The grass is greener phenomenon is one of the common topics that discuss with people from time to time.  Most people that I work with have heard the saying “the grass is greener on the other side”.  Some time we do end up talking about how things are better elsewhere.  Sometimes this is because people are probing for other opportunities, or expressing their current state of dissatisfaction with how things are going in their work or personal life.  While typically my approach here is to use coaching to find what they are dissatisfied with, or what they are looking for elsewhere, sometimes I hear people describing positive aspects of things in other places, that are exactly the same where they current are.  Other times, I hear people express problems with their current state of the world, and how things might be better or different somewhere else.  In cases like these, I like to mention to them, that the grass is greener on the other side, which means that when they are elsewhere, the grass will seem greener where they currently are.  I find that this gives them enough perspective shift to then work back towards the more productive side of the discussion, e.g. what could make their current experience better.

Sure this is a retention oriented mindset.  I like the people that I work with and would like to continue to work with them.  Sometimes it works in that way and we end up having a productive conversation about what can be improved in their current experience.  It doesn’t always work this way and that’s fine as well.