How do you overcome challenges in the workplace?

A challenge in the workplace is anything that is preventing you from succeeding in your role. They can be caused by many different factors, including changes at work, lack of expertise, conflicting management styles, or contrasting personalities in the workplace.

Every role involves its own challenges, and they are a normal part of working that can occur at any stage in your career. The way that you deal with challenges in the workplace can leave an impression on how your colleagues and managers view you, so it is important to develop a strategy to effectively deal with workplace challenges as they come up.

Here are our tips for dealing with challenges in the workplace.

Where possible, predict challenges

Some workplace challenges can be quite predictable, for example introducing new technology, or a change in leadership. When something is changing in the workplace and you anticipate there to be a challenge involved with it, don’t wait for it to come up! Setting plans to deal with small challenges can prevent them from growing larger, which can consequently have a larger impact on your business.

If you’re introducing new technology, some ways you could prepare for the challenge include setting up additional workshops to offer extra support to staff who are struggling with the new software, or compiling comprehensive guides to the new technology that staff can refer to when they need help.

If there is a change in leadership, preparing for the challenge could involve scheduling private meetings with staff to see how they are adjusting and to identify and resolve any concerns they have.

Some challenges in the workplace are of course unprecedented, but it is still important to have broader strategies in place to deal with them as they come up. Our tips below can help you with these.

Take a break

When you’re first confronted with a challenge, it can feel overwhelming and daunting. Even if you feel like you don’t have the time, take a short break to reset and then you can come back with a fresh mindset, ready to address the challenge.

Some ways to do this include going for a walk around the block, grabbing something to eat or having a casual, non-work related chat with a colleague. This helps to take away the initial stress that comes when you are first presented with a challenge, and gives you time to think more rationally about it.

Break the challenge up

Divide the workplace challenge into a number of smaller challenges and address them one by one. This can help the larger challenge to feel much more manageable and means you don’t have to resolve it all at once.

Ask people for help

Approach people that you feel comfortable talking about the challenge with, and ask them if they can help you with it. Even if they can’t offer much assistance, it can be helpful to just talk about it. This can include people within your organisation such as managers, colleagues and mentors, as well as people outside of your organisation including family and friends.

Speaking with people from work is more helpful in certain situations as they understand the workplace best and have more insight into what potential solutions there are, but family and friends can be good support too. If you are having any issues with people at work, it’s important to bring this up with your manager, who should be able to help you out.

Remember that helping others with workplace challenges goes both ways. If you notice a colleague or employee struggling with something, reach out to them and see if you can help. This makes you more approachable and means they will be more than happy to help you out in the future when you encounter a challenge!

Use the challenge to your advantage

Challenges at work can be a good thing, as they allow you to grow within your role and better yourself. They’re a great opportunity to build upon your problem-solving skills, and you can later use the challenge as a good example of how you have overcome a problem in the workplace in an interview!

Challenges are also good opportunities to learn something new, whether this is a new skill or a new way to interact with others.

What if you’re not being challenged at work?

Not being challenged at work can be a challenge in itself. It can make you feel as if you’ve outgrown your role, or if there is no room to grow within your role.

When you find that you’re not being challenged anymore, it might be time for a change! If you’re interested in new job opportunities, fill out the form on this page, and one of our recruitment consultants will be in touch. 

You can have all your ducks in a row, your inbox empty and your priorities in place, but sometimes, despite all of this, things will still go sideways and you are confronted with bad news, a crisis or a challenge. It might be a small thing, or something huge that you can't bluff your way out of- here is how I personally deal with the challenges that I'm confronted with:

1. Take some time to get used to the problem

When you are first confronted with a problem, it can all seem daunting. You panic, your face turns red, you can't think straight, or you start sweating. Don't dive right in when you feel like that. Take a break, go for a walk, ask for some time to think things over, close your eyes for 10 minutes, or even hit the gym. Whatever you do, give yourself some time to get used to the problem. There's the story of the board member who always asked for a bathroom break whenever he was confronted with a problem. It was his way to take some distance and give himself one or two minutes to get used to an idea. If your house is on fire, then you can panic and just jump out the nearest window. But sometimes it helps to stop for a moment, realize the fire is really just a candle that tipped over, and that you are living on the fourth floor of an apartment building, holding a glass of water.

2. Define the problem

When you first hear about the problem, it might seem overwhelming and complicated. Start with finding out what the problem really is. Ask people to explain it to you a few times. Keep asking questions to really get to the root of the problem. Then go ahead and explain the problem to someone else, just to make sure you really understand it. Often times, simply formulating the problem and explaining it to others can help you understand it better. And that is the first crucial step to solving a problem.

3. Put things into perspective

No matter how awful your situation may be, rest assured that someone else has been through the same thing. It is important to realize how your situation compares to the rest of what you are doing, and how bad it really is compared to all the good things in your life. Is your house still on fire? Well, that sucks. But, luckily, your family is already safe outside, your house is insured, and you wanted to clean up the place anyway. See, this isn't a problem at all, but a great opportunity.

Related: The Truth About Entrepreneurship

4. Make the problem worse

This may sound like bad advice, but sometimes when you can't get out of something, you might as well dive all the way in. Did you just get fired? Well, there's no solution to that, so you might as well embrace your new situation and also sell your house, plan that trip around the world, and write that book you've always wanted to write.

5. Divide the problem into smaller pieces

That one big problem you've just been confronted with is usually a combination of smaller problems that require small steps and easy solutions. Start with finding out what the best- and worst-case scenarios are. Then think about what the most realistic scenario is. Then divide up the problem into smaller problems and find a solution for every little thing. As you are going through these motions, you'll slowly turn your focus to the solutions, rather than being blinded by the problem.

6. Look at it in a positive way

My last piece of advice is to just take the pain and enjoy your problems. It is very naive to think you can lead a life without problems. Problems are just part of what you do, and the bigger you dream, the bigger the obstacles will be. The best writers, artists and entrepreneurs have led lives filled with personal challenges and problems. And despite all those problems, or because of them, they were able to do great things.

Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten will be speaking at The Next Web Conference, an international event that brings together the world's tech leaders, venture capitalists, startups and entrepreneurs to Amsterdam in May 2016.