We’ve seen that problems contain opportunities and we know that finding these opportunities will bring us more of the inspiration that is so important in this time of change. We also know that simply looking for these opportunities will bring us benefits, and we’ve seen some examples.
The next thing we need to understand is what kinds of opportunities we should be looking for. It turns out there are five types.
The first two options are to ignore the problem or walk away from the situation entirely. These might seem like obvious answers but how often do we jump in and start to solve an issue without first asking ourselves whether it is worth fixing? How often do we spend time and effort on issues that would have been better left ignored or that distracted us from our main priorities?
1. Sometimes ignoring a problem will be appropriate, simply because we have limited resources and other priorities that matter more. Sometimes taking no action will send an important message to employees, suppliers, customers, or other stakeholders. Sometimes doing nothing is appropriate so that other people step up to shoulder their responsibilities. And in some situations the best we can manage is to choose which problem we want to live with. Ignoring the problem might not make it go away, but sometimes it is appropriate.
2. Sometimes it makes sense to walk away from a situation and focus our energies elsewhere. The new situation will not be perfect either — issues will still arise. But handling these might teach us more, reward us better, or enable us to create more of the outcomes we care most about.
Whenever we face a new issue our first question should always be “Is this important enough to do something about? Does it matter, is it a priority for me?”
If we decide that it is important to take action then there are three more types of outcome we might want to create:
3. One is simply to fix the problem. This means resolving the issue and restoring the situation back to the way it was before.
For a business this means getting the organisation out of the ditch and back on the same track. Standard ways of achieving this are by increasing quality or reliability, cutting costs, and raising prices.
4. Another opportunity is to address the issue in a way that improves the situation over the way it was before.
This response gets the organisation out of the ditch and points it in a better direction. Corporate turnarounds, takeovers, diversifications, and strategic repositionings can involve this kind of response.
5. And a final response is to take the steps that would have prevented the problem from arising in the first place — and will prevent it from happening again. This is called resolving or transforming the situation.
As Sun Tzu said, “The greatest victory is that which requires no battle.” The greatest general is the one who defeats the enemy without fighting.
As an example, this option would mean that instead of fixing the broken heating or air conditioning system, or improving the situation by arranging frequent preventative maintenance, we would resolve or transform the situation by constructing buildings that do not need a heating or air conditioning system.
Here’s another example of these three types of outcome. Occupancy rates have traditionally been an important strategic issue in the hotel, airline, and taxi industries. Here, advertising and promotions are simple solutions that provide a short-term Fix to increase the number of customers and improve occupancy. Another solution might be to reposition the business to focus on budget or luxury customers: this could Improve occupancy by focusing the organisation around a new segment. And by choosing not to own any hotels or taxis, AirBnb and Uber have followed the Resolve or Transform approach: they no longer need to worry about occupancy rates. They have outsourced that risk to other people.
By looking carefully for possibilities under these five categories you will expand your range of options — and you might find more than one option under each category. This will improve your morale. It will also give you confidence that you have considered every possibility. And it might well show you a better way forward than you had thought of before.
And then, out of all these options, when you choose your best way forward, you will have taken two more steps towards becoming antifragile.
Are you facing any ‘problems’ today? Have you looked for any of the five kinds of opportunities they might contain? How many options of each type can you find?
Adapted from Inner Leadership: a framework and tools for building inspiration in times of change.
You can sign up to daily posts here.
You can buy the book here and the workbook here.
(And remember: you can’t learn to swim just by reading about swimming, you also need to do the practice.)
Photo By Alan Levine via StockPholio.net