Making better decisions with NLP (1) - Situation or Consequence-based

Actually this is only NLP if you follow the definition that "anything that works is NLP", but it's certainly NLP-compatible.

People usually base decisions on either the situation they face, or the consequences of their decision. Situation-based decisions are reactive (“at effect”) and lead to excessive concern with being ‘right’. Consequence-based decisions are “at cause” and allow for more creativity and more focus on good questions – not every idea has to be ‘right’ as it can take you towards a better idea.

How to tell a situation-based decision: if you ask a person why they took a decision, they answer with a description of the situation – usually either a justification (or excuse) or showing a need to be “right”.

How to tell a consequence-based decision: they answer by talking about desired consequences with no need to defend their decision.

(model adapted from Consequence vs. Situation by Harris Kern and Ken Moskovitz – an article on the excellent Harris Kern web site www.harriskern.com)