The Leader Lab. Tania Luna

I think that's realistic. Would it be helpful to come up with a plan for how you could prepare for that opportunity if or when it comes up? Luca: Yeah, I guess that's the responsible thing to do.

They schedule a time to talk more, but then Mia notices that she's more enthusiastic about this plan than Luca is. Did she miss something blurry in the conversation? She decides to go back in time and try again, this time Deblurring the spots where she made assumptions:

      Version 2: Do-Over

Luca:	It's just frustrating. I'm not growing in my career anymore.
Mia:	I appreciate you talking to me about it. So we can figure this out together, I'm curious to hear: what does “growing” mean to you?
Luca:	I guess it means having new experiences. Learning new things. I think that's what was most interesting to me about the manager role.
Mia:	Yeah, I get that. And just to make sure we're talking about the same thing: what's an example of something you have learned that felt good?
Luca:	Hmm … Well, I had to learn about data visualization to be able to present our research. That was fun. I wish I had a lot more of those types of opportunities.
Mia:	How do you picture “a lot more”? In other words, how often do you wish you were learning new things versus using the skills you already have?
Luca:	I think having a new skill to work on every six months or so would be good.

      ***

In summary: Blur words are words that could mean different things to different people. Mentally underline blur words and ask Deblurring questions. Does it make sense to Deblur every ambiguous word you hear? “Good morning! Wait … what does ‘good’ mean to you?” No. Plenty of communication falls in the “clear enough” category. But when your goal is to give instructions, diagnose a problem, give or receive feedback, make a decision, delegate, or set a goal, Deblurring is the way to go. And by “way to go” we mean that you should definitely do it.

MY LAB REPORT	Today's Date:
My takeaways:
I regularly Deblur unclear words:	1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (strongly disagree)(strongly agree)
Experiment idea bank:	If I hear a blur word, then I'll ask a Deblurring question like “What does __________ mean to you?”If I use a blur word, then I'll Deblur myself.If I'm delegating, then I'll Deblur the request.
One small experiment I'll try to increase my score by 1 point:
Post-experiment Learning Extractions:

      Bonus: Want to take your manager skills to the next level? Check out the bonus Inclusion Stations at leaderlab.lifelabslearning.com.

      My Learning Tracker

3 out of 7 Core BUs collected. 0 of 8 Core Skills collected.

Q-step	Playback	Deblur