In this blog I wish to stretch your mind. I wish to test your patience. I wish to shift your paradigms. And I wish for you some transformational insights!
Warning: This is not a light browse! This is not a short post!
I am by now an avid fan of TED.com and indeed use the rich diversity of speakers, content and knowledge across so many experiences that a TED talk is my equivalent for regular and consistent inspiration.
The ROQUE coaching and discovery process is being used is more scenarios than could ever be imagined. And that should not be surprising. Every individual is unique. Our experiences are our own even when shared. What we project and how to illumine what we see, do and get, is one of the joys of the human experience.
Take a topic, subject, problem, issue. With ROQUE, we then start to look at R=REALITY Now:
R = REALITY NOW:
Firstly, can you empty your mind so that there is no ‘baggage’? And trust me, with practise, you can bring this state to bear in a millisecond! Here is an inspiring short clip by Andy Puddicombe.
From this awareness in the REALITY Now stage of ROQUE, we can now see emerging a range of Options.
O = OPTIONS:
We are able to consciously see a range of directions, options, paths. Even before evaluating we should stop that conditioned sense of rush we all seem to be evolved to. If you think you have seen all the options available. Be assured you have not. Shift your perspectives, change your paradigms. Leverage others’ perspectives. And discover more options.
Now here is a challenge for you. Is option a choice? Ofcourse no. Choice implies a decision. But we do confuse both. See what Barry Schwartz says in his “Paradox of choice talk”!.
OK. Now we have OPTIONS before us and again with ROQUE, we now need to make a decision. With The ROQUE process, we prefer to use the term QUEST instead of goal or choice or indeed decision albeit all are relevant with a key proviso.
Q = QUEST:
QUEST within the ROQUE process is about an activity between the Head i.e. our rational process and our Heart i.e our emotional responses. It is not that the head and heart need to be in balance. What we are looking for is a congruence between the head and the heart. Where there is no conflict such as: I think I should do this because, yet I don’t feel good about it! This latter tension is not conducive to good decisions unless you also have a strategy to placating the cause of the tension. With congruency of head and heart, there is alignment. There is momentum. There is and energy that is positive and even magnanimous.
See how Sheena Iyengar suggests how businesses (and others) can improve the experience of choosing.
U = UNIQUE NEEDS:
Having decided upon a QUEST, ROQUE suggests we need to identify what our UNIQUE Needs are which must be satisfied or put into place even before we can embark upon our Quest. If for example our Quest is to bake a cake, we need to know not only what ingredients we must have, but also the equipment, know-how, and our ‘end in mind‘. What is our intended fulfillment requiring us to include?
Here is a challenging tangent perspective from Dan Gilbert talking about why we make bad decisions;
E = EXECUTION:
Now ROQUE takes us to the actions we need to implement in order to make the Quest real. If you have to struggle to identify the actions, to create your SMART goals, to build your execution plan, then somewhere, you must have missed a turn in your QUEST stage. What ROQUE suggests, is that the right Quest inspires the identification of the UNIQUE Needs which in turn inform the EXECUTION process.
Here Simon Sinek elegantly reveals some secrets!
Did you have a quest of your own advanced by this contribution?