Burns Leadership Consulting

Before We Begin: A Few Quiet Minutes

Take a few minutes with this before the session. There are no right answers, no scores, and nothing to prepare for. It asks about how problems actually move through your area today, so you walk in with your real situation rather than a blank page.

What happens with your answers. Responses come to me anonymously, and I read all of them before we meet. The patterns across the group decide what we spend time on and which examples we work with. Where any one person lands is not the point. The pattern is the point, and it is what makes the session yours rather than generic.

Area or department (optional). It helps me see patterns by area. If yours is small enough that naming it would identify you, leave it blank.

About the spectrum. Each practice below is described plainly, with no claim attached to it. For each one, mark how consistently it happens today, in your own work and across your area. This is about how established something is, not how good anyone is at it, and everything here is optional. Skip anything that does not fit.

1 rarely, this is new ground for us · 2 sometimes, but not by design · 3 solid in places, uneven overall · 4 a consistent habit · 5 a strength we could teach someone else

A few things to get curious about

Written answers are the most useful part of this for shaping the session. A sentence or two is plenty, and any of these can be left blank.

Think of a recent problem in your area. Where did it slow down: at seeing it, framing it, owning it, or finishing it?

What is one problem you can feel forming right now that has not fully surfaced yet?

When someone brings you a problem, what do you find yourself wanting to do first?

If one thing were different about how problems move through your area, what would you want it to be?

Anonymous. No names are collected, nothing is attributed, and nothing is shared back to the organization. It is read only to shape the session.

Thank you.

Your reflection is in, and I will read it before we meet. The patterns across the group shape where we spend our time.

It helps to come with a real problem currently on your desk, something not yet resolved. See you there.