Adversity, Seneca, & Why Today's Performance Matters For Tomorrow's Crisis
Embrace adversity. Stay out of ruts and graves.
No man is more unhappy than he who never faces adversity. For he is not permitted to prove himself.
Seneca
Much has been said, and written, about the perils of comfort. Comfort zones that turns into ruts, which turns into graves over time. There are common factors which contribute to a person’s decline both in confidence and capability. Comfort zones often boil down to a numbness cultivated by defeatist mindsets that echo “Now is ok, no need to change anything.”, “You’ve done enough.“, “What does it matter, just chill.”, “What does commitment and focused effort get you?”, all topped off with “You’ve earned a rest. Go watch tv.”
Being in that rut holds us back from performing when we most need to - in times of adversity. Staying in our comfort zones or waiting for other people to tackle problems denies people opportunities to prove they can do meaningful and necessary tasks. And that rut becoming a grave can become a very unwelcome reality.
Thinking this might describe where you are today? Or someone you know or lead? Move out of the rut before it becomes a grave! Because adversity is always around the corner.
Two of types of adversity exist in our world. One that which forces itself upon us. Maybe it’s a surprise. Maybe it was ignored until that was no longer possible. Then there is adversity we embrace and leverage to prove ourselves.
Every struggle does not result in victory. But each time a person ignores, shuns, pawns off, or performs “adversity theater”, odds on how everything turns out favor failure. Heavily so.
Adversity theater: Empty decisions, communication, and actions that help offenders/actors look busy but don’t fix things while making those people “feel better” that they did “something”.
A key aspect of dealing with adversity is how we communicate to get through it. Which means fixing a problem, limiting damage, and trying to prevent a repeat crisis. How can a person prepare to communicate during adversity?
Identify three crisis situations most likely to occur in your business or for your role if you’re not in a leadership position.
Visual how to handle each of these situations using the “Four Elements of Crisis Leadership” framework available here -> https://www.communicatoraccelerator.com/p/four-steps-in-crisis-leadership-and
How often you repeat this visualization exercise (on your own and with others) depends on how high your risk is of experiencing one of these issues. Maybe once a quarter, monthly, or weekly if things around you are going sideways. What would you say? Not say? How would you communicate with other parties involved in each crisis?
Role playing can help people build more confidence and posses a higher level of readiness to deal with crises.
If you strive to be good, excellent, or to mastery communication, you cannot do nothing. These four steps will stretch and warm-up your mind, getting it ready for adversity when it strikes. Because one will strike at some point, maybe little or huge in scope and damage. To best weather them, other communication skills are essential for use in this framework. This is true for one reason.
How you do anything is how you do everything.
If a person is lazy and sloppy during their daily activities, why would you trust them in a crisis? They are not going to turn into rock stars. When stressed, people’s performance drops to their baseline. This means how they typically perform and react when faced with a challenge.
Most people do not suddenly turn into a super hero. They down shift to what they know and can handle. Especially when it comes to how well they can communicate with people.
They are two terms you might be looking for which are golden and about as rare (sadly). Composure. And Accountability.
What you do today during “normal” times prepares you for adversity tomorrow. Specifically when there are severe consequences at stake. Make that maximum effort in how you communicate, think, make decisions, and act as a regular part of your professional persona.
How you do anything is how you do everything.