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Staying Optimistic in Troubling Times

By Elaine Siciliano Morris

It’s difficult to avoid all the negative news right now – the economy, nasty politics, international threats, organizational failures, and many disappointments with our business and government leadership. I know of no one not touched in some way by all this.

During times of such stress and uncertainty, it is more important than ever to manage your emotions, your attitude and your focus. It is too easy to get caught up in the cultural drift of fear-based thinking and speaking. If you do, you risk becoming less effective and your business will be in even greater danger.

Emotions Affect Performance
Tom Peters, during the 1980’s recession, said, “Sales people make 25% less phone calls during an economic downturn.” It was the sales person’s emotional reaction to the economic news which led to less activity, and therefore, lower sales. The sales reduction was not caused by the recession itself.

What You Can Control
We cannot control the outside market condition, but we can control our own ability to be proactive, as Dr. Stephen Covey, famed author of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, taught us. With this in mind, our focus this month is on the emotional intelligence competency that fuels one’s ability to be proactive, and that is:

Optimism: the ability to look at the brighter side of life and to maintain a positive attitude, even in the face of adversity. Optimism assumes a measure of hope in one’s approach to life. It is a positive approach to daily living.

Optimism Can Be Learned
Psychologist Martin Seligman, in his classic book, Learned Optimism, offers a useful look at how our negative thoughts feed our emotions in a stressful situation. Using the acronym, “ABC”:

A is for Adversity – trouble hits

B is for Belief – you start explaining to yourself why this is happening – this tends to be negative, and often inaccurate. For many of us, when something bad happens, our pessimistic explanatory style tends to pick the worst possible reason for our worry. Our inner voice tells us that we are a failure and we’ll always be a failure. Psychologists call it “awful-izing,” an over-reaction that puts you in an emotional spin.

C is for Consequence – you are impacted by these negative beliefs and you feel stressed, anxious, scared, hopeless, and depressed. As your emotional response system kicks in, you are not able to think clearly or realistically and you are immobilized. Buying into these beliefs leaves you vulnerable to the ups and downs of life, and ill-equipped to generate powerful responses to inevitable leadership challenges. Developing your ability to be optimistic is a way to stay centered and in control.

Stay Real
Caution: many people are naturally predisposed to optimism, and as in any strength, it can be over-used. This can lead to less than proactive behavior when a leader ignores danger and is too “Polly-Anna,” or out of touch, only to be blind-sided, exposed and unprepared. Optimism must be balanced with another Emotional Intelligence competency called Reality Testing.

Reality Testing is the ability to assess the correspondence between what is experienced and what objectively exists. In simple terms, it is the ability to accurately “size up” the immediate situation, without taking it personally.

You can use the ABC method to see things as they really are. Then you are ready to fight back, adding DE.

D is for disputation - all beliefs are subject to question. When we dispute our assumptions, often formed in childhood, we usually find they are unfounded. Challenge your own automatic and habitual beliefs and look for alternative explanations.

E is for Energization - you observe and nurture the energy that arises naturally when you throw out your negative assumptions and start to follow a new course.

APPLICATION: Team Meeting Agenda
Let’s translate Seligman’s ABCDE psychological principles to leading your business through rough waters. Facilitate your team through a conversation using our RICH process to analyze your situation and leverage your talents and resources.

Realistic - Do a gut check and use the ABCDE method to explore the emotions you have experienced. See things as they really are and realistically appraise how your reactions have influenced the team.

• How have we each been reacting to the current crisis?
• How have those emotional reactions colored your thinking and influenced your attitude and your decisions?
• How has it affected your performance?
• How has it affected our teamwork?

Intelligent – Now analyze your current business standing and the risks associated with the current economic crisis.

• In what ways is our business truly at risk?
• What is the basis for this assessment? (fact-based)
• What might this mean for our organization in the next two years?
• What are ways to sustain our organization and reduce vulnerability? (Note: Beware of too much cost-cutting, reducing the organization’s power needed to move through this period effectively. Keep your most important resources, and those people who support your success. Keep in mind that this cycle will likely be turning around by 2010.)

Creative – Now moving from the logical side of the brain which deals with the facts and solutions, over to the creative side. This is where your greatest leverage is for getting out ahead of the competition. Brainstorm with your team for out-of-the-box ways to impact your business. Remember, Warren Buffet uses down-turns to find new opportunities.

• What are some possible opportunities now that did not exist before?
• How can we balance our conserving efforts with expansive thinking? (Note: Conserving refers to protection mode, whereas expansive refers to stretching out and beyond.)
• How do we want to emerge from this crisis?
• What would a position of strength look like?
• What outside perspective would support us?
  

Hone – To hone is to sharpen up, polish, improve, perfect and prepare. I heard a colleague say recently, “Well, if we can’t spend as much money this year on new training initiatives as we did last year, then let’s spend our time improving the programs we already have.”

That is a great example of Optimism – which, when you come right down to it, is the ability, in a negative situation, to intentionally focus and take action on what you can do to make a positive impact.

• What are areas of our business that we can work on improving?
• What personal and professional strengths could we each develop during this time?
• Which of these ideas would most support our vision for the future?

Action and Accountability
Move from perspective sharing to decision making. Discuss what was learned from this discussion and agree on your strategy to improve your position in the marketplace. Next, agree on how to implement this strategy. In the book Winning with Accountability, The Secret Language of High Performing Organizations, author Henry Evans says that we only need four components to insure accountability in any endeavor:

• Clear expectations – What exactly will happen?
• Specific date and time – When will it happen?
• Ownership - Who will be responsible for each element of the strategy?
• Share – Each verbally shares their commitment with someone who will hold them accountable

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