When a Problem Isn’t a Challenge or An Opportunity

In this solo episode of Relationships at Work, host and leadership/communication expert Russel Lolacher explores why the words leaders use when things go wrong matter more than we think.

A problem, challenge, and opportunity can all be useful terms — but they are not always interchangeable. Russel looks at how well-intended positivity can sometimes dilute urgency, dismiss employee reality, or create a culture where people feel they have to soften the truth.

This episode is a reminder that trust-driven leadership is not about choosing the most optimistic word. It is about choosing the most accurate one — and helping teams move forward with honesty, clarity, and care.

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Transcript

Welcome back to Relationships At Work – A leadership podcast helping you build workplace connection, improve culture, and avoid blind spots. I’m your host Russel Lolacher

I’m a communications and leadership nerd with a couple of decades of experience and a heap of curiosity on how we can make the workplace better.

This mini-episode is a quick and valuable bit of information to help your mindset for the week ahead.

Inspired by our R@W Note Newsletter, I’m passing on to you…

A Problem, Challenge and Opportunity are not the same thing.

I want to talk about something that seems small on the surface but actually says a lot about workplace culture and how leaders communicate — and that's the words we use when things go wrong.

Problem. Challenge. Opportunity.

It happens a lot but we don’t talk about it enough.  Something doesn’t go the way it’s supposed to. It breaks down. Like a project going sideways or a team is struggling — And as you’re defining it, someone calls it a “problem” but before another comment can be made, we’re corrected by someone higher up in the hierarchy who says.

"It’s not a problem. It's a challenge.” OR “It's not a problem, it’s an opportunity for growth."

Not my favourite. But I do get the instinct. We want to be positive. We want to reframe. Nobody wants a culture of negativity. And how we speak about things in the workplace matters. But this is an over correction. And when we overcorrect on language, we lose something important. And we are dipping our toes a little too much into the toxic positivity pool.

Two things things have brought this up for me.

The first — I was listening to the audiobook for Move Fast and Fix Things: The Trusted Leaders Guide to Solving Hard Problems by Anne Morriss and Frances Frei.They made a point I haven't been able to shake. Calling something a problem creates urgency. When you name it a problem, people understand it needs to be dealt with now. But when you reframe it as a challenge or an opportunity? Suddenly it feels like something that can wait. Put it on next quarter's agenda. Put it in the strategic plan. Sometimes, later is too late. Later ignores now.

The second came from a conversation I had with a senior leader years ago. We were talking about rephrasing “problems” to dilute issues. Basically, calling things a challenge when they really were a problem. He used the example of someone drowning — and I've thought about this many times since — "If someone is drowning. We can’t call it a challenge. This isn’t an opportunity to learn how to swim. This is a very real problem.”

Exactly.
Words matter. A problem isn’t a challenge isn’t an opportunity. They can be but it’s not a thesaurus exercise.

I remember one leader who wouldn’t let anyone use the term “waste”. So we had to remove it from any documents or presentations that stated any of it.
It was “unused resources” or “misallocated” something or other. And it might be. But can you seem how we removed the urgency? It felt like we were actually ignoring a very real problem. And that’s not leadership.

Trust-driven leadership is about being honest, with ourselves and our teams.

So lets look at it from the leadership perspective. A team member comes to us overwhelmed, genuinely struggling, “Drowning” — and our well-intentioned response is to reframe their reality. To tell them the word they're using for their own experience is the wrong one. We think we're being positive. But what we're actually doing is dismissing them.

Now — I'm not saying we should catastrophize everything. A team that treats every setback like a five-alarm fire will burn out fast. Context matters. But here's what I keep coming back to: the goal isn't to find the most optimistic word. The goal is to find the most accurate word — and then build trust by being honest about it.

If it's a problem, call it a problem. Name it clearly. Create the urgency it deserves. Then work together to solve it.

If it genuinely is a challenge — hard but workable, something that's going to require real effort — then call it that. But earn that word. Don't use it to soften a blow. Use it because it's true.

And if there really is an opportunity inside the mess? Point to it specifically. Show your team exactly where it lives. Vague optimism isn't leadership — it's just noise.

Great trusted leaders aren't the ones who always find the silver lining. They're the ones who can sit in the reality of something hard, name it honestly, and still show people a way forward. That's the skill. Not the vocabulary swap.

So next time you catch yourself about to say "it's not a problem, it's an opportunity" — pause. Ask yourself: is that actually true?

Because your team can handle hard things. What they struggle to handle is feeling like they can't tell you the truth.

Now here's the question I want to dig into this week: how do we stay positive while still being honest about the issue at hand? Because those two things can absolutely coexist — they just take a bit of intentionality.

Three things I think actually work:

First — name the reality, then the direction. Don't lead with optimism. Lead with accuracy and clarity. Say clearly what the situation is, and then in the same breath, say what you're going to do about it. "This is a real problem, and here's how we're going to address it" is more reassuring than "this is actually an opportunity" — because it tells people you see what they see, and you're not afraid of it.

Second — separate the word from the tone. You can say "problem" without catastrophizing. The goal isn't a sunnier word — it's an honest message delivered with steadiness. Calm honesty is still honesty. It's your tone that keeps energy up, not the euphemism.

Third — find the real opportunity, or don't mention one. If there genuinely is an upside buried in a difficult situation, get specific. What is it, exactly? What would it take to get there? A concrete, specific opportunity your team can actually work toward is motivating. But vague optimism? That's just noise. If you can't name it specifically, don't name it at all — and trust that honest clarity is more than enough.

Again, words matter. They have meaning. And they can’t be swapped out for one another and not have consequences. To the situation. To our Relationships. To the work.

This could become a real problem.