This is the fourth in a series of bi-weekly blog posts that include practical tools to help you improve your personal effectiveness. I typically introduce these tools in my weekly LinkedIn newsletter. Click on this link to read all the articles and, hopefully, subscribe to receive them automatically in your Inbox. There are also buttons below to download a PDF copy of this week’s tool and to sign up for my mailing list and receive my blog post automatically.
This week’s tool expands on a key point I made in my July 19th newsletter article: Living with an Outward Mindset: Seeing Beyond Ourselves. In the article I said that, when things go wrong in a relationship, the fundamental question I ask myself is “How am I a problem for others?” By asking that question, I’m forced to consider my impact on others and their needs and objectives. In Arbinger’s Outward Mindset terms, I turn Outward and, in doing so, I see them as people whose needs, objectives, and results matter the same as mine. This tool expands on that fundamental question by providing a series of prompts to help you honestly explore the causes of, and steps to resolving, relationship conflicts and breakdowns in any area of your life.
This is also the last blog post until mid-September, so be sure to check back after the break.