5-Option Technique - Problem Solving

When to use:

• To generate options for solving the problem
• When the Mentee gets stuck and can't find a solution
• To stimulate the Mentee's creativity

Props:

• A4 sheet of paper
• Colored markers/highlighters
• Virtual whiteboard, if working remotely (e.g., Miro, Mural)

Instructions:

Problem Definition

Ask the Mentee for Describing and defining the problem/challenge they are facing.

Solutions

Encourage them to present at least 5 potential solutions.

It's important that they don't give in until the mentee generates at least 5 options. This may result in silence between you or the mentee becoming irritated that you are demanding something impossible from them.

The following questions will be helpful here:

• Provide 5 options for solving your problem.
• Provide 5 variants of solving the challenge you are facing.
• What other option do you see?
• What else?
• What other option do you see?
• What option would your friend advise you to take?
• What option would your friend recommend to you?
• What option would your boss suggest to you?
• What option would your boss suggest to you?
• What option would be the most radical?
• What other solution do you see?

Tip: Keep a running record of the ideas and options generated by your Mentee. You will need them in the next step.

Summarizing Ideas

Summarize the ideas generated by your Mentee.

Useful Phrases:

• Thank you for your work in generating options. So far, you've suggested the following options: [list the solutions presented by the Mentee]. Can you think of anything else?
• Great! You've suggested the following options: [list the solutions presented by the Mentee]. Can you think of anything else?

Make sure you have at least 5 options. If there are solutions you see in the situation that the Mentee hasn't seen, ask if you can share them and add them to the list of generated options.

Implementation Plan

Ask the Mentee which option they would like to implement.

• The following questions will be helpful:
• Which option would you like to implement?
• Which option do you think is the best?
• Which option seems the simplest/fastest/most effective/difficult? Why?
• Which option is most likely to help you solve the problem? How?
• Are any options interconnected? How?
• Who can help you? How?
• What are you choosing?

Sometimes it may turn out that the Mentee returns to the first option – the one that came up at the very beginning, which only strengthens the Mentee's belief that this is the best possible option and, consequently, the highest probability of its implementation.

Own work based on: "Coaching Questions: A Coach`s Guide to Powerful Asking Skills" Tony Stoltzfus