Opportunity Responses

🎁 Turning Good Luck Into GREAT Luck

Risk Management: Opportunity Responses

🌟 The Big Picture

Imagine you’re walking down the street and you find a $20 bill on the ground. That’s a lucky opportunity!

But here’s the thing: What you DO with that opportunity matters a lot.

• Do you grab it quickly before the wind blows it away? (Exploit)
• Do you share it with your friend who helped you spot it? (Share)
• Do you use it to buy lottery tickets hoping to win more? (Enhance)
• Do you tell your parents about it because it might belong to someone? (Escalate)

In project management, opportunities are like finding that lucky $20 bill. They’re GOOD things that MIGHT happen. And just like with found money, you need a plan for what to do with them!

🎯 What Are Opportunity Responses?

When something good might happen to your project, you have four strategies to choose from:

graph TD
    A["🍀 OPPORTUNITY SPOTTED!"] --> B{What should we do?}
    B --> C["🎯 EXPLOIT<br>Make it happen FOR SURE"]
    B --> D["🤝 SHARE<br>Team up with others"]
    B --> E["📈 ENHANCE<br>Increase the chances"]
    B --> F["⬆️ ESCALATE<br>Let the boss decide"]

🎯 Strategy 1: EXPLOIT

What Is It?

EXPLOIT = “I will MAKE this good thing happen. No luck needed!”

Think of it like this: Instead of hoping it rains on your garden, you turn on the sprinkler. You’re not waiting for luck—you’re CREATING your own luck!

Simple Example

Opportunity: Your project might finish early, saving money.

Exploit Response: Assign your BEST workers to the project. Now it WILL finish early, guaranteed!

Real-World Story 🏗️

Imagine you’re building a treehouse. You hear there’s a famous carpenter in town who MIGHT help you.

• Hoping: “Maybe he’ll walk by and offer to help…”
• Exploiting: “I’m going to his house RIGHT NOW and hiring him!”

When you exploit, you eliminate the “maybe” and make it a “definitely.”

Key Point

🎯 EXPLOIT = Remove all doubt. Make the opportunity CERTAIN to happen.

🤝 Strategy 2: SHARE

What Is It?

SHARE = “I can’t catch this alone. Let’s team up!”

Sometimes an opportunity is too big or too tricky for one person. That’s when you find a partner who can help you grab it!

Simple Example

Opportunity: A huge new client wants to buy your product AND get special support.

Share Response: Partner with a support company. You handle the product, they handle the support. You both win!

Real-World Story 🍕

Imagine your school is ordering 100 pizzas for a party. That’s a BIG opportunity for a pizza shop!

• Alone: “I can only make 50 pizzas. I’ll lose half the order…”
• Sharing: “I’ll team up with my friend’s pizza shop! We each make 50, and we BOTH make money!”

Who Should You Share With?

• Someone with skills you don’t have
• Someone with tools or resources you need
• Someone who can handle the parts you can’t

Key Point

🤝 SHARE = Find a partner. Two heads (and four hands) are better than one!

📈 Strategy 3: ENHANCE

What Is It?

ENHANCE = “Make the good thing MORE likely to happen!”

You can’t guarantee it will happen (that’s Exploit), but you can tilt the odds in your favor!

Simple Example

Opportunity: A newspaper MIGHT write about your project, giving you free publicity.

Enhance Response: Send them a press release, invite the reporter to visit, give them free samples. Now they’re MORE likely to write about you!

Real-World Story 🎣

Imagine you’re fishing and hoping to catch the big fish.

• Just hoping: Throw one line in the water and wait…
• Enhancing:
  • Use the best bait 🪱
  • Fish at the best time ⏰
  • Go to the spot where big fish live 📍
  • Bring multiple fishing rods 🎣🎣🎣

You still might not catch the big one, but your chances are MUCH better!

Ways to Enhance

• Add more resources
• Start earlier
• Use better tools
• Increase effort in key areas

Key Point

📈 ENHANCE = Stack the deck in your favor. Make luck more likely!

⬆️ Strategy 4: ESCALATE

What Is It?

ESCALATE = “This is too big for me. I need to tell the boss!”

Sometimes an opportunity is so huge, so important, or so beyond your control that YOU can’t handle it alone. Time to pass it up the chain!

Simple Example

Opportunity: A famous company wants to partner with your entire organization (not just your project).

Escalate Response: Tell your CEO! This is company-wide—way above your project level.

Real-World Story 🏫

Imagine you’re the captain of your school soccer team. A professional soccer club offers to sponsor ALL sports teams at your school.

• Wrong: “I’ll decide this for everyone!”
• Right (Escalate): “This is bigger than soccer. I need to tell the principal!”

When Should You Escalate?

• The opportunity is outside your project’s scope
• It affects other projects or the whole organization
• You don’t have the authority to say yes
• It needs budget or decisions above your level

Key Point

⬆️ ESCALATE = Pass it up. Some opportunities need bigger hands!

🎮 Quick Comparison Game

🧠 Memory Trick: “E-S-E-E”

Think of the word “ESEE” (sounds like “easy”):

• Exploit → Make it CERTAIN
• Share → Team UP
• Enhance → Make it MORE likely
• Escalate → Pass it UP

graph TD
    A["OPPORTUNITY"] --> B["Can you make it<br>100% certain?"]
    B -->|Yes| C["🎯 EXPLOIT"]
    B -->|No| D["Do you need a<br>partner?"]
    D -->|Yes| E["🤝 SHARE"]
    D -->|No| F["Can you increase<br>the chances?"]
    F -->|Yes| G["📈 ENHANCE"]
    F -->|No, too big| H["⬆️ ESCALATE"]

🎬 The Movie Theater Analogy

Imagine you hear a GREAT movie is coming to your town:

✅ Summary: Your Opportunity Toolkit

🌟 Final Thought

Opportunities are like butterflies. 🦋

• Exploit: Build a butterfly garden so they ALWAYS come
• Share: Get a friend with a net to help you catch them
• Enhance: Plant more flowers to attract more butterflies
• Escalate: Tell the zoo—they might want to make it a public attraction!

The best project managers don’t just wait for good luck. They have a PLAN for when it shows up!

💡 Remember: Finding an opportunity is nice. RESPONDING to it correctly is how you turn “nice” into “AMAZING!”