Making The Most Of Disruption With Crisis To Opportunity Mechanics
No one wants a crisis, they stress us out. A crisis can overturn the rock and let all the bugs crawl out. These bugs in the system stand in our way, whether it's a disgruntled customer or a global pandemic. One thing leads to another and if we don’t manage our crisis effectively, it can turn into many more. Calm and considered action is the only positive way to navigate uncertain and unwanted circumstances. If not, we can say and do things that end up being just another bug crawling over our project, our job, our way of life.
The thing is, when we don’t put things to test when we don’t push the limits of what we can manage and work with, we don’t examine ourselves to a high enough degree. The easy road won’t test the airbag, and we need to have one of those in good working order. A crisis can be turned into quality control with a slip of perspective. It can reveal where the cracks in the mirror are, which parts crumple and which parts do more harm than good.
A forced scenario that pushes a team or a process into a new shape or new pace of action can help those involved to find abilities and thinking patterns that exceed their initial routine. Growth can occur when new spaces are opened out. Instead of the crisis being a block to growth, it in fact is an opportunity for it. If there is something that can’t be done then there is everything else that can be done about it. The choice is yours.
Be eager to learn. You may not know how to adapt, you might not know which people you can turn to about various things. Find out, challenge yourself to learn. It might not be an instant process, some lessons take time and ones that are thorough always take time. Get your bearings with new information. Knowledge really is power if you have the courage to use it. When we know positive and enriching information about something, we have a creative toolkit for us to take action within the given field. Information is the language of action, the more we know the more we can do.
Catch your old habits. Things are different now, the crisis has revealed a change that needs you to change with it. There will be plenty of things you do well and there will be things that you would have done well have it not been for this change of circumstances. The feedback you receive can feel like extra straws for the camel’s back however they are routes to better effectiveness. You have to be willing to listen and adapt when it becomes part of the change process.
Best foot forward. During uncertain times, people, in general, are nervous and looking for leadership. We have the TV and the public figures offering their wisdom but when people go about their daily lives, they need leadership there too. This is where we come in, we can be a stable and optimistic force for positive change that people are looking for. This reflects on us and influences others to do the same. Be mindful of your language, adding to worries by mentioning your own is like adding another brick to the Jenga tower in people’s minds. Strength is integrity and that builds trust.
Give it time. No one is superhuman and this is not The Matrix. We can’t just change something or learn a new skill straight away. The world is a psychical and slow-moving place. Processes, routines, things, all take time to adjust. If we can apply ourselves and then help others to do the same, the work will be done in time. No one can make an effective change overnight, we have to train ourselves to behave in the desired way. Self-guided adaptation has been at the root of evolution since it began, the laws of nature prefer systems that can move with the times. We can be the guiding force for that movement in the systems that we create.
Rowan Blair Colver is the Editor at Homunculus Media Group
