One of the greatest gifts I got from old man Dale was the perspective of asking the question: “what’s the opportunity?”
To be fair, he oftentimes talks about it in terms of influence: how do I help this person get what they want?
Instead, what I think I learned is: in any random lot of lemons, there’s inevitably a way to work with people to make lemonade.
This one, today, is akin to the idea that smiling helps with happiness in a “fake it til you make it” kinda way —
And it’s for when you’re pissed off about something.
It’s two steps, and I promise you: it helps.
(Go somewhere private and) Say:
“I’m so ffjalkjdlkjf pissed off that….. (finish the sentence with what you’re so ffjalkjdlkjf pissed off about)
THE OPPORTUNITY because of this is…(finish the sentence with any silver linings / positives / what’s-in-it-for-you)
It’s such an annoying suggestion, I KNOW. Also: Try it.
There’s opportunity everywhere. And when you train yourself to say that, and think like that, you will start to find it.
I have so many examples of this, but the most visceral one was a very specific reorg at SQ where I’ll just say “gave me very little of what I wanted.”
Instead, what I did get assigned, was to partner with a very disgruntled part of the business. The whole department seemed to be frustrated with recruiting, feeling that their team had been overlooked and ill-served previously. To make matters more stressful, it was run by a high profile executive, and the domain of the work was far outside my expertise.
My unfiltered response to my boss when he told me was: “this really ffjalkjdlkjf sucks!”
Irritatingly, he reframed the whole thing by talking about the opportunity that existed for me in the partnership:
A valuable relationship to build,
Expanded technical domain knowledge,
Exposure that would serve me well,
- and –A potential for a comeback story. (who doesn’t love a comeback story!?)
His point was: you can be pissed off at this, and you can stagnate on that feeling, or you can do a really great job at the work that needs your leadership.
He was right. My team and I did a really great job, and I was rewarded with better assignments and some sweet team sweatshirts.
Opportunity-finding helps influence cross-functionally, as it’s a lens to frame discussions around collective problems-solving, and helps teams focus efforts toward common goals.
For leaders, the ability to spot opportunity in challenge is a way to channel your team members’ individual motivations to the output needed by your organization; challenge → opportunity connects the jobs to be done + “what’s in it for them”
— as my boss did for me!
Sometimes just a little semantical editing can help shape-shift the challenging hand you’re dealt.
Next week we’re back with another tip from the battlefield: this one was first presented as wedding-planning advice, but is one of the most broadly applicable lessons I’ve ever learned.
See you then!