A wise man once told me that if you can solve a problem with money then it’s not a real problem. It’s problems that you can’t solve with money that you have to watch out for.
I totally agree. And here’s why.
Problems vs Opportunities
Real problems require root-cause analysis to find out what is the real cause of the issue, so you can determine the appropriate course of action. And that’s something that you cannot solve by just shelling-out more money.
On the other hand, opportunities are already there, and all you have to do is take it, whatever cost may be, and just go ahead and implement it.
Risks vs Issues
On the other hand, what’s the difference between a Risk and an Issue?
Well, basically a Risk is a problem waiting to happen. It’s just that it hasn’t happened yet, but there is a probability of it happening.
Once it happens, then it becomes an Issue.
In other words, a Risk is a potential problem, while an Issue is an ongoing problem.
You still have a chance to react when faced with a Risk, before it becomes an Issue.
With an Issue, you now have to deal with the problem at hand.
How to Identify Future Problems and turn them into Opportunities
Now we’re talking.
What you want to know is how you can be like Dr. Strange, such that you’ll be able to determine every possible scenario so you can predict the impact of the future outcomes.
That way you’ll be able to find the best possible solution to every conceivable problem before it even happens, essentially turning problems into opportunities.
The answer – FMEA which stands for Failure Mode and Effects Analysis.
The Failure Modes are all the things that can go wrong, and the Effects Analysis are the possible impacts of each scenario.
There are a lot of resources all over the interwebs that talks about this, so go ahead and research more about it.
You’ll thank me later.
Do you want me to talk more about the FMEA and probably give more examples about it? Comment below and let me know what you’d like to know.
RobbieAgustin.com
I help transform businesses and take them to the next level with my expertise in Agile, Lean Six Sigma, Operational Excellence, and Intelligent Automation. Author of The Business Optimization Blueprint.