We’ve seen that problems contain opportunities and we know that finding these opportunities will bring us more of the inspiration that matters so much in this time of change. We 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. These might seem like obvious answers but how often do we jump in and start to solve an issue without first asking ourselves whether the issue is worth solving? How often do we spend time and effort on issues that would have been better left ignored or which 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 managers, employees, customers, suppliers, or other stakeholders. Sometimes doing nothing is appropriate to encourage other people to step up and shoulder their responsibilities. And in some situations the best we can do 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 entirely and focus our energies elsewhere. The new situation will not be perfect either — issues will still arise. But handling these issues 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 to spend time on?”
If we decide that it is important to take action on then there are three more types of outcome we might choose 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 include increasing quality or reliability, cutting costs, or 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 often involve this kind of response.
5. And a final way of responding is to take the steps that will prevent the problem situation from arising again — and would have prevented it from arising in the first place. 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 is able to defeat the enemy without fighting.
As an example, instead of fixing the broken heating or air conditioning system we could improve the situation by arranging preventative maintenance. And we can resolve or transform the situation if we construct buildings that do not need a heating or air conditioning system.
Another example of the three types of outcome can be found in the hotel, airline, and taxi industries. Here occupancy rates have traditionally been an important strategic issue. Advertising and promotions are simple solutions that can provide a short-term Fix to increase the number of customers and improve occupancy. Another solution is to reposition the business to focus on budget or luxury customers: this may Improve occupancy by focusing the organisation around a new customer 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 the five categories you can expand your range of options — and you might find more than one option under each category. This improves your morale. It might well bring you a better way forward than you had thought of before. And it will certainly bring you confidence that you have considered every possibility.
Then, when you choose your best way forward out of all the options you have found, 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 under each type can you find?
Adapted from Inner Leadership: a framework and a set of tools for building inspiration in a time of change.
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