During the summer I spent some time holidaying in Ireland. I was amused to come across a sign outside a pub that read “Husband Creche – Why Not Leave Him Here While You Shop?”
I was amused by the humour displayed and the willingness of this publican to engage people in a novel way. It reminded me that in challenging times a number of key ingredients are pivotal to survival.
What are the qualities you possess that have helped you to stay the course to date. ?
What is your motivation to continue in business despite a very challenging economic climate
What makes you and your product different from those who have joined the statistic s of failed businesses?
For each of us, these questions will elicit different answers. There are however a number of common themes that come to the fore when I ask the same questions of owners and managers of SMEs and professional companies.
Attitude – Optimism and Self Regard. Optimism is the ability to maintain a realistically positive attitude, especially in times of adversity. This quality is the anchor that helps one withstand the turbulence of stormy waters. A steadfast belief that no matter what happens there is light at the end of the tunnel. The challenges we meet and overcome serve us in some beneficial way.
The psychologist Martin Seligman has discovered three major attitudes that distinguish optimists from pessimists.
- They view downturns in life as temporary blips, the situation will turn around, nothing is permanent
- The see setbacks as part of the journey to success rather than defeat. They understand that the journey is as important as the destination.
- They view misfortune as situational and specific. They maintain perspective by examining challenges, rather than shoulder all the blame, they will examine external causes and take these into consideration. For example the sole-trader who struggles with juggling all aspects of running a business single-handed. Rather than getting bogged down in your short comings you recognise the feelings of anger, isolation, frustration but don’t allow them debilitate you. You use similar past challenges and experiences that you have overcome to spur you on. You take time out and step back, if something isn’t working you ask yourself ‘what one thing can I do to change this?’. Rather than doing something over and over again if it isn’t working you ask yourself ‘what other way is there to achieve this?’ As Einstein said ‘the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.’
Ian McKeever, Motivational Speaker and holder of several world records, speaks about the link between optimism and motivation. In his book Give Me Heroes, McKeever writes about 15 powerful stories based on ordinary people who do extraordinary things . He describes how in situations of adversity and disappointment an optimistic approach is vital for enhancing resilience, resilience being the capacity to bounce back from frustration or failure. He explains that rather than continuing to feed our minds on negative angry thoughts, we can develop an attitude of ‘better rather than bitter’. We can learn to erase the negative tapes in our heads and replace them with more appropriate and self-serving messages.
Linked to ones optimism is self-regard – the ability to recognise our strengths and our areas for improvement and to feel good about ourselves regardless of our vulnerabilities. Maintaining optimism and self regard is like donning a suit of armour. If we are comfortable with and feel good about ourselves we can endure the most stringent hardships. Victor Frankl in his book “Man’s Search for Meaning”, which is based on his experience in a concentration camp, writes inspiringly about man’s ability to garner good from an experience that is so abysmally bad. It is a powerful illustration of how man is ultimately self-determining. What he becomes he makes out of himself.
Willingness to be flexible – the ability to adjust your feelings, thoughts and actions to changing conditions. In today’s economic climate the ability to change your actions to deal with changing demands is pivotal to staying solvent. Similar to the gentleman publican mentioned at the start of the piece you need to be creative and resourceful in how you harness your services and talents. An example of this is in the recruitment industry. As the demand for new employees has diminished over the years, many recruitment consultants have adapted their skills and have added a career coaching dimension to the services they offer. In the EQ Edge, Stein and Book describe this characteristic as ‘the ability to adapt to unfamiliar, unpredictable and dynamic circumstances’. Decisions are based on analysis of the current situation in a measured way and is based on feedback a person is getting from their environment. We have seen many of our great leaders demonstrate this quality. Nelson Mandela could not have achieved his dream without adapting an attitude of flexibility and negotiation towards his protagonists. Flexible people have the capacity to smoothly handle multiple demands, shift priorities and adapt to change. In today’s business environment, this capacity is important for success because it allows you to take advantage of new information, adapt to change and respond to shifts in priorities. To assess your flexibility answer the following questions on a scale of -4 to +6 as follows:
-4 = Always, -2 = Usually, 0 = Sometimes, +2 = Infrequently, 4 = Rarely 6 = Never
- Do you find yourself doing (or not doing) innocuous things because they might bring you bad luck?
- When you eat out do you order the same things?
- How upset do you get over little things e.g. such as not going to a place of your choice when going out for an evening?
- How comfortable are you to let people do things their way such as organise an event in the office?
- How do others view your contributions when they are undertaking a task?
- Do you like everything In its place and a place for everything?
- Do you like new things?
If your score is in the negative consider if you are flexible, if your score is positive you are probably flexible enough.
The good news is that you can change your attitudes to both optimism and flexibility. Any time you see yourself being in flexible, push yourself to be more open to new ideas and way of doing things. When you have time, write down changes you have made and the benefits of doing this. Cultivate an attitude of ‘better rather than bitter’ , change the tape that runs inside your head, remind yourself that you are a capable person, build on your strengths and allow these strengths become your ‘suit of armour’ that protects you from adversity.
Maura is a master coach and trainer. She operates her successful business “Life & Executive Coaching Institute ” and works with companies and individuals in the coaching context to achieve a work/life balance.