One of my mentors commonly uses the old cliche, “there is more than one way to skin a cat”. Cliches can be tired, but still very true. If it helps, I like to call it “option 3″ thinking. Often times we find ourselves confronted with difficult situations and only two options present themselves as obvious paths.

YES or NO.
GO or NO GO.
HIRE or FIRE.
PURCHASE or WAIT.

These are the options that most people take. However, you can be the leader who looks for the option 3.

Begin with pausing. Don’t rush into a decision or to being tricked that only the obvious answers are the solutions available to you.

Think beyond your current people & resources. What if other people were available to you? (new partners) what if someone else possesses the best solution? what if more resources were available, what would you do then? How would you get either of these solutions connected to your dilemma? Brainstorm without the current limitations that you have right now… ask the question, “what if resources weren’t holding us back, how would we handle this situation?” then, try to use part of that answer as your solution.

Do some additional research. Ask other leaders in other companies if they have faced the situation before (network). Ask other employees who aren’t usually a part of the decision making process. read!!!

Take a risk or two or three. The hardest part of option 3 thinking will be trying the thing that no one else has yet tried in your organization. Usually, the ideas that will work are ones that people around you will mock, laugh at or are too afraid or just too plain lazy to try.