When Problems Appear
On moving forward when certainty is not available
Progress rarely announces itself in calm conditions.
Introduction
Across many forms of change — personal, organisational, societal — there is a familiar moment when problems surface and confidence wavers. Plans encounter friction. Timelines stretch. Questions multiply.
In a recent reflection, Bernadette Jiwa posed a simple but disarming question: what are problems for? Rather than treating them as evidence of failure or poor judgement, she suggested that problems often play a quieter role — shaping how we learn, adapt, and grow.
That framing is useful beyond the personal. In moments of collective change, problems are often read as warnings: signs that something has gone wrong, or that we should pause until things feel clearer or easier. That reaction is understandable. Difficulty can feel like a judgement.
But what if problems are not signals to retreat, but signals to pay closer attention?
If we assume that progress should feel smooth, what do we miss when it doesn’t?
And how might our response change if we expected problems rather than feared them?
The Expectation of Smoothness
We often notice disruption more than direction.
The way we frame progress shapes how we respond to difficulty. When we expect things to unfold cleanly, problems feel like deviations rather than part of the process.
Before looking at what problems reveal, it helps to notice the assumptions that sit quietly beneath them:
We associate good planning with ease: When things become difficult, it can feel like evidence that something was misjudged, rather than something new being learned.
We confuse friction with failure: Resistance or delay is often read as a verdict, rather than as feedback from a complex system.
We underestimate uncertainty: Many changes involve variables that cannot be resolved in advance, no matter how careful the preparation.
When smoothness becomes the benchmark, difficulty takes on more weight than it deserves. That framing shapes not only decisions, but confidence itself. From there, it becomes useful to ask what problems might be doing instead.
Problems as Signals
Difficulty often arrives carrying information.
Problems rarely appear without context. They tend to surface where assumptions meet reality, or where systems encounter limits they had not previously tested.
Seen this way, problems can be understood less as interruptions and more as messages:
They highlight what systems are not yet ready for: Gaps, constraints, and misalignments often only become visible through use.
They surface perspectives that were not fully considered: Resistance or concern can point to lived experiences that models and plans overlook.
They reveal second-order effects: Consequences that were not obvious at the outset often emerge through practice rather than theory.
Interpreted carefully, problems offer insight into how a system actually behaves, not how it was expected to behave. That distinction matters, particularly when choices carry long-term consequences.
Fear and Its Effects
What we fear shapes what we avoid.
While problems can be informative, fear can change how they are treated. When difficulty is seen primarily as risk, responses tend to narrow.
This shift often shows up in subtle ways:
Decisions become defensive: The focus moves from learning to minimising exposure or blame.
Momentum slows: Waiting for greater certainty can replace incremental movement and adjustment.
Alternatives feel more appealing: Familiar paths gain appeal, not because they are better, but because they feel less demanding.
Fear does not remove problems. It changes when and how they appear. Often, it delays engagement until options are fewer and costs are higher. This raises a quieter question about what it takes to continue in uncertain conditions.
Known and Unknown Difficulties
Some challenges are expected; others only reveal themselves later.
Not all problems arrive unannounced. Many are anticipated, discussed, and planned for. Others emerge only through experience.
Both play different roles:
Known problems invite preparation: They can be designed for, mitigated, and revisited as understanding improves.
Unknown problems invite adaptability: They require responsiveness rather than prediction.
Both require confidence without certainty: Moving forward does not depend on eliminating problems, but on building the capacity to respond to them.
Waiting for all uncertainty to resolve is rarely an option. Most meaningful change involves proceeding while learning, rather than learning fully before proceeding.
Staying with the Work
Progress often continues quietly, not cleanly.
If problems are inevitable, the question becomes less about how to avoid them and more about how to remain engaged when they arise.
This often involves a shift in attention:
From judging to noticing: Asking what a problem reveals rather than what it says about success or failure.
From speed to steadiness: Allowing progress to be measured by learning and adjustment, not only by pace.
From certainty to commitment: Continuing the work despite unresolved questions.
Staying with complexity does not mean ignoring risk or dismissing concern. It means recognising that difficulty is part of how systems change, not evidence that they should not.
Conclusion
Problems tend to draw attention to themselves. They interrupt plans and unsettle expectations. But they also mark the places where reality is being engaged rather than avoided.
When problems appear, they may not be asking whether we should stop. They may be asking something else — how we respond, what we are prepared to learn, and what we are willing to adjust.
Seen this way, difficulty is not simply something to move past. It can be part of how direction becomes clearer, and how capability is built over time.
Noticing that possibility does not make change easier. But it may make it more honest — and, in the long run, more durable.
Sometimes what feels like resistance is simply the work becoming visible.