Last week in a Black Belt class we were discussing project management techniques to help belts keep their projects on track.  The Issue and Action Item list, an oldy but a goody, was covered and one of the BB’s brought up how her MBB calls it an Opportunities List.  Let’s just call it what it is…a list of issues that must be resolved in order for the project to move forward. Well, we used to call it a Problem and Action list (P&A list - catchy, isn’t it?), but not every issue is a problem, thus the name change.  But the “Opportunity” thing really bugs me. Not every problem (or issue) is an opportunity to excel or an opportunity for improvement. Sometimes you just have to get an answer to a question, get the right resources to address a problem, or ensure that a commitment is followed through upon. (Think ISSUE.)  In general, I think too much political correctness is a problem for business. Of course, communicating with colleagues in a respectful way is an absolute necessity. You just aren’t as effective a leader, team member, or employee if you can’t build relationships, and respect is essential in good relationships. But being direct and focused on the issue or behavior is absolutely necessary as well. So let’s be objective and issue-focused and work together to solve problems for the betterment of our organizations. Can’t we do that without everything being an “opportunity”?

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