A few days back, my entity at AIESEC had hosted an event for poor children where they had to distribute color pencil boxes for them to draw, color and get their creative side out.  Shortly after the event commenced, we realized that the outcome of the children supposed to be present was higher than expected and we would run out of the color pencil boxes. I began to fret.

We had put in a lot of effort for the event to happen and something like this was going to take time to be sorted. I started to worry and became tensed about how I’m going to get through this when I saw my team taking the colors out of the boxes and handing them loose to the children whenever they needed a color. It suddenly made me realize how I was wasting the time and how my colleagues instead showed a true spirit of being solution-oriented.

Being solution-oriented is one of the top most quality, we at AIESEC believe, to be in a leader. Leadership runs with confidence and smart work but without being solution oriented, there is little scope for success. The instance that I shared above may be a small thing but little things like these complete the bigger picture. Being solution oriented is simply adapting and showing resilience in the face of challenges.

The best way to ensure we develop this quality is by being positive around all situations. You can face a bad situation or a horrible day but as long as you transmit positivity to move forward throughout uncertainty, you are being efficient. Optimism is very important in our daily lives as it has a psychological impact on humans that strengthens us to believe that nothing is beyond our control and if there is a problem, there is always a solution to it.

Another fabulous thing about being solution oriented is that it allows you to take risks when needed. And we all know risk taking is one of the core qualities of a leader. Calculated moves are smart but at the time of crisis if one hesitates to take the risk involved, one might lose out on the only actual solution there is. Imagine if we had not done anything about the colors and waited for new boxes to arrive, it would have wasted so much time and would have left a bad impression as well. Spontaneity is the key.

So, take risks, be confident while you’re in an uncertain situation and most of all have the courage to be solution oriented that drives you and entire team toward the desired goal.