Identifying opportunities through framing involves exploring existing opportunities and finding new ways to frame and refine them. The reframing of problems and ideas that we’ve already talked about in topic one could also be a method within this tool.
Finding opportunities within an existing opportunity is about changing how you’re framing the opportunity. This can considerably influence how an opportunity is seen, what it focuses on, and the value that could be created. This can be done by zooming into, out of and sideways from the existing opportunity.
Zooming in and out
One method of framing an opportunity is thinking about it on different scales. For example, if your original opportunity is about the opportunity to increase plastic recycling in Australia, you can think about the larger scale of this. This could change the opportunity to be about plastic recycling internationally, about all types of recycling in Australia, or you can scale in both ways and have a new opportunity about increasing recycling across the globe. You could also decrease the scale and have a more specific focus and look at how to effectively increase the recycling of soft plastic in New South Wales, or the recycling of plastic bottles in your suburb.
Zooming sideways
If you find an opportunity that you care about but there are already people addressing it or you want to find something that you’re slightly more passionate about, zooming sideways is a great approach. This is about thinking about one aspect of the opportunity and just changing that aspect and seeing what new things spark in your mind. For example, you might find the plastic recycling is already being addressed so you could change your focus from plastic to something else, like digital waste, or you could look at reduction or reuse rather than recycling.
Another way to zoom sideways is to change the audience. For example if you’re thinking about helping young people to recycle plastic you’ve got a different opportunity than if you’re helping the elderly. You can also think about not just who you’re working with, but who you’re creating value for. Maybe you are really passionate about fish and they become your 'audience' so your opportunity evolves into looking into how you can reduce the amount of waste that goes into the oceans.
You’ve now got several different opportunities to consider. You’ll find that as you do this zooming into, out of and sideways from an opportunity, new areas come to mind. In fact, you could be on a totally different opportunity from when you started. Maybe now you’re addressing how to improve the health of fish in the Arctic Ocean. This kind of zooming process can also help you go from something that could be an opportunity in a different context to something that you actually care about and aligns with your competitive advantage, and is therefore a fantastic opportunity for innovation.
ExampleEli reframes his frustrations with a business focus
We know that Eli has found some frustrations accidentally, but he hasn’t necessarily found an opportunity he wants to address. Nevertheless, he has decided he wants to create a new business. If he’s able to frame one of his frustrations as an opportunity he might identify that there is a need for something that reduces the amounts of accessories people need. However, he doesn’t have the skills or the resources to create a new physical product though he does think a similar opportunity could be viable.
He zooms out and thinks about the opportunity to make the use of everyday technology an easier process. This isn’t perfect for him either so he zooms into looking at how to improve technology access in Sydney. He’s not that passionate about this though and feels like it’s already being addressed effectively so he goes sideways.
Now Eli is thinking about making existing technology more accessible for peoples with disabilities. This is something he cares about, he’s connected with the disability sector, and it’s become a focus topic for the New South Wales Government, so it’s perfect timing. Eli has now found an opportunity for innovation that he is equipped to address.
Think global or local
Choose one opportunity you’re not passionate about. Now zoom in and out a few times looking for something you care about. Think about the recycling example above and how it started with a focus on increasing plastic recycling, which you may not care about, and ended up with a range of opportunities you may be passionate about – such as reducing waste in the ocean.
