Your Goal

Develop your understanding so that you have as complete and accurate a grasp of the situation you are facing as is reasonable.

Try the following tasks

1. Are you missing any important facts?
   
   
   • Imagine yourself to be an ace investigative journalist who doesn't want to leave any stone unturned.
     
     
   • Ask who, what, where, why, when and how questions and try to answer them.
     
     
   • If you can answer the questions add your answers to the headlines. If not add them to the questions and issues.
   
   
2. Have you slipped up anywhere?
   
   
   • Reread your description of the situation and decision you are facing and pretend you are someone who is sympathetic to you but also challenging.
     
     
   • Imagine what would this person say to challenge whether you understand the situation and decision accurately?
     
     
   • Try to objectively assess whether you have good reasons for thinking the situation and decision are as you have described them.
     
     
   • Look out for any assumptions you have made and ask yourself whether these assumptions are acceptable.
     
     
   • If you find that you have particularly strong feelings about interpreting something one way ask yourself why you feel this so strongly
     
     
   • Record any changes to your analysis and add questions that need answering
     
     
3. Have you been clear about what you mean?
   
   
   • Look at your description of the situation and decision to see if there are any ambiguous or important terms or phrases that could be 'unpacked' to make the situation and problem clearer.
     
     
   • Rewrite these terms and phrases in your description by 'unpacking' them.