sense of how to proceed because you have an appreciation of the factors at play.

Designers and business thinkers often refer to this as understanding the context. 

Context is not just where you and where your organization is working, but it is also where you are not. At this point, context is a balance between positive and negative, or of structure and void. 

Understanding what you do, and then what you choose not to do is a critical step in developing a higher level of awareness of your organization. It will help leaders better understand how to adapt, how to develop opportunities, and comprehend the impact that they make as a results of their decisions or actions. 

At this level, it’s less about competition and more about co-creating with others using the same limited resources. 

What do you choose to do?

What do you choose not to do?