“Better options lead to better decisions. Better decisions lead to greater success.” -Michael Bungay Stanier, The Coaching Habit
To make better financial decisions in your brewery, you need better options.
In his book The Coaching Habit, Michael Bungay Stanier quotes a study on decision making which I found fascinating.
In summary, the study showed that, “in 71 percent of the decisions, the choice preceding the decision was binary. It was simply: Should we do this? or should we not?”
The author of the study determined that the failure rate on these decisions was more than 50 percent.
Next, the study looked at adding more options. The results were startling.
“Having at least one more option lowered the failure rate by almost half, down to about 30 percent.”
So, where do these other options come from?
More options, and better options, come from asking the best coaching question in the world: And what else?
Let’s take a practical example.
Your head brewer wants to buy new equipment. They make a compelling case for why the equipment is needed, how it will improve efficiency, etc. etc.
However, you don’t really have the money for this right now.
What to do? Challenge them with the “and what else” question.
“And what else could you do?”
Then follow it up. “And what else?”
Then vary the question. “And what else might be possible?”
Then pivot with a related question. “What’s the real challenge here for you?”
To make better decisions we need better options. To get those options we often need better questions.
So, the next time you’re faced with a tough decision challenge your team with the greatest coaching question in the world: And what else?
