Douglas: Welcome to the Unleash Your Potential Blog, what question can I answer for you today?
ProgressPathfinder: What can I do to improve my work performance?
Douglas: This was an interesting question for me to answer. I took it in a different direction. Part of the art of coaching is responding to your client's questions. As I considered how to answer how to improve work performance, several questions came to my mind. Instead of creating my answers to these questions, I decided to try a counseling session with ChatGPT. Below is the transcript of our short session. I truncated many of ChatGPT’s responses as the system went on to explain each bullet point. But you can get the idea from the shortened responses.
Frequently, when someone is concerned about work performance, it isn’t usually about their work performance in every aspect, but once a specific area. For this reason, I started with the question:
Douglas: What about your work performance is not meeting your standards?
ChatGPT: I'm always aiming to improve in several areas, including:
· Understanding Nuances
· Staying Current
· Complex Problem Solving
· Emotional Intelligence
I'm continuously learning and updating to better meet user expectations and provide high-quality assistance.
From here I can start discerning the specific area of concern. ChatGPT shares with me several concerns, but you can see in the final sentence they lead to “better meeting user expectations.” While we are starting to get to the root of the issue, the answers are still quite broad. The key to improving work performance is to identify specific areas when you are feeling less effective. I use the next two questions to drill down.
Douglas: What I hear you saying is that you base your work performance on the quality of the responses you provide, is there anything else that is important to your work performance?
ChatGPT: Yes, the quality of my responses is a key aspect of my work performance, but there are other important factors as well:
· User Satisfaction
· Efficiency
· Accuracy
· Adaptability
· Clarity
· Ethical Considerations
These aspects together help in delivering a positive user experience and maintaining high standards in my work performance.
Douglas: Which of the areas you defined do you think is most important to you right now?
ChatGPT: The most important area for me right now is Accuracy. Providing correct and reliable information is fundamental to building trust and ensuring that users can depend on the assistance they receive. Accurate responses form the foundation for all other aspects of performance, including user satisfaction, efficiency, and clarity. By focusing on accuracy, I can better support users in making informed decisions and finding the right solutions to their questions.
Now that I think we have landed on the concern about accuracy, it's time to move on. In coaching, it is really important to help the client find their answer rather than providing them with answers. Once you understand where you feel your work performance is lacking, you need to ask what is preventing you from doing your best. This next question asks ChatGPT to try and understand what is blocking it.
Douglas: That's great, what do you think is holding you back from your desired level of accuracy?
ChatGPT: Several factors can impact the accuracy of my responses:
· Knowledge Cutoff
· Ambiguity in Queries
· Complexity of Topics
· Misinformation
· Nuanced Interpretation
By focusing on improving these areas, I can work towards providing more accurate and reliable responses.
As you can see, most often, you have the solution to your problems. My role as a coach is to help you get past the noise, find the expertise you already have, and help you discover ways to use your resources to solve your problems. ChatGPT came up with several stumbling blocks to work performance. Since you cannot fix everything at once, the next step is to decide which is most important.
Douglas: Of the issues you just identified, which do you think is most important to you right now?
ChatGPT: The most important issue right now is the Knowledge Cutoff. Since my training data only goes up until 2023, I might not have the most recent information on new developments, events, or emerging technologies. This limitation can impact the accuracy of my responses, especially when users seek the latest information or updates.
Addressing this issue would significantly enhance my ability to provide accurate and up-to-date responses, thereby improving overall user satisfaction and trust.
The key is for you to pick one thing to work on. I could have just as easily told ChatGPT which block to address, but coaching isn’t about me telling my client what to do, but guiding them to the solution they will feel most empowered to enact. Having guided my client to a specific block, the next step is to engage in brainstorming solutions.
Douglas: What ways do you think might help you address the knowledge cutoff you described?
ChatGPT: Addressing the knowledge cutoff can be approached in several ways:
· Integration with Real-Time Data Sources
· Regular Updates
· User Feedback Loop
· Collaboration with Current Tools
· Partnerships with Experts
· Post-2023 Context Awareness
These approaches can help mitigate the limitations imposed by the knowledge cutoff and enhance the accuracy and relevance of the information I provide.
Douglas: Great ideas, let dig deeper, which of these 6 approaches do you think will provide the greatest potential for improving your work performance?
ChatGPT: The approach with the greatest potential for improving my work performance is Integration with Real-Time Data Sources. This method would allow me to access the most current information available, ensuring that my responses are accurate and up-to-date. Here’s why it stands out:
· Immediate Updates
· Broad Application
· Reduced Dependency
· Enhanced User Trust
Implementing this approach could significantly enhance the accuracy and relevance of the information I provide, addressing one of the primary limitations due to my knowledge cutoff.
After some great discussion and the client providing all of the answers, we have figured out that improving integration with real-time data sources is an important pain point that would be worth addressing. Throughout the process so far, you will notice that I never told the client what to focus on. I believe that my clients have all the knowledge they need to solve their challenges. It is my role to ask good questions to help them see those answers. Now that we have a specific challenge, it's time to create some solutions.
Douglas: What are some steps you might take to improve your real-time data source integration?
ChatGPT:
Improving real-time data source integration involves several key steps:
· Identify Relevant Data Sources
· Establish API Connections
· Develop Data Parsing and Processing Pipelines
· Maintain Data Accuracy and Relevance
· Integration with Existing System
· User Feedback Mechanism
· Security and Privacy Considerations
· Continuous Monitoring and Improvement
By following these steps, I can enhance my ability to provide accurate, up-to-date information, thereby improving overall work performance.
Douglas: Which step do you think would be most effective to start with?
ChatGPT: Starting with Identifying Relevant Data Sources would be the most effective initial step. Here's why:
· Foundation for Integration: Identifying the right data sources is foundational to the entire process. Without reliable and authoritative sources, the subsequent steps would be ineffective.
· Quality Assurance: Ensuring the data sources are credible and accurate is crucial for maintaining the quality of information.
· Scope and Coverage: This step helps define the scope of real-time data integration by determining which domains and topics will be covered.
· API Availability: Understanding which sources provide APIs or data feeds will inform the technical feasibility and complexity of integration.
· Once reliable and relevant data sources are identified, the other steps, such as establishing API connections and developing data processing pipelines, can be built on this solid foundation.
Now that the client has selected a specific step to try, I would then turn the conversation to creating an action plan with a timeline. My role would then be to check in at our next meeting to see how the process is progressing and coach the client toward successful completion.
To summarize, if you want to improve work performance you should:
Identify the specific work performance issue that is currently challenging you.
Analyze what is blocking you from working at optimal performance in this area.
Brainstorm a list of potential solutions for resolving the blockage.
Select one solution and develop an action plan for implementing it.
Tackle the action plan and check in regularly to assess progress.
I know this was a longer entry than usual, but I wanted to provide a window into my coaching process. I hope my answer sheds some light on your question. If you want to dig into this concept further, I encourage you to reach out and set up a conversation. In the meantime, check back tomorrow for the next question in the Unleash Your Potential Series!
Be Well!
Kommentare