Coaching practices for Plan B Solution Criteria
Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For Plan B Solution Criteria, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.
Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?
- My plans hold up fine until something throws them off
- The second either of us names a solution, the other instantly shoots it down with a counter
- I’ve settled on what I’m going to do and I’m ready to pull the trigger, but I haven’t actually played the tape forward to see where it breaks
- We keep landing on "let’s each give up half," and we both walk away a little resentful and a little short
- My kid and I agree on a fix and it sounds great in the moment, but a few days later it’s fallen apart again
Practices that may help
- Plan for obstacles with coping plans
Anticipate the specific obstacles most likely to block your plan and pre-decide your response to each.
Action Planning - Define what success looks like together, before proposing solutions
Agree on the criteria a good solution must meet before either side proposes anything.
The Third Alternative, Made Practical - Run a mental simulation before committing to a course of action
Before acting on a recognized situation, mentally run through how your intended response plays out.
Recognition-Primed Decision Making - Model synergy: ask "what would a solution have to look like to address both?"
Use the agreed criteria as a design brief and generate solutions that meet all of them.
The Third Alternative, Made Practical - Evaluate solutions for durability: realistic, mutually satisfying, safe
A collaborative solution that fails one of three tests — realistic, mutually satisfying, safe — will not hold.
Collaborative Problem Solving (Ross Greene) - Audit plans for scenario inflation
Before committing to a plan that depends on multiple things going right, count the dependencies.
The Conjunction Fallacy — When "More Details" Feels More Likely - Name the assumptions that must hold for the plan to work
Every plan rests on assumptions — list them and ask how likely each one is.
Margin of Safety - Test your action plan for specificity before relying on it
Before counting on a plan, check that a stranger could execute it from your written description — if not, it is not specific enough.
Action Planning - Design decisions so they work even if some things go wrong
Ask: does this plan require everything to go right? If so, redesign it.
Margin of Safety - Generate a solution analysis for the most accessible intervention point
For your chosen intervention point, brainstorm and commit to one specific alternative.
Behavioral Chain Analysis: The DBT Method for Understanding Problem Behaviors
Related concerns
- How Specific Should A Plan Be
Before counting on a plan, check that a stranger could execute it from your written description — if not, it is not specific enough.
Test your action plan for specificity before relying on it
- Compound Probability Plans
Before committing to a plan that depends on multiple things going right, count the dependencies.
Audit plans for scenario inflation
- Contingency Planning Goals
Anticipate the specific obstacles most likely to block your plan and pre-decide your response to each.
Plan for obstacles with coping plans
- If Then Risk Plan
If–then plans (also called implementation intentions) specify in advance how you will respond to the specific situations that typically derail your goals: "If situation X occurs, then I will do Y." A meta-analysis of 94 studies found a medium-to-large effect on goal attainment — one of the most reliable single techniques in goal-setting research.
- When Conjunction Fallacy Check For Scenario Inflation
Before committing to a plan that depends on multiple things going right, count the dependencies.
- When Margin Of Safety Know Your Assumptions
Every plan rests on assumptions — list them and ask how likely each one is.
Name the assumptions that must hold for the plan to work
Describe your situation in your own words to search the complete practice library.