There are no ‘crazy’ behaviours, only ‘crazy’ assumptions.
The way we think impacts the way we behave, which in turn impacts the results we get.
One of the things I like about coaching is to put light on the assumptions clients are making and the link between those assumptions and their goals.
One of my clients, a high-level leader from a multinational organization has a strong value for treating people the way he wants to be treated. Based on that he was not willing to delegate to anybody on the team a certain topic, as that particular topic was very hard for him. He did not want to put that ‘hardness’ on another person.
So I asked: what is the assumption you are making here?
He realized his assumption was that everybody is the same, everybody has the same ‘talents’ and the same ‘struggles’.
He also realized that is so untrue.
And that he was actually breaking his own value, as he was not offering people an opportunity to thrive based on their unique talents.
Based on this realization, a whole new conversation opened-up about who in the team would actually thrive when dealing with that kind of situation.
What is the benefit for the person? The team? Him as a leader?