SOAR — Situation, Obstacle, Action, Result
Showcasing the ability to identify, name and overcome a specific obstacle — a differentiating skill in complex environments.
Naming the blocker to better demonstrate resilience
Why it exists. STAR doesn't distinguish enough between easy situations and genuinely difficult ones. SOAR deliberately foregrounds the Obstacle as a catalyst.
What it does. Handles ambiguous or politically complex situations with precision. Shows your resilience and your method for handling blockers.
In which interviews. Leadership roles, change management, transition management, interviews where the interviewer wants to understand how you react to adversity.
Storytelling through contrast
By explicitly naming the Obstacle, SOAR creates a dramatic narrative that makes the action land even harder by contrast. The forced honesty about the real difficulties faced is valued in consulting cultures that prize ownership.
Entry-level version
STAR, but with an explicit "here's precisely what was blocking things".
Senior consultant version
SOAR reveals your "obstacle-processing model" — how you diagnose a blocker, classify it (technical vs. human vs. organisational) and choose a way around it.
The four steps of the method
- SSituation — the context, dated and bounded.
- OObstacle — named precisely (technical, human, organisational, political).
- AAction — a strategy for getting around it, not just perseverance.
- RResult — technical AND relational, with the impact on stakeholders.
From managerial resistance to a subsidiary veto
Question: "Tell me about an Agile transformation where you met strong resistance."
Situation: in 2022, supporting the Agile transformation of an 80-person IT department at an insurance group. The organisation had been using a waterfall (V-model) process for over 10 years.
Obstacle: the resistance wasn't technical — it was managerial. Two department directors refused the Scrum ceremonies, calling them "a waste of time". One of them had said outright in an executive committee meeting: "Agile is for startups, not for us." Without their buy-in, Sprint Reviews were pointless and Sprints were constantly interrupted by requests outside the backlog.
Action: rather than imposing the ceremonies, held individual meetings with each director to understand their real reservations. The first feared losing authority over priorities — explained the Product Owner's role as an amplifier of business intent, not a replacement for it. The second didn't see the value of the ceremonies — presented metrics (velocity, bug rate) comparing Agile vs. non-Agile teams at other, similar clients.
Result: both directors became active sponsors of the programme from month 4 onward. Team velocity rose by 35% over 9 months. Team satisfaction (eNPS) went from 22 to 54.
Question: "Describe the hardest situation you've ever led."
Situation: in 2021, leading the rollout of a unified ERP across 6 European subsidiaries of an industrial group — 18 months, an €8M budget, 400 users.
Obstacle: the German subsidiary — the group's largest — raised a technical veto 3 months before go-live, citing compatibility problems with their local production-management system (undocumented, built in-house). Their local IT director wanted to push go-live back by 6 months. Refusing to budge would have doomed the whole programme.
Action: organised a 3-day technical workshop bringing together the German technical teams and the integrator. Commissioned an independent impact assessment (4 weeks). Proposed a hybrid solution: a partial go-live on the unaffected modules + an integration interface built in an 8-week sprint. Negotiated an additional €150K budget with group management.
Result: go-live held to the original schedule for the other 5 subsidiaries. The German subsidiary came on board 10 weeks later — just 1 month behind on that specific scope. The hybrid solution became the group's standard template for future integrations. The relationship with the German IT director is now an asset — he became an active advocate.
Freelance variant
SOAR showcases your autonomy and your resourcefulness with no hierarchical structure around you. Highlight obstacles you could have escalated to a manager but resolved yourself.
Prepare SOARs around human obstacles (conflict, resistance, politics): they're the most differentiating for a senior freelancer who has to prove they can navigate complex environments alone.
Common mistakes
- ✕An Obstacle that's too technical and not human enough — human obstacles carry more weight.
- ✕Criticising the people who resisted rather than describing the situation factually.
- ✕A vague Obstacle: "there was some pushback" isn't a SOAR Obstacle — name it precisely.
- ✕An incomplete Result: not mentioning the impact on the relationship with stakeholders.
- ✕Picking an Obstacle that's too simple — if it wasn't really a blocker, SOAR adds nothing.
Quick checklist
- ✓The Obstacle is named precisely (technical, human, organisational, political).
- ✓The Action shows a strategy for getting around it, not just perseverance.
- ✓The Result includes the impact on relationships with stakeholders.
- ✓The Obstacle was genuinely hard to overcome (credible for my level).
- ✓I can explain why I chose THIS approach and not another.
Expert advice
Practical exercise
List the 5 hardest obstacles of your career. For each one, identify: what kind was it (technical, human, organisational, financial)? What strategy did you use? What result? Turn the best 2 into complete SOARs.
SOAR in one sentence
Situation → Obstacle (named precisely) → Action (a strategy, not just perseverance) → Result (technical + relational). SOAR is STAR with a close-up on the real difficulty. Use it when you want to show your resilience and your leadership maturity.
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