For many years now (longer than perhaps I wish to acknowledge), my professional life has been about the pursuit of better. Through many different situations, reasons, people, and outcomes, the one constant in these pursuits has been my goal and role to help guide and develop a level of improvement.

It is a role that I cherish, respect, and love.

When someone offers you the opportunity to work with them to help them get better, it is without exception one of life’s most rewarding experiences.

As coaching is an act of faith.

You can never really coach or do it effectively until the person you are working with gives you permission to do so.

Through each and all of the different people, organisations, and reason for the pursuit of better, there is always the consistent framework that I have used to formulate goals, improve the clarity of the journey and to help understand what is it we are trying to do.

And that model is:

a. Outcome
b. Process
c. Reason

1. What
2. How
3. Why

i. What are you attempting to achieve?
ii. How are you going to do it?
iii. Why do you want to do this?

As I said, simple but effective. As yet this model has never let me or anyone I have worked with down.

But I want to start at the end, and that is with the why.

Side Note:
For anyone asking, this model was in play well before Simon Sinek’s Ted Talk of ‘Start with Why’.

The why is where most people come unstuck in the pursuit of better.

When asked they can give me one or two reasons as to why they want to do certain things or pursue a particular goal. But in the majority of cases, two is never going to be enough. Two reasons are not going to be strong enough to stand the pressure of what will come through the how.

There has to be clarity in the what, a clear understanding of the how along with relevance and power in the why.

If the why isn’t working and or if it won’t work then at very best the what will only ever be a dream.

What you are pursuing and how you need to do it, will be driven by the personal relevance you have with the why.

No real relevance or no personal relationship to the why chances are there is no ownership towards what you want to pursue and therefore no real commitment.

Define the why in as many ways as you can so as to ensure a high level of personal connection with what you are pursuing and in the process, you will be going a long way to achieving the better that you seek.

Oh, and in the process, you will be making sure…

The Journey Continues!