What Worked and Didn’t Work: Drill Down to Find the Real Problems

It’s the first question to ask to improve your processes — but what if you draw a blank?

This post was first published on my Medium blog—follow me there for the most up-to-date entries!

Every week, I start my accountability mastermind group by asking members to list their wins for the week. Then, we go to the next step, which is identifying their processes: What worked? What didn’t work? No matter how long they’ve been in the group, they struggle with this. Since I’m the coach, I asked myself: Why are they struggling? How can I help?

After some thought, I divided the problem into two questions: what were the actions that did or didn’t work, and what were the feelings? To break it down further, there are:

Straightforward or obvious actions that work or don’t work
Complicated or less obvious actions that work or don’t work
Blatant feelings that helped move us forward, or keep us stuck, or send us backwards
Less obvious feelings that help us get ahead, keep us stuck, or send us backwards

Actions that worked or didn’t work

We take actions every day. These are processes made up of a set of steps and decisions. When I first started reflecting on what worked for me over the past week, I came up with actions that were mostly about my habits, methods, or techniques. Here’s what worked for me:

I started getting up at 5 AM. (Habit)
I altered my morning routine because it wasn’t working. (Method)
I tried using time boxing instead of time blocking. (Technique)

As I became a little more sophisticated in analyzing what was or wasn’t working, I realized that I needed to look at my own self-awareness and expertise, or my interactions with others, or lack thereof. Here were some less obvious actions that worked for me.

I asked someone for help to take those steps or make those decisions.
I acquired a new skill that enhanced my steps.
I wrote a goal that did not depend on completion of action by someone else.

What didn’t work? Some actions were fairly obvious to me:

I put off doing my high-leverage goals until late in the day when I was tired. (Habit)
I listened to an audiobook, but realized I needed to read least some of the chapters to truly understand the content. (Method)
I forgot to activate TimeOut, and as a result, I got eyestrain. (Technique)

Feelings that worked or didn’t work

Recognizing how processes (habits, techniques, and actions) affect outcomes is necessary, but not sufficient. We must also look at our feelings.

Sometimes, we’re hyper aware of our feelings such as anger, disappointment, or exuberance. Sometimes, we aren’t aware of our feelings. Often, we just don’t have the right word. In the examples above, I might not have come up with inadequate or embarrassed without the Feel Wheel. I love that tool, because it helps me to come up with a feeling that’s more precise than just “bad” or “happy” or angry.

When I find myself or my clients getting too tangled up in the idea of “what worked” or “what didn’t work” I might ask the question a little differently:

What accelerated my effort this week?
What made my work more enjoyable this week?
What slowed me down this week? (Remember the eye strain example?)
What became an obstacle for me this week? (Someone on my team didn’t get a subtask done, so I couldn’t get my task done.)

I think it all comes down to: What pushes you forward or pulls you backward in achieving your goal. Certainly actions or inactions, straightforward or otherwise, are part of the explanation. But after I read renowned business coach Dan Sullivan’s book, Laws of Lifetime Growth, I realized we all need to grapple with some deeper questions. Sullivan presents “worked” and “didn’t work” with an angle I hadn’t thought of.

Here are verbatim quotes from Sullivan’s book:

Worked (Affective Aspect)

“…those parts of the experience that moved you forward, adding to your sense of capability and confidence.”

That quote begs yet another question: What’s the difference between confidence and capability? Does it matter? Yes, I think it does.

Capability is more about learning mastery, having the cognitive or psychomotor skills to carry out the steps necessary to complete the task at hand or the bigger goal later. For example, I know I’m entirely capable of designing a course, typing 100 words a minute, and knitting a pair of socks.

Confidence, however, is more about the affective sense of my own powers, or feelings of self-assurance and the belief that I can do whatever it is I’m tackling.

“Moving forward?” It’s related to capabilities and confidence, yes. But it might be more than that. Moving forward might be attributable to the resources I used. Perhaps I was more able to move forward because I asked someone for help, or I used a different piece of software, or I used affirmations before I started the task. (Dr. Maika Steinborn explains what affirmations are, and she cites scientific studies on their effectiveness. I’ve explained how we can self-sabotage our positive affirmations.)

Didn’t work

“…those aspects of the experience that blocked or undermined your sense of capability and confidence.”

As you know, I’m passionate about goal setting and goal achievement. But I do get stuck sometimes. In an earlier post, I listed six questions I ask to get myself unstuck:

What is making me stuck?
Why am I stuck?
Where is the sticking point?
When did the sticking start?
How do I get unstuck?
Who is stuck? (You’ll need to read the post to understand that one.)

Focusing on capability, confidence, and moving forward

Here’s an example. About two years ago, I started offering a Quarterly Planning Session for my small weekly group. It was a little spooky, as I had no model for the agenda, and no assurance that the session would work — or even be attended!

Afterwards, I asked myself these questions

How did the experience move me forward? How did it add to my sense of capability and confidence?

I did less than half of the preparation I usually do for a 2-hour session. Hence, I can now feel confident without overthinking or spending a lot of time tinkering with details that probably don’t matter to anyone else. I felt amazed at my efficiency.
I used a nice balance of asking good coaching questions and providing resources. I didn’t feel a need to “fix” everyone’s issues. I felt creative.
I got tons of great feedback from those who attended. I felt validated.

How did that experience undermine my sense of capability and confidence?

Even though I’ve run a gazillion Zoom sessions, I still stumble. That undermines my confidence. I felt inadequate for the task.
I sometimes forget about all those functions that are under the three little dots (aka “meatball” or “kebob” menu). I felt that as a certified online trainer, that should have immediately bubbled up to the top of my mind, but it just doesn’t. I felt embarrassed.

These two questions help me dissect my feelings of capabilities and confidence. They’re not oriented toward the actual outcome of the activity.

Improving your processes

Asking these questions about what works and what doesn’t work is about getting feedback, which is critical for our human success mechanism to work. Some of that feedback will be about process (your capability), and some of it will be about how you feel (your confidence). All of it helps you create a picture of what works and doesn’t work.

All of this is meant to help you answer one central question: What is it that helps you to grow and flourish? Send me an email at info@coachmarieb.com if you’re interested in attending my next quarterly planning session, which, I believe, would be a big factor in your personal and business growth!