7 Tips for Overcoming Obstacles in Your Organization

Anyone who knows the corporate world knows that friction is the rule, not the exception. Workplaces might not be inherently bad, but they’re certainly not free from daily challenges. 

There are countless things that stand between you and the success you’re hoping to achieve. Some of them are internal and some of them are external. But all of them carry a significant weight on your day as you work to accomplish your tasks and rise through the ranks. 

There is no single path to overcoming obstacles, meaning you, and only you, can find your way through the woods. 

The good news is with the right perspective and insights, big problems become trivialized. Overcoming even the most seemingly steadfast of obstacles becomes possible. The key is looking at things with the right frame of mind. 

Here are seven of the most helpful tips you need as you learn how to overcome obstacles in the workplace. 

How to Overcome Obstacles 

Read on for overcoming obstacles examples, as well as something you can do today to get started: 

1. Identify the Obstacle 

There’s an old saying from Sun Tzu that’s particularly inspiring. It states, “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.” 

But this isn’t war, you might be saying. This is just business. And yes, that’s true – most business doesn’t deal in life and death situations. But the truth of that quotation still stands. 

The “enemy” here is not necessarily as a warring army. Instead, think of it as the element standing in your way to what you wish to achieve. 

It may be a person who is blocking your path. It may be a skill gap that you need to close. Whatever the case, there is something standing between you and success and the first thing to do is to identify it. This will help with subsequent steps. 

But let’s not forget about the other element in that Sun Tzu quote: knowing yourself. If you don’t know yourself, it doesn’t do much good to identify the enemy, does it? After all, how can you know how to face an enemy when you don’t know what skills you might use? 

Specifically: how do you overcome obstacles in achieving goals without understanding your potential? 

By communing with yourself, you come to understand your skills and weaknesses. You can then work to identify how to approach that “enemy.” And you can have everything you need to tackle our second tip.  

2. Formulate a Plan 

It can sometimes be paralyzing to stand in the face of a problem that seems too big to solve. “Get a promotion” or “win that account” may seem concrete, but they’re so large they might as well be “land on the moon.” 

Instead of focusing on the long term end goal, take a more piecemeal approach. Break that larger goal into smaller, more manageable steps on the path. Then, as you work toward a solution, track your progress for those smaller set goals. This will help with our next tip. 

3. Stay Positive 

There is an inherent power in positive thinking. It can reduce anxiety. It can build resilience. It can even improve your quality of life. 

When staring down the barrel of a seemingly unsolvable problem, it’s often easy to throw our hands up. “Ah well,” we can say, “we gave it our best shot.” 

But don’t fall into the trap of negative thoughts. Negativity can form a cycle that is increasingly hard to break. Once in it, you’ll have to work twice as hard to pull yourself out. 

Instead, stay focused on small wins, good days, and positive interactions. Once you start to quantify them, you may find there are more than you thought. Your “awful” days may just be rendered “fine” and your “fine” days may actually be good ones, on the balance. 

Remember, it’s all about perspective. What you choose to see and what you choose to ignore is up to you. 

4. Form a Community 

There’s nothing harder to swallow than loneliness. And workplaces can be terribly isolating if you let them. While everyone together is working to make an organization stronger, individual contributions can sometimes be stymied and siloed. 

To fight this, it helps to form a community with a common goal. This could be a project completion or it could be team-wide recognition. Perhaps you want to win an industry award. Or perhaps that buggy piece of software needs to be rid of its issues once and for all. 

Going up against a problem alone is always going to feel Sisyphean. But tackling it together, as a team and with that plan we mentioned earlier, is the key. You may even find your colleagues face the same personal and professional development goals that you do. 

5. Celebrate Success 

With some of the above in play, your goals have likely met their match. 

Once the big day arrives, be sure to take a moment and really fixate on your win. You did this. You put in the time and energy. This win is yours. 

This kind of mindful exercise is healthy mental training for moments in the future. It reminds you of why you work at overcoming obstacles in the first place. That sense of self-made satisfaction is what it’s all about. 

6. Don’t Stop at the Win 

It’s always good to keep your eye on the ball. But what happens when you actually catch the ball? What happens when that goal you lionized for months or years comes to fruition? 

Those without foresight might actually be disappointed by a moment like this. Remember that old quote about Alexander the Great? How he was weeping “for he had no more worlds to conquer?” Yeah, don’t become Alexander. 

Always keep another goal, whether it be small or large, on the horizon and just out of reach. It will give you something to constantly work toward. And it will ensure you don’t fall into post-achievement depression. 

7. Get Motivated 

When it comes to overcoming adversity in the workplace, sometimes a shot in the arm is what’s needed. This is where Jon Dorenbos comes into play. 

His motivational speeches have been delivered to corporate and organizational teams just like yours. And his overcoming obstacles speaker series has helped scores of teams rise to the occasion and achieve their goals. 

If you are ready to focus on personal growth and reach your goals, the moment has come. If you are ready to truly achieve success, Jon is your man! Book Jon Dorenbos for Keynote Speaking engagements today.