When Is a Threat an Opportunity?
Responding to disruptions at work

by Peter Braun

Summary: Due to reduced workload, architecture firms lost 18,400 positions between August 2008 and January 2009, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This amounts to 8.2 percent of payrolls and, as we all know, this trend has continued into 2009. Many workers are faced with the question: “Will I be the next to be let go?” We confront unexpected changes and sometimes significant disruptions throughout our lives, and we can respond to these as either a threat or an opportunity. Which is the best response? The answer may be surprising.

It is important to perceive a threat as a threat to generate the personal and organizational energy and momentum to act with urgency. A threat should energize the firm and result in action. However, once the adrenaline gets pumping, that is the time to think creatively and collaboratively and not act out of panic. It is human nature to experience fear when threatened. However, acting out of that fear can lead to disastrous results.

Many feel that a threat, such as the recession, should energize and motivate management and staff to act with strategic urgency—revitalizing core strengths while investigating additional related avenues of income.

Firms responding to change
Ask the question: How can we turn this threat into an opportunity? Firms that manage threats successfully are motivated by the threat to act, but then focus on the opportunities for change in their competitive position.

If you want to make the best out of a good situation, focus on what is going wrong and can go wrong. If you want to make the best out of a bad situation, focus on what is going right and could go right.—Unknown

For example, in the early days of mutual funds, most brokerage firms viewed them as a threat and chose not to work with them. In contrast, Charles Schwab, only a regional broker at that time, looked at mutual funds as an opportunity and partnered with many mutual fund families. This allowed their customers to buy mutual funds through Charles Schwab instead of having multiple accounts for brokerage and mutual funds. The Schwab strategy helped make the company the financial powerhouse it is today.

Apple’s revenue is up—even given the dismal economy. When the downturn hit, the firm didn’t cut its marketing efforts. Instead, it enhanced its advertising plan. Even now, full-page Apple ads run in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, and two or three broadcast advertisements play in primetime every day. The result: sales remain resilient. Regardless of the fact that the company hasn’t lowered prices, customers are bustling into Apple stores worldwide.

McDonald’s went head-to-head with Starbucks by offering the McCafé. McCafé now offers a wide selection of low-cost, exclusive espresso coffee and gourmet cakes and muffins. And, people are “Lovin’ it.” McDonald’s has already been picking up customers from higher-priced restaurant chains as people cut down on their dining expenses.

The country’s daily newspapers are facing the fear of being extinct due to online news, blogs, and social networking. However, an Amazon device—called the Kindle 2.0—could be the industry’s white knight. Similar to iPod, the Kindle 2.0 allows readers to purchase subscriptions as well as books online. As thin as a magazine and weighting just over 10 ounces, the Kindle device provides a crisp black-and-white screen that resembles the appearance and readability of printed paper and can hold as many as 200 books. On March 3, 2009, Amazon.com also launched an application for the iPhone, allowing owners to read Kindle content. Is it the future of newspaper, magazine, and book reading? We’ll have to wait to find out, but it is a great example of acting on a threat in a way that turns it into an opportunity.

Taking action in 2009
Firms that learn to view a threat as a means to energize and take action are the ones that prosper.

HKS, Inc.—one of the nation’s top three architecture firms—has chosen to focus on opportunities while clearly seeing the significant economic threat. The firm has identified 20 such opportunities as the 2009 priorities, which range from expanding its government client base to creating new methods to extend its brand.

According to Ralph Hawkins, chairman and CEO of HKS, Inc., the 20 initiatives, shared with all staff, underscores the importance of new business development and strengthening client relationships while the priorities provide clear action targets to rally around.

“An initiative this significant is best accomplished when the firms’ values, talents, and client experiences are in alignment. This is a great opportunity to energize and focus a lot of good people at all levels,” he said.

With layoffs and budget cuts, the HKS focus is to set priorities that maintain and strengthen customer experiences. Recruiting the best staff, assisting clients with consolidation strategies, building interior design services, and bolstering its marketing efforts are just a few of the firm’s key strategies.

“Action is essential,” Hawkins says. “Everything we do must be swift and avoid endless analysis. We need to be organized in a way that is useable throughout the organization, with clear goals, actions plans, and deliberate ownership. These initiatives are not only to be addressed in 2009, but will also build a stronger firm in the future to continue our quest as a Tier One firm.”

Responding to challenges at work
The need to focus on the future is as true for individuals as it is for organizations. There are many threats in our lives and we need to recognize them for what they are. However, we must focus on present and future opportunities if we are going to continue to be successful. Once you get energized enough by a threat to act, that is precisely the time to choose to see it as an opportunity. Let fear cause you to act, but don’t act out of that fear.

Acting out of fear can actually help bring about that which you fear. For example, an employee was asked by his supervisor to take on some of the duties of a coworker. The purpose in the manager’s mind was having two people familiar with the work. However, the employee whose load was lightened perceived this as the first step to being laid off.

Is that a credible threat? Perhaps, but unfortunately in this case the employee became energized by the threat but went on to act out of fear. The person stonewalled cooperating with the coworker and eventually had to be reprimanded by the supervisor.

In the future, when that supervisor is asked to identify the best employees, who will come to mind first? An employee who acted out of fear and refused to collaborate with a coworker, or an employee who saw an opportunity for collaboration and perhaps an opportunity to free up time to pursue a creative project that will help the firm?

How to respond to a threat
It is human nature to magnify the unknown and be afraid of it. Yet experience tells us that what we are afraid of is almost always worse than the future reality. Further, even if the worst happens (for example, we lose our job), the consequences are rarely as bad as we imagined.

What should you do, when faced with a threat? Below are a few tips.

• Recognize a threat for what it is (no more, no less)
• Become aware of the emotional triggers that create fear and learn to identify that fear as something you can control
• Use the fear as a motivator (get your adrenaline going and “put on your thinking cap”)
• Find an initiative and get involved
• Get creative, collaborative, and busy
• Remember what and who you believe in

The key is to recognize the threat, become energized to act, but don’t act out of fear. Get creative and collaborative and focus on the opportunities.