Purchasing Coach: Advent Window 4: Role Models

25 unconventional coaching and facilitation tools to surprise and delight

Window 4: Role Models, Mentors and other people (real or otherwise)

Level of unconventionalness out of 10 = 2 (I'm still being kind)

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Process:

• Identify a situation you'd like more insight on.
• Identify what other people would do in the situation, what advice might they give you (e.g. role models, mentors, celebs, authors, sports people etc).
• Have fun.
• Get absurd. 
• Keep going. 
• Reflect what actions you may be able to take from these suggestions.    

Festive/Holiday season example: 

What advice would the following festive characters have to offer us?

• Rudolph - ignore the naysayers and doubters, you do have talents that others can use to great effect.

• Santa - Have you been good this year because there will be consequences of not being good?
• Carol Singers - Be of good cheer and do things for others. Make sure you have your song sheet with you.  
• Shop workers - Please don't leave everything to the last moment. Have more patience. Gratitude and appreciation goes a long way. 
• Delivery Men - Please do leave us a note of where we can leave your parcel if you're out.
• Dr Who - You can count on me to be there on Christmas day.
• Snowman - Please let the conditions be good for me.
• Elves - Don't ask for so much - what do you really need? 
• Scrooge - You'll see the light eventually, and realise grumpy, pessimistic and mean isn't worth it! 
• Wise Men -We saw the sign that foretold of your great endeavours.
• Partridge in a pear tree - Where are the pears? How did I get up here? How do I get down? What am I going to do with turtle doves, french hens, calling birds, gold rings, geese a laying, swans a swimming, maids a milking, ladies dancing, lords a leaping, pipers piping, drummers drumming? 
• Kids - is it Christmas yet? Next! Just another one. Please. 
• Turkey .........

Which might have us realising the solution to the challenge we're facing involves:

• Confidence
• Patience
• Gratitude and appreciation
• Planning
• Communication with others about the options available to them
• Ensuring we sign post what were up to 
• Facilitating the right conditions for growth
• Rationalising the to-do list
• or something else entirely

The list of potential role models/mentors you could use is endless - book characters, TV characters, friends, enemies, celebs, family, friends, business leaders, authors, sportsmen/women, politicians (one group on a workshop earlier in the year got some great insight from what Donald Trump would do!) and so on.

Did any of the advice from these role models resonate for you in the current situation? Perhaps you thought of alternate advice or alternate role models? What action can you take to allow that insight to percolate into your life?  

We're going a little more unconventional tomorrow!

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Benefits: Finding solutions we might not think of when we're simply being us!

Uses: Strategy and Vision Setting, Coaching, Problem Solving, Creativity & Innovation

Participants: Anyone


Alison Smith
Unlocking procurement potential - using conventional and unconventional tools
Procurement and Business Speaker, Coach, Trainer, & Facilitator
alison@alisonsmith.eu +44 (0)7770 538159


Earlier in the year I applied some of the unconventional tools shared in this advent series to common procurement challenges - more here.