Used to identify the most demanding or difficult part of a situation that needs to be overcome.
“The challenge is getting everyone to agree on one location.”
“The challenge is keeping costs down without cutting quality.”
Speakers often use this phrase to frame a problem as something to be solved rather than just complained about, matching the collaborative tone of this section. It's a good cue to focus on the specific obstacle named next, since the follow-up usually leads into a proposed solution.
Synonyms: the difficulty is, the hard part is, what's tough is