Let's assume you've taken some time to get everything out of your head and written it down on paper. It feels good to get it all out of your head, doesn't it? But once the therapeutic effect wears off, you're left with a piece of paper with all your thoughts randomly listed. Now it's time to do a little discerning.

Michael Bungay in his book, The Coaching Habit, introduces the idea of the 3P Model.

The 3P model is a framework for choosing what to focus on in a coaching conversation—for deciding which aspect of a challenge might be at the heart of a difficulty that the person is working through. A challenge might typically be centered on a project, a person or a pattern of behavior.

While Bungay is talking about coaching people you lead, it is also a good method for assessing the problem you're dealing with at any one time. Let's look at the 3P's.

PROJECTS

A project is the content of the situation, the stuff that’s being worked on. It’s the easiest place to go to and it will be the most familiar to most of us. We spend our days finding solutions to challenges, and our eyes are almost always on the situation at hand.

Is the problem you're wrestling with coming from the work you're doing?

PEOPLE

Have you ever thought, "Work would be easy if it weren’t for all these annoying people? Surely, it’s not just me." Certainly, situations are always made more complex when you—in all your imperfect, not-always-rational, messy, biased, hasn’t-fully-obtained-enlightenment glory—have to work with others who, surprisingly, are also imperfect, not always rational, messy, biased, and a few steps short of full wisdom and compassion.

Is the problem you're wrestling with coming from a connection with someone else?

PATTERNS

Here you’re looking at patterns of behavior and ways of working that you’d like to change. They are personal and challenging, and they provide a place where your self-knowledge and potential can grow and flourish. These conversations are not nearly common enough in organizations.

Is the problem you're wrestling with coming from a pattern of behavior?

A point to remember is once you've downloaded everything that's in your mind, you now have information to sift through. Rather than just sift aimlessly, use the 3P Model to begin discerning what you're looking at.

Source:

Stanier, Michael Bungay. The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever. Box of Crayons Press. Kindle Edition.