Setbacks happen…many change efforts are 5 steps forward 3 steps back.

The good thing about a setback is that you had to be making progress to be setback. This means the team / people / you know how to progress…because you already have.

Looking at the details of success & progress that happen between big events. It moves us, good & bad, to look at the surprisingly spectacular moments we may have overlooked at the time.

Many people misunderstand “success & accomplishment” to mean outstanding, awesome, or huge successes. I believe that life is made of many little accomplishments. As we learn to see these little accomplishments, we can better learn from them.

6 Steps to Work Through a Setback

Situation

• What’s your understanding of what you are going to achieve?
• Where are you right now?
• How did you get as far as you did?

Observer

• Whose work or life or success or …. did you impact with the progress you made?
• If they were here, what would they say was the best part of what you accomplished?
• OK, you had a setback… When you make progress again, who will notice? What will they see you doing?

Level

• On a scale of 0 – 10. With 10 being this setback is the best thing to happen and 0 being the opposite – where are you right now?
• You are at X. What is keeping you at X as opposed to another number?
• When you are at X+2, what progress have you made?

Validation

• What have you done that you are most proud of?
• Where do you find yourself with the most energy & enthusiasm for this project/task?
• What progress have you already made?

Exceptions

• I was hoping you could walk me through the process & set-up & work & interactions you had to make the progress you already have.
• What from this progress can you do more of?
• When faced with setbacks in the past – how did you continue?

Decisions & Direction

• What’s your next step?
• What do you expect to have happen?
• When can we meet, and you can share the progress you made & what you learned from taking that step?

Using the Solution-Focused SOLVED Method to capture & amplify ‘what worked’ when a setback occurs.

What do you think?

What works for you when a setback happens?

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