I'm not sure exactly what I want...

Perhaps you know something feels 'off' but you're not sure what it is. When you try to figure it out, your thinking goes round in circles. This is very common when leaders have been in a role for a while, or when they, the business or the industry reaches an inflection point.

I call it "mental wheelspin". To get what I mean, think about physical wheelspin. The kind you get driving up a steep, snowy driveway. The wheels are spinning and they can't get traction. However skillful the driver, there's an angle where the wheels are going to spin regardless. Even with four-wheel drive. Even with traction control. More revs make things worse. The car isn't going anywhere. 

Very often the solution is either to dig the snow out from in front of the wheels, or put down some carpet. Then the wheels can get enough grip that all that energy can be converted into forward motion. 

Similarly, mental wheelspin is caused by going over the same old ground with the same old assumptions and the same old points of view. When we do this, we can only seem to think of a few options, even though there are almost certainly many more just outside our awareness. The harder we try to figure it out, the more we cycle through the same few ideas. In these situations, there's no substitute for interactive help. We need someone to dig out the old assumptions and to ask us new questions so our thinking can escape from its circular trap.

When I work with clients in this way, the business objective can be almost anything. For some examples, click here.

And if you ever find yourself looking for renewed mental traction, let's have a call.