What are some strategies for breaking down complex problems into manageable pieces in coaching?

I suggest trying to make the problem definition as quantitative as reasonable. This will be very helpful in later steps as you select solutions. As a believer in DMAIC I think it's important to understand your baseline performance as well as potential measurement system impact. In other words, is the problem worse than it's been historically and does the way I'm assessing or measuring the problem influencing the perceived magnitude of the problem?

Pay attention closely to find things that your client hasn't noticed. For example they might not notice how certain problem can affect their relationships so make sure to ask questions based on your observations as well to get the actual full picture of the problem. Don't forget to try to understand how this is affecting. What emotions or past things it possibly brings back? As a childhood plays big role in our lives. There might be a pattern or belief that affects the current situation. Maybe unresolved past experiences. Try to find the under-lying limitations.

For any fact-finding, or problem definition in a complex scenario, the starting point is to break issues down in as many parts as possible, and then, categorize them under major headlines. This is an exercise that can be done with the client, or let them do it by themselves in a first iteration. One very useful tool for this exercise is "Mind Mapping" because it allows to look at each category at different levels of detail, which also helps with the next step, of identifying the causes. It is important to approach this problem-finding exercise in an iterative form, because each category, as they aggregate some of the detail, can also act as a prompt for further fleshing out each category.

Descomponer problemas complejos en partes manejables es una habilidad crucial en el coaching, ya que ayuda a abordar y resolver problemas de manera más efectiva. Análisis de Raíz: ~Identifica la causa principal del problema. ~Pregunta repetidamente "¿Por qué?" para llegar a la fuente subyacente. ~Aborda la raíz del problema en lugar de los síntomas.

One of the best ways to understand why we are stuck in negative pattern is to keep asking for why without allowing to use same reason more than once. Then just make counter-argument to those with a client so they can have reasons to why the original statement is wrong with what feels right to them. It may not feel right to you but it is important that it feels right for your client so they can believe it.

Perhaps one of the best tools, because of its simplicity, is the "5 Whys". It is versatile and domain-independent. Teams working on problems as disparate as personal regrets or blockers to tech-support can all benefit from it. Asking iteratively, and further digging into the motivations and causes of a problem forces individuals to think where they stem from. It is important to force the questioning in such a way that offering the same answer repeatedly, is not allowed. Each answer can then be verified to make sure that they are being understood correctly, and further check if removing intermediate steps, the answers still hold, or are those steps necessary to make the answers logical.

Luego de definir el problema, e identificar las causas, se decanta naturalmente en el corrimiento hacia la acción, recomiendo los siguientes puntos: 1.Traslado: Acompañar a trasladar aprendizajes del coaching hacia la nueva visión, comportamientos y acciones. 2. Identificar: aprendizajes sobre el asunto, el qué e identificar los aprendizajes sobre el observador, el quién. 3. Adaptabilidad: Identificar los recursos y obstáculos declarados anteriormente que pueden surgir en las acciones futuras. 4. Ecología del cambio: Indagar el impacto en el sistema - y en otros ámbitos. 5. Accountability: Acompaña a diseñar métodos de responsabilidad.

As a coach it's important to ensure the solution(s) selected directly address the true root cause(s) of the problem(s). There is a natural tendency to select solution(s) easiest to implement.

Para la implementación recomiendo por un lado métodos como: GROW, SMART, Matriz RACI, Sistema GANNT, POMODORO, KAIZEN, KANBAN. Y por otro lado, recomiendo sólidamente hacerse de un accountability partner. Considero que sin alguien que nos responsabilice, es fácil inventarnos una excusa y saltarnos lo que nos proponemos, nos conocemos mejor que nadie y nos damos las mejores excusas. Sus ventajas son: 1. Mantener el rumbo 2. Rendir cuentas 3. Recibir consejos imparciales Tu compañero de responsabilidad puede ser un colega, Tutor, quién esté teniendo objetivos semejantes o compartidos contigo.

Once a solution has been chosen, it is almost as important to establish deadlines and metrics by which the implementation of the solution will be judged. Holding the client accountable, to help them execute on the solution is a key part of the success. A newer framework than SMART (which is a great framework, we need Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound), is FAST, where the A changes to "Ambitious" to give an inspirational goal, but more importantly, the F stands for "Frequently Reviewed". Waiting to very last moment to see if the goal was achieved, doesn't serve anybody.

Aquí te comparto metodologías que recomiendo para explorar en el revisar la solución: 1.Feedback y Feedfoward 2.Gestión del micro-management con KPI´S y OKR´S 3.Auditoria externas 4.Benchmarking 5. PDCA 6. Meta-management con Mentoring y preguntas del tipo: ¿Cómo ha evolucionado tu perspectiva desde el inicio hasta aquí? ¿Qué Fortalezas has descubierto de ti mismo durante la implementación de la solución? ¿Cómo has superado los desafíos? ¿Cómo te sientes respecto a la experiencia global de implementar esta solución? ¿Qué consejos te darías a vos mismo si te encontraras en un desafío similar? ¿Qué cambios en tu mindset consideras más significativos?

Según mi experiencia cada persona, empresa o equipo son un mundo en si mismo, con sus códigos, perspectivas, únicos e irrepetibles, si bien las metodologías aportan valor para encausar aprendizajes acciones y responsabilidades, recomiendo evitar la mirada de túnel y adoptar una mirada de campo, donde lo que se dice, como se dice, y lo que no se dice son parte del percibir permanente del coach. La utilización del pensamiento metaforico, el pensamiento lateral, la abstracción, los silencios y la ecologia del cambio jueguen un rol fundamental en la sesión de coaching con estándares internacionales para que la experiencia no solo sea de cambio sino también de transformación, o como nos enseña la naturaleza... Metamorfosis. ¡Muchos Éxitos!