Welcome to our interview with Dianne Collins, Creator of QuantumThink®, popular Media Personality and Award-winning author. A leading authority in new world view thinking, she is a Strategic QuantumThink Consultant to executives and entrepreneurs, students and celebrities. Dianne has been interviewed on hundreds of radio and TV shows, is a featured blogger on The Huffington Post, and a recipient of the Top 20 Conscious Entrepreneurs award.
QuantumThink® is the groundbreaking system of thinking offering us a methodology – 21 specific, advanced principles where Dianne blends scientific insight and universal knowledge into practical modern wisdom – to create real solutions for our modern lives – from inner serenity to relationships, business results, and global affairs – through awakening awareness and expanding the way we think. Dianne Collins is an 8-time award-winning author of bestseller, Do You QuantumThink? New Thinking That Will Rock Your World, considered a “must-read” for our changing times. She places self-mastery within reach of everyone with her entertaining online video masterclass, “Master Your Mind – Master Your Life” that many call a true masterpiece.
She likes to refer to herself as “a girl with a new point of view.”
Welcome Dianne, and thank you for contributing to the questions that are at the heart of the Exploring Forward Thinking Workplaces 2.0 conversation. (I shared my reflections on my interview with Dianne here.)
Bill Fox: How can we create workplaces where every voice matters, everyone thrives and finds meaning, and change and innovation happen naturally?
Dianne Collins: I love you’re asking that question Bill because in today’s world, it is more important than ever. People more than ever desire self-expression, authentic connection, and I think also, we want to experience mastery. We are in this age where because of our wonderful technologies, people can communicate in so many ways. We want to engage and there’s a level of engagement people yearn for. What I see with executives and leaders in major corporations is that everyone wants to be recognized for their unique contribution. And it really should be that way!
Step into Our Own Leadership
Imagine that every one of us is being called upon to step into our own leadership – whether you are formally in a leadership position or not. Every single person is on the team, part of the group, and part of the organization and has something to contribute. Each one can contribute his or her unique perspective. Gifts they were born with. Talents they’ve developed. That person is you and only you. And I think if we become enlightened and aware of this in one another, we truly see every one of us as a leader. A leader in what? In what it is they are here to contribute, regardless of where they’re making that contribution. When we recognize this, then we are all listening to one another. There is a naturalness that ensues when we view one another this way.
Being in One Conversation
One of the distinctions of the QuantumThink® system is called Being In One Conversation. We realize we’re many voices in a conversation of creative dialogue. Or what I refer to as a relational field of communication and relationship. When we’re in this one conversation, we can all be conscious of what each one of us is contributing to the workplace, to our team, our organization, and to this project we’re all working on together.
From Industrial Age to Quantum Age
We’re also seeing our systems and structures undergoing a great transformation. Restructuring is one of the energies of the time because we’re making a leap from the Industrial Age to the Quantum Age. This is the overarching premise of QuantumThink – that we’re in a Quantum Age still using Industrial Age thinking, and that’s limiting us. When you look at how our organizations were formed, it was based on Industrial Age thinking that relied on “command and control” management styles and silos – separation-into-parts type of thinking. We’ve moved beyond that now because of our technologies. What if our thinking was as up-to-date as our technology? That’s the leap. When you QuantumThink you think from the perspective of wholeness – interconnected whole systems. That’s what makes it natural. That’s the leap. It’s time for us to recognize the value each one of us brings as integral to the whole – regardless of position or stature in the organization.
In an earlier conversation you and I had before this interview, you talked about how the events of 911 led you to learning how to fly, and you discovered an appreciation of a higher perspective. I believe that higher perspective is one of the essential aspects of what would be an enlightened and forward-thinking workplace.
Context vs. Content
It’s important that we distinguish between context and content here. When you step back to look from another QuantumThink principle we call the Perspective of All Perspectives – this is the context that enables you to think from possibility. Most of the time, we’re in content-oriented conversations meaning we are looking at the options in our immediate view. Conversations may start with a vision then devolve into the either/or sticking points. We get into the content that brings up my way or your way. I like it, I don’t like it. I agree, I disagree. It is in these situations where we can get trapped in stalemate communications. At the same time, yes, the content of what we’re doing is vital. We live in content daily – in life and in business. The idea is when you can make this distinction between the context of the conversation and the content of the conversation, then you can step back and you will create a space for new possibilities. From a quantum world view, reality is context-dependent, so we know context will shape the field of actions and the field of communications. And the results.
It’s also important to distinguish here that the question you’re in is also creating a context and giving a trajectory of where we will go. It’s going to influence what line of thinking and actions we will take.
As a simple, quick example, let’s say your team is trying to decide on a business model to implement. You can see two options in front of you. Yet, neither of those business models will lead to the accomplishment of the desired goal. You can pose a new question and something new will open up.
Past Formulas No Longer Work
Right now we’re in three undeniable conditions of the world. First, the pace of change is speeding up. We have rapid rampant change. It keeps getting faster and faster. That’s a scientific fact and we experience that. The second condition is the increasing complexity and number of choices we have. And the third condition is, because of the changes, for the most part unprecedented change, we have daily uncertainties. Some of them are unfathomable. We never know what to expect, and I think that has been the case since 911.
Now we find ourselves in these three undeniable conditions where we can no longer rely upon whatever formulas we used from the past – in business and in our lives. We can’t even rely on knowledge because it changes so quickly. Isn’t that very interesting! And so, what do we do? How can we be effective in these three undeniable conditions? We can move into the mastery perspective.
Think of yourself as a martial arts master. You don’t know what will be coming at you. But what you do know within your own being is that you’ve trained yourself. You know you can be so present now. You are open to possibility. You know whatever circumstances arise in the world or come your way, you have the wherewithal and the confidence to be in right or masterful action.
I think that’s what people want right now – to know within yourself you have the wherewithal to be effective in this changing world. We’re in a time right now where everyone you speak to and I speak to – we’re all looking. We all want that 30,000-ft. perspective where you look at your life as you (Bill) did and think about, what do I want now? How do I want my life to go moving forward in this environment? How do I make my contribution? How do I live my purpose? How do I live in the state of being joyful everyday living my life? We all want that. I think those three conditions in the world – change, complexity, and uncertainty – are causing people to step back and reflect on it.
Bill: What does it take to get an employee’s full attention and best performance?
Dianne: One of the things we find people, employees, are looking for is a vision – for themselves, what they’re accountable for in their work, and for the company or business unit they’re working in. That vision needs to be expressed and valued.
Yet, we tend to think of the company leaders as “the visionaries.” They’re the ones who are creating the vision and trying to get that vision heard amongst the employees, aligned on and embraced. The unfortunate word for it – “buy-in.” That sets up an “us and them” situation where “they” try to convince “us” to buy in to their vision. This is really an old world view approach. It’s not the most effective, as we know!
In QuantumThink® we do an exercise called Your Holographic Vision. We ask people to look at their vision for all the areas that express the whole of their life. The areas include having a vision for Self, Significant Other, Family, Work, Community, Country, the World, and for Ideas That Shape The World. QuantumThink, for example is an “idea that shapes the world.” You don’t have to have your own trademark to have an idea that shapes the world because everyone has an idea about it. You have an idea that shapes the world. Exploring Forward-Thinking Workplaces™. It’s an idea that shapes the world.
Every one of us has a vision in each of these areas of life although we may not even be aware of it. Ask an employee, what is your vision for your work here, and you start to see everyone has one unique aspect of the vision. When you put it all together and employees feel they’re participating in that overall vision, that’s when the vision comes alive. That’s when the top-level leader doesn’t even have to worry about whether their vision is getting embraced. Because when each person sees how their personal vision is getting fulfilled in the collaborative vision – that’s when it starts humming and buzzing. People become passionate about what they’re doing. I think that’s a very big part of it. You’re recognized and you’re valued.
You know how they have all these employee surveys? What determines the outcomes of those surveys? To a great extent, how the questions are posed. Remember, reality is context-dependent and a question is a context that shapes how things go. In quantum science this is known as “the observer effect.” In essence, when you look at life as whole systems interconnecting – there is no objective reality “out there” apart from you and me. We each have an influence on what we experience. In QuantumThink this is a core principle, Observer-created Reality. I say it simply, what you bring is what you get. How you pose a question on employee surveys – whether it’s a Gallop poll or political poll or anything else in the world – the response is going to be shaped and slanted by how the question is posed and framed.
How do you get the best performance from employees? That is the question you asked. When you look at the results from employee surveys, one thing always comes up when you ask, “What do the employees really want?” They want to be valued. That is significant for everyone. Imagine that, as we’ve been discussing, when a person is valued, they give their best. Then you say, well that’s nice, now what?
Everyone knows what to do, everyone knows people want to be valued. But what is going to give a person the experience of being valued?
My work and my passion is about having us go from knowing what to do, “knowing” the wisdom – to actually living it—to being the walking, talking, embodiment of these values, these virtues.
That’s where conscious intent comes in—for everyone—whether you’re the manager or the person reporting to that manager. You relate to people with the intent that they experience being valued. Of course, it takes conscious action as well.
What should managers be asking employees? How about, “What do you think?” When you are asked, What do you think? What’s your vision? What’s the direction you think we should be going? – it is understood, in the subtext as they say in the movie business, that the person experiences being valued because you are asking them to contribute their thinking, their point of view.
Let’s talk about for a moment what can limit us in the day-to-day culture of work environments. It is what I call “Least-action Pathways.” Because of the automatic habits engendered by a formula-driven, mechanical, Industrial Age way of thinking – thought can tend to become a Least-action Pathway. A Least-action Pathway is the route the thought takes simply because it’s been that route before. It’s the most mechanical, automatic way or action—the least conscious way of thinking about something. We have cultural Least-action Pathways, family Least-action Pathways – just about in any area of life. For example the Least-action Pathway in our current news reporting is to tell us what went wrong, is wrong, or will go wrong (smile). That’s the automaticity of current news media.
The importance of noticing Least-action Pathways is so we can move beyond them, so they don’t have to limit us. Please don’t give them any meaning – good or bad. They’re simply automatic habits. We don’t even know how they got here – and truly, the “why” and “how” of them is irrelevant.
If a Least-action Pathway is limiting you, or your team, or what you want to accomplish, you can recognize it immediately. Then you can interrupt it just by recognizing it and saying, “Ok, how can we think about this differently?”
When you look at Least-action Pathways, there are Least-action Pathways of individuals, corporate cultures, media, government, politics, gender, whatever. There’s also a Least-action Pathway of leadership. Leaders feel like they have the weight of what happens on their shoulders. If you’re a leader, you have to know it all. You have to figure it all out. Yet, that is simply not “the truth.” We are in a time of authentic collaboration. The leader does play a directive role, for sure. Yet, he or she doesn’t have to figure it all out. They just need to guide the action and allow for everyone’s genius to come through. It’s not an either/or world. It’s a both/and world.
This is a forward-thinking workplace. It engenders participation. It engenders the experience of being valued. It’s a team. It’s not like, let me show you the way to go. It’s a collaborative context.
The top-level leadership, it’s their job to create direction. If you’re an enlightened leader, you’re doing it with input. You’re doing it because you’re valuing people – not because you’re telling them, “You’re valued”, which isn’t bad either to let somebody know that. But, it’s in the way you are relating to them. You’re asking them what do they think? What do they see? How would they do this? What’s your vision for this aspect of our business? That’s the big difference. People talk about trust a lot. This idea of trust – I think we’re born with trust.Trust is an aspect of who we are. When you look at babies or children, they have trust. There’s a certain trust in little children, and I think it’s because it’s a part of who we are. It’s in our being.
When you start to ask, “Do I trust this?” or “You have to gain my trust” or “You have to earn my trust” – this to me is a very ineffective level of unconscious intent. What we would call “unaware intent” because it’s part of separation thinking. It separates. If you don’t have to earn my trust, we’re already on the same side. We’re moving forward – together.
A lot of times we suggest the use of this creative dynamic of intent for our clients, with their customers or employee partners. I ask a client, how about creating the intent that you’re already partners – with the person you are about to meet with. This kind of intent is powerful. It literally alters the relationship, for the better, of course.
Intent is something you hold in your being. People can start to intend we are in this together. You create an intent for the relational field – for how you want both of you to experience being related. You can do this with people you report to, with someone who is your peer, or someone who reports to you.
We can do it with customers. We’re partners in this. How can this work for everyone? And of course that’s one of the key contextual questions of my own work: How can this work for everyone? When you stand in that question, what happens is we start to get ideas that come from this intelligent mind field we’re all sharing and living in. When that happens, you just start to create partnership. Trust is not a factor. Do we have to talk about trust? Or do we just work together, beautifully.
Bill: What do people really lack and long for at work?
Dianne: One of the things that people long for at work is being excited and passionate about what they’re doing. People want to experience their passion. They want to feel that their work is an expression of their purpose, too.
I like to look at the energetic trends that impact all of us, regardless of what industry we’re in or what we’re doing in our lives. I refer to them as the “energies of the time.” There is a certain “feeling tone” in every era, as life unfolds on our magnificent sparkling blue planet. In this moment and for years to come, we are in a time of restructuring; of expressing a new “identity;” of a yearning for authenticity; of living our passion; and of creating a new period of harmonious relationships. These energy trends are transforming us. We’re starting to think from a more expanded, higher and more consciously awakened perspective.
We witness the restructuring of our societal institutions, including our companies, industries, government, healthcare, education and judicial systems. Think of it this way. The current forms of our institutions were born from Industrial Age thinking. Now we are in a Quantum Age – and it’s time to update our institutions to be in sync with the times. The example of the educational system is striking – because it is so antiquated when you look at what’s possible utilizing current technologies. Then again, the “new education” is taking place as well outside of the conventional structure. YouTube, distance learning, and so much more is available, and people are enjoying and engaging in it.
What about the predominant energy trend of “authenticity”? Criticisms of social media notwithstanding, the fact is we can get closer to the people we know, and we can know so many more people because of the Internet and social media. Privacy may have been eroded, yet we don’t want to live behind a mask. We want authenticity.
We’re in a time of “the new you.” When you step back and reflect, you start to make choices that are simpatico with who you are in your heart, soul, mind, and spirit. You want to be able to step forward with a new expression of who you are. “The new you.” Whoever I was in the last 5, 10, 20 years, isn’t who I want to be now. I can now go to a new place. New questions start to arise like: How can I get to the next octave of my self-expression? How do I want to be known to myself and in the world now?
And what about this idea of passion as an energy trend? As you ask, what’s important to me now – we want to be doing what we love. It’s not at all selfish or superficial because when each one of us tunes in to what we’re passionate about, we are at the same time tuning in to the clues, gifts, talents and experiences that we’ve been given by our destiny – what we’ve been expecting and hoping for throughout our lives.
When we each start to be excited, happy, and passionate about what we’re working on and how we’re expressing ourselves in the workplace – that is probably the greatest contribution to our world at large.
It’s easy to see why – because happier people are more productive, healthier, and have a greater uplifting influence on others when you’re in that elevated joyful state. You have a clearer connection to source – the Infinite field of mind, Infinite Intelligence. That’s where genius gets ignited. That’s where we spark new ideas.
That’s where we can keep opening our minds to ideas that we may not, at first glance, be connecting, resonating or agreeing with. We begin to open our minds because we’re in a joyful state ourselves. We can start to work together and collaborate on how can we create this to work. We transcend the either/or options that divide us. You have the freedom to express your passion in the work you do, and appreciate and honor that passion in others.
Which leads us to a very important energy trend right now, and that is one of creating harmonious relationship. You can use plain, ordinary logic in the world to see the divisiveness that people have been disappointed in – even in despair about – and you wonder how does it ever end. How do we ever come together? Connect to the desire for harmony. When you create the intent for it in your relationships, that starts to emanate out.
It comes down to, are we living a conscious life or not? It means living consciously knowing how to use the faculties of mind – what I call the Five Natural Faculties of Mind. Intent, which allows us to create; Intuition, which allows us to connect; Subtle Energy, which allows us to tune in; Resonance, which allows us to manifest; and Meditation, which allows us to focus.
Because of the big paradigm shift in science, which has filtered into our technology, industries and the way that we live today, the world is shifting from a physical-based reality to a mind-based reality.
Then when you say everybody wants to create results, the question becomes, how does that happen? How do we create the results that we want? When you’re looking from a physical-based reality, it’s all about the existing circumstances. It looks like I have to take the right actions and then I’ll get the results I want. That has validity, that is true. However, when you look at what is at the source of creating the right action, then you have to look at thinking. We know that our patterns and habits of thinking give rise to our ideas and our actions and therefore, to our results.
My question that led me to create the QuantumThink® system of thinking was: If thinking creates results, then what is creating our thinking? And my revelation was that since everything in the universe is a system, we think in a system. The thinking system is based on the assumptions and ideas and beliefs of the overarching worldview. Very simply, the worldview is whatever we believe to be true about the nature of reality and how it works.
When you worked in the Industrial Age, thinking was organized around the physical five senses. What did we study in school? The brain, the physical. We didn’t learn about the 5 Natural Faculties of Mind – Intent, Intuition, Subtle Energy, Resonance and Meditation, which I consider not just a “practice” but a natural faculty of mind .
In our Quantum Age, cutting edge scientists are saying the Universe is less like a giant machine and more like a giant mind. We’re living in a mind-based reality.
We have to look at these invisible fields of energy-intelligence because that’s where the power of intent is working. It’s where intuition and connections through our intuitive faculties are working. It’s where we can tune into the subtle energies, for example, the energetic trends I mentioned we’re in, and what we’re resonating with.
When you start to look at our mind-based reality, then you start to say, what does it mean? It means that we can connect to the creative dynamics that we have been endowed with by virtue of being blessed with human birth. That means that we can create consciously from intent because when you look at life, sometimes it drifts good and sometimes it drifts not so good. So, how do we make an intervention, right? We take command of creating from intent. Intent is not a cause and effect, push-pull dynamic. Intent generates a field of energy, and the quality of that energy generates many results consistent with the specific nature of the intent.
Let’s take for example, how do you create harmonious relationships? Well, the first place is to have a conscious intent for that. This is where it all begins. The dynamic of intent is the creative dynamic we’ve been born with. When we start to use this consciously, everything shifts and it’s instant. It’s an amazing thing to start to recognize that we are born with these capabilities, and when used consciously, can shift our lives and the world.
Sometimes people get hung up on, “Well, I had an intent and it didn’t work.” That’s because in the physical, things obviously move slower. But in a relational field, in the field of our own state, our state of mind, our own state of being, our own peace of mind, and in our own relational field with another – that is an instantaneous shift.
When you shift your state, everything shifts with it because we do exist in fields. We operate in fields. I read once that Einstein said, “The field is more important than the particle because the field conditions the particle.”
Bill: What is the most important question management should be asking employees?
Dianne: I believe one of the most important questions leadership should be asking employees is, “What do you really want to be doing?” It’s a question that very few leaders ask to people who report to them, probably because it’s not in the organization’s culture to ask that particular question. It’s another one of those Least-action Pathways of corporate culture (remember, neither good nor bad – just habit 🙂 – for leaders to manage from the idea that you are going to have to do what I need you to do. That is of course also essential, to make sure that the job gets done. However, when you want to engender the highest performance, the happiest, most passionate and enthusiastic work force – you want to think in a both/and frame of mind. The business needs a certain type of task accomplished, and the question is who is the best person for that particular function. For example, “Okay, Joe can do that, right?” But maybe Joe doesn’t want to do that—or maybe that’s not his key talent.
So I think asking this question, what do they really want to be doing on this team, to understand how they see things, is very important. You may not get every dream come true as the employee, but at least you’ll have a starting point. As the manager or the leader, your business is going to be that much more masterful and effective when you have people doing what they want to do. What they love to do. It goes back to that happiness and joy and being excited about the work factor.
Bill: What is the most important question employees should be asking management?
Dianne: I think the employee should be asking, “What’s your vision for where we’re going?” This is an important question for several reasons. The first one is that leaders are expected to have a vision, but they may not be making it known. Employees may be unaware of it. Or perhaps they may not be asking about it. Yet, the vision is tantamount to a “living intent.” The vision generates the energy-intelligent field that gives rise to actions and results.
From a QuantumThink perspective, a vision is a living possibility that consistently generates outcomes – it’s not a someday-maybe future event. I think when we ask a question like that, “What’s your vision for where we’re going?” it gives the leader an opportunity to express it in a conversation. It gives the leader a platform to presence the vision and bring it alive for everyone. It’s one of the most satisfying experiences for both leaders and employees. It’s a co-creative dynamic. New possibilities open up in the dialogue. That question is a force that creates the future.
It gives the employees a clear space to step into, to become part of it. If you’re just operating in the day-to-day, unaware of a vision, work can become quite monotonous. However, when you’re present to a great vision, you can see everything you’re doing, even the small stuff, as a valuable contribution to the manifestation of that vision. It’s the context. It’s generating a new reality. And it’s exhilarating for everyone.
When someone asks you a question something like, “Okay Bill, what’s your vision for this Forward-Thinking Workplaces project?” what would you say? That question would cause you to pause and think about it. Well, you may say, “I want it to be a global conversation that spreads around the world!” And it also might cause you to think about it in a new way just by having been asked the question.
The above question then leads to a natural next question for the employee to ask the leader, “How do you see me contributing to that vision?” Then you get an idea of how the leader sees you, and where you stand. This type of communication creates quality relationships because you’re getting to know one another at a deeper and more authentic level.
Thus, when people ask, what do you think or what is your vision, it’s a very interesting phenomenon in terms of creating quality relationships in the workplace.
Bill: What is the most important question we can ask ourselves?
Dianne: I believe we can look at this question in at least two ways. One would be very simply to ask oneself, “What do I really want – now, and going forward?” When I’m doing what I want, it genuinely supports the world and the people around me.
And the other way to look at this is with this very important question, “How can we have this work for everyone?” This question is powerful. In the subtext, in the unspoken, it acknowledges that in fact, we can have it work for everyone. And it also evokes what each and every person wants.
A lot of people will repeat this question back to me and say, “How do we make it work for everyone?” No, that’s not the same question. It’s a very carefully worded question.
There is an allowing. There is a calling forth of “intel” from the energy-intelligent quantum field of mind. It’s not how can we make it work – because that would be back to command and control. There’s no forcing in “how can we have it work.”
“How are we going to make this work” isn’t a bad question because it brings up a little passion, which is good. However, it also brings up static. With more static in the system, our genius might not be arising because you’re blocking the energy field when you get too tense about it.
When you say it this way, “How can we have this work for everyone?” it creates operating from consensus, rather than compromise or majority rules.
This is so important, so please let me share an example. We’ve always operated like this in our business. My partner in everything in life is my husband and business partner for more than 15 years, Alan K. Collins, who is a Master QuantumThink® Coach. You can imagine that also being married we could be very familiar with each other. However, we do operate from this very important question of how can we have this work for everyone?
We make decisions from this question, not just between the two of us, but also with the various partners we work with. Let’s say there are three of us and we need to decide on a project. Well, it’s not going to be two against one, e.g., “Too bad Mr. Third person who didn’t get your way.” We don’t operate that way. What happens when you’re in that question of how can we have this work for everyone, is you have an intent for consensus decision-making where everyone is aligned and happy about the decision. You may not agree with every little aspect of it, but what happens is that question as a context opens possibilities and you keep seeing possible solutions in new ways. Eventually, you arrive at a possibility for that third person, the “Mrs. I- Don’t-Agree-with-This” person, until she finally sees, “Wait a minute, if we did it this way, yes, that would work for me!”
It does work like that. If you have an intent for how can we have this work for everyone, then we can always come up with another tweak, another angle, or another revision until everyone is satisfied. That is superior performance in an organization. When everyone is psyched about what you’re doing, there’s no drag on the energy field. Everyone is moving forward, coming up with ideas, feeling like their ideas are recognized. They’re participating fully. It may sound like an over-idealized way of being, yet it doesn’t mean you’re not going to have snags, conflicts or challenges along the way. What it does mean is that you know you’re going to work it out. Why? Because that’s your intent.
It’s also interesting because I believe this idea of how can we have this work for everyone is implied in your opening question for this interview:
How can we create workplaces where every voice matters, everyone thrives and finds meaning, and change and innovation happen naturally?
I couldn’t decide how I was going to answer that question, and I considered, “What question should management be in?” As you know from reading my book, Do You QuantumThink?, in the QuantumThink distinction #8 entitled Transformation As Distinct From Change – the practice for re-creating that principles in real time in your life is called, “Being in the Right Question.”
And my recommendation for an example, as an all-encompassing question to be in is this very question we’ve been discussing: How can we have this work for everyone?
Of course, there are many “right questions” we can pose. As you were recognizing this, you said that it made you think, are we in the right questions on these interviews? And I say yes! Very much so, you’re in very good questions, Bill.
Let’s take your example a little further for everyone.
When you’re trying to produce a business result, that’s a perfect question for a manager to ask an employee: Are we in the right question?
For example, let’s say you needed to close 50 deals this year to meet your forecast. What question would be asked in this situation? You might say, “How are we going to get these deals closed?” Or maybe you’d be in this question, “What should we do to close these 50 deals?”
However, a new twist, a question that will re-direct your thinking could be, “What enables a deal to be closed?” Or, “What has people say yes?”
The difference is that in the first question, “How are we going to close these deals?” you might come up with logical answers. “Well, let’s go to the list of clients we’ve worked with before.” That might be good, too.
Yet, in closing the deal, you might want to look at, what is it that has people say yes? It could take you in an entirely different direction. I’m giving a simple example because we don’t have an actual situation in this moment. And I know you get the idea of how asking a different question will take you somewhere else. Somewhere you really want to go. And that is so exciting. It’s exhilarating. That’s the genius. That’s forward-thinking!
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