Turn Your "Problems" into Opportunities

By Jon Rhodes, M.S.
Senior Scientific Advisor
ABC Laboratories
www.abclabs.com

I have a problem with the word problem.  It’s not with the word itself, but it’s with the negative connotations the word has in the realm of communicating challenges, obstacles, and unexpected circumstances.  When I see the word problem used frequently it sets off alarm bells.  Dictionary.com defines problem as “any question or matter involving doubt, uncertainty, or difficulty.”  Ok, so pretty straightforward and I guess at one time or another we’ve all faced problems.  But in facing a problem we’re really facing an opportunity. Let me illustrate.

Years ago I was cc’d on a draft e-mail to a customer that set alarm bells ringing in my head.  In the subject line was a single word - Problem.  It was a relatively brief communication, about 250 words.  The kicker though was that the word problem appeared 28 times in the body of the e-mail.  Twenty eight times... Boy did I have a problem.  Don’t get me wrong, the project in question had been really difficult and we were way over budget and way behind schedule.  The pressure was really building but we had learned a lot during that experience and had, I felt, come up with a really creative solution.  But I was convinced that the customer, after reading the “Problem” e-mail, would likely interpret it differently, that we were struggling to come up with a viable solution and that we weren’t confident in our proposed solution, and as a result we could not deliver on our commitment. I had more faith in the team than that!

After discussing it with the author we decided to focus on the solution.  First we consolidated descriptions of many of the numerous problems into broader categories.  For those real “problems” that remained we described them in the context of challenges and obstacles.  Every challenge we had encountered and every obstacle that was before us presented us with a real opportunity that eventually led to a really innovative solution and I felt it was important to convey that to the customer.  The customer responded positively to our proposal and we successfully completed the project.  I wish I could say that we don’t face “Problems” in our work, but alas, regulatory science is one tough cookie.

So the next time someone comes up to you and asks “What’s your problem?” You can respond “Hah, problems are for the unimaginative!”