Wading Through Adversity

• John C. Maxwell said: "You can't manage your way through crisis, you have to lead your way through." 

    This is so because during adversities, those who come through and bettered are those who don't allow the situations to have the better of them. They're those who show great resilience and who stand up from the overwhelming situation to think beyond just maintaining the status quo.

    If all you do is to merely copy what others have done or have been doing, I'm afraid to inform you that adversities are sure to leave you so impoverished and bitter. No matter how much you desire to thrive, such a dominant thought pattern during adversities will NEVER help your ventures in any way.  If your dominant thinking during adversities is on how to survive it and maintain your head above waters until the adversities are over, then you've got the wrong mindset.

     May I inform you that every adversity that you face in life always comes with it opportunities for you to improve yourself and rise to the next level. Adversities, as unpleasant as they may seem, carry with them the driving force for excellence. Excellence, of course, is not what you actualize through management, it goes beyond management; excellence is what you attain through clear leadership.

     You take the following steps towards wading through adversities, in order to come out on a higher pedestal:

1. Acknowledge that there's a Crisis: One of the things you won't want to do, and can't afford, as a leader is to live in denial. Before every other person sees it fully, you should see it yourself. That's not being negative minded;  rather it's part of having a clear foresight.
2. Determine and Define the Challenges: This doesn't mean that you must see the whole situation clearly from the beginning; however, a good leader should be well ahead of the led in defining the extent and possible impacts of an adversity on the organization.
3. Strengthen yourself: This is very important. The people you're leading may be thrown off as they begin to see the unfolding challenges. That's why you should recover or receive inner strength ahead of them, so as to be able to extend strength to them.
4. Cut Down on Dersonal and Organizational Excesses: You should be quick to restructure yourself and your organization in line with the unfolding challenges. You should, however, avoid pressing the panic button or taking steps that would weaken the system (especially the human assets).
5. Remain Flexible: If there's a more appropriate time to be flexible with organizational processes, it's during crisis. Being flexible helps the organization to more readily adjust to the unfolding realities.
6. Communicate More: Communicate more with the organization's personnels and clients. If there's any time to be open with "essential" information as an organization, it's during crisis period. (Essential, because there are some pieces of information you have to guard or protect the more during adversities; these will be required for your thriving through it all.) Communicate the challenges, but Communicate detailed strategies and solutions more. Give hope through appropriate and adequate communication.
7. Brainstorm Within the Organization, Improvise, Look Within, Source for Solutions: This is the period to do the do. It's the period to take prompt actions. Some actions must be taken so quickly, as quickly as the ideas are crystallized, during crisis to avert greater dangers. Don't rely on your own opinions during crisis, extend to those you're leading and you'll be surprised at how solutions would flow in. It's left to you to sieve and galvanize them into workable information.
8. Reach Out without Selling Out: Adversities afford us the opportunities to reach out to other organizations, especially if they're as well going through similar challenges. It's time to build alliance with others. Know what they're doing and also think of how to adopt and/or improve on their approaches. It even gives you the opportunity to build stronger networks. However, be very careful not to sell out your vital strategies that need to be treasured.
9. Diversify: Adversities give us the opportunities to learn new things, try different perspectives and spread our tentacles to many other areas. There are times you just have to diversify in order to remain viable during adversities. Don't ever be caught rigid during adversities. Try new things, discard what doesn't work and what's obsolete. Remain relevant through creativity.
10. Reach Out: You can't afford to be full of yourself and your organization during adversities. Reach out to others and you'll even get more strength and learn more through that. Try helping out. Just make sure you go beyond the four walls of your organization to reach out to others. This way you might be buying the needed security for your thriving through the adversities.

May I summarize with two quotes:

• "In the middle of difficulties lies opportunity."

Albert Einstein

• "Crisis bumps us out of our comfort zone into the creative zone." 

John C. Maxwell