Top 4 Mistakes when Preparing for Challenging Situations

Challenging situations come in many shapes and sizes. At work or time might be disrupted by something urgent. It could be a complaint, an equipment failure, someone being off sick, or an unexpected critical deadline. It might be relational like giving difficult feedback or correcting an error. It might be in your personal life like a family member getting sick, a contentious parent teacher interview, or a conversation with a difficult ex over the kids.

Bottom line is there are some situations we find more challenging than others. Last week, I highlighted visualisation as a great way to prepare. Here are the top 4 mistakes that people make when doing that:

1. Wishin’ and Hopin’ - even when you are pretty sure it won’t go smoothly, you just launch in and hope it will be OK, then feel surprised when it goes badly. The investment of a bit of time visualising your options in response to likely variables is well spent.

2. One Shot - only visualising one possible version of events. If any other version happens, you’ll be unprepared and surprised again. Pick 4 possible ways the situation could go on a continuum of “smoothly and well” to “terrible”.Visualise a version of each. How will you be feeling? What will you be doing or saying? What words or actions are coming from the other person/s?

3. Horror Movie - replaying past situations that didn’t go well and you wish you had showed up differently. Often we increase the impact of these negative images of ourselves and our capability with highly critical self talk. Act like a director. Say ‘CUT’ when you notice yourself negatively rehearsing and then replay the scene with you acting as you would have liked to have done.

4. Weird Energy - we can easily come in too hyped or too chilled. Each situation will have an ideal energy. Will you be calm, assertive, conciliatory, loud, quiet, listening, speaking? What is the ideal energy for the situation, and your preferred version of how it plays out.

Watch how these play out before your next moment of pressure. Rehearse well, Act well!

Frontloading for Capacity

I’ve had a small store and ready room added to my office. My business had outgrown my office space. Even when I was relatively ordered and organised, it was cluttered. The store means I have spaces designed for frontloading.

Front loading = Removing future controllable stress.

An example is a shelf dedicated to the equipment I need for live, face to face experiences. There are 3 shelves. One holds equipment that I often use but not every time. One is essential equipment. One holds consumables I use in my presentations.

I recently flew to Sydney at short notice for a conference keynote. The shelf eliminated packing stress. I could quickly and easily see everything I needed, and load it into the carry on bag that is now stored under the shelf. Along with a refined checklist (more on this later), packing was quick and stress free.

When I’m done, I replace items on the shelf and restock what I used. This takes discipline. I’m not always great at that part, but it’s an easy investment now, for a future benefit. The better I frontload, the more Capacity I have to deal with high cadence periods of work.

What/how could you front load to increase your capacity?

Unshakeable?

Toilet paper madness still reigns supreme in Australia. It is simultaneously funny and tragic. Last week I wrote about the madness in Dunny Paper, Dentists and Disease.

On a more serious note, there are lessons for leaders in the apparent about face of Aussies.

Only months ago, Australia was in the global news spotlight for very different reasons. The country was burning. Facing that wide spread tragedy, Australians showed the very best of our culture to each other and the world. We stood shoulder to shoulder and faced the flames. Countless hours and millions of dollars of tangible support flowed. It was backed up by even more emotional support. While much was lost, the fires were a reminder of the power of people aligned to a common cause. We were shocked and grieving and we were Unshakeable.

Coronavirus has revealed a different face. We are skittish and reactive. We are more likely to turn on each other to ensure our own interests, including resorting to violence. Our blindspots and biases cloud our vision, resulting in boycotts of local Chinese business and hoarding of paper (Neither of which make the slightest difference to the virus). Many of us are expressing sorrow and shock at what we are seeing here. How can it be that a culture can turn so quickly? 

There are some key differences between the challenges faced, leading to very different responses. I outline a few below with recommendations for leaders in any uncertain environment.

So while media and social media coverage have an impact, we are also facing dramatically different circumstances. Both the fires and COVID19 are disruptive and threatening, but they show up in very different ways. 

What are you doing as a leader (whether you lead yourself, your family, a small team, an organisation, or a country) to make COVID19 tangible?

What is within your control, and how are you rallying focus and energy around that? 

In the absence of answers, we will continue to see people reactivity acting in their own interests, potentially to the detriment of much that we hold dear.

Let’s be Unshakeable and hold the line.

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More from Mike

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mike@mikehouse.com.au

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