A self-coaching exercise for when something in your work or life feels stuck. Three short stages take you from naming the problem to identifying what you can do about it tomorrow.
Each stage you complete is a shift in your mindset.
Work your way through all three and you've completed the shift.
STAGE 1 OF 3
Choose one specific area of your life or career you want to improve. You'll name it, flip it, and re-frame it.
IDENTIFY
1 of 3
What's the problem, and what is it costing you?
"I spend most of my day covering gaps in the schedule, so my charge nurses never get coached."
"We get pulled into projects after the decisions are made, so my team feels like a rubber stamp."
"I'm carrying the funding worry on my own, and it's making me short with the people I lead."
IDENTIFY
2 of 3
Now say the opposite. Where is the opportunity hiding inside that problem?
"I have an opportunity to build a charge nurse team that runs the unit without me."
"I have an opportunity to get us into the room while the thinking is still open."
"I have an opportunity to share the weight with my board instead of shielding them from it."
IDENTIFY
3 of 3
Turn the flip into the outcome you want.
"I want a unit that runs well on the days I'm not there."
"I want us brought in as partners, early, by default."
"I want a board that carries the funding question with me."
STAGE 2 OF 3
You wake a year from now, and it has all come true. Look around — what are you seeing, hearing, feeling?
IMAGINE
One year from now
Seeing — "Two charge nurses running the huddle without me."
Hearing — "A program lead saying they called us first, before the plan was written."
Feeling — "Steady, not braced, walking into a board meeting."
Add as many as come to you. One is enough to continue.
STAGE 3 OF 3
Turn your vision into strategy. Get curious.
INNOVATE
1 of 2
INNOVATE
2 of 2
Two minutes. As many ways to make that happen as you can. No editing, no judging.
"I could ask my charge nurses which decisions they'd take off my plate."
"I could sit in on one program meeting a month with nothing to present."
"I could give the board a one-page funding picture every month."
INNOVATE
3 of 3
Which will you do first, today or tomorrow?
Or something else entirely.
"Ask my most senior charge nurse to run Thursday's huddle."
"Email the program director and ask to be on next month's agenda."
"Draft the one-page funding picture before Friday."