3 Traits to Stay Afloat in any Crisis

“A rising tide lifts all boats.” - Unknown

You’ve heard this saying, but do you know where it comes from? I didn’t either, so I looked it up. 

While it’s unsure when or who coined the term, we do know it was made popular in 1963 by John F. Kennedy in a speech about the general economy. Instead of focusing on one or two or a handful of companies, he said, it’s better to create an environment that helps all people and every business.

But what happens if the economy is not rising? 

That’s the situation we’re dealing with for the first time in over a decade. Since 2009 ended with negative GDP growth we’ve seen 10 straight years of prosperity in the America economy. 

If you started or owned your business in the past 10 years it was like a boat on the rising tide – always going up.

Well, for the most part. The past few years we saw slowdowns or even declines in both the number of weddings and the amount spent on each wedding. It’s no wonder wedding pros are complaining about the marketplace becoming saturated.

The COVID-19 pandemic certainly lowered expectations for 2020. You’ll likely end up beached by the ebbing economy if you were just going with the flow over the past several years.

How to stay afloat in a low tide

When the pandemic first hit, I was in the middle of researching the characteristics for top performing salespeople in complex sales deals. (Riveting, I know, which is why you’re so lucky I do this research so you don’t have to!) What was it that separated the absolute best from mediocrity? Were the top sellers born great salespeople, or were they developed? Why was it so natural for some but not even possible for others to be good at selling their services?

I’d been reading a ton of books and articles, listening to lots of podcasts and audiobooks, and studied the research generated by important studies. 

Three characteristics kept appearing in the info I combed through: 

1) Resiliency 

2) Adaptability

3) Confidence

Can you bounce back?

Resiliency is the capacity to recover from difficult situations, to bounce back into shape after getting knocked down and bent out of shape by external forces. If COVID-19 is punch to the gut, resiliency is our ability to take the blow, recover, and keep on going. 

Interestingly, when you dig a bit deeper you get a clearer sense of certain attributes and behaviors in resilient people:

• Accepting of uncertainty
• Highly persistent in achieving goals
• Optimistic even after assessing tough situations
• Comfortable with high degrees of risk
• Consistent behavior regardless of external factors
• Self-reliant in difficult circumstances 

While these certainly sound like the characteristics of a good salesperson, they also sound like what’s needed during a pandemic if you lead a company.

Adapt and overcome

Adaptability is the quality of being able to adjust to new conditions. It’s like a sibling of resiliency. Take what’s thrown at you, reframe your understanding, and carry on toward your goal. Those who adapt:

• Think creatively
• Stay positive
• Embrace newness
• Ask for help
• Welcome change

This is more than just being flexible. When you adapt, it allows you to overcome the obstacles in your way with both your heart and your mind. You see change as inevitable, as expected, even helpful. Through change, the adaptable person thinks, “This will help me grow…in a positive way.”

You’ve got to believe in yourself first

A third characteristic is confidence, a feeling or belief that you can do something. What’s interesting about confidence is that sometimes it’s based on past performance. You’ve done something before and so you can do it again. With this pandemic, though, no one has been through something exactly like this before. 

Sure, people like me and many other business leaders have steered teams through the Great Recession and/or 9/11 - or some other terrible business crisis. Many have navigated storms in their personal lives when everything is in disarray. 

If you’ve been through experiences like these you build on them when you face new obstacles. In challenging times we recall mindsets, decision-making criteria, principles, strategies, approaches and activities that led us through other crisis. It’s like a trigger goes off and you know what you’re supposed to do all over again. 

And sometimes confidence is not based on past performance

It’s not even based on competence or skills or proven abilities. Nothing you’ve ever done directly and approximately translates to the current situation. In these circumstances people simply decide to believe in themselves. They know they will persevere. 

Confidence and competence may be linked, but does one cause the other? Do you first demonstrate the skills and gain the experience to be confident in the face of a new, bigger challenge? Or do you have to trust that every failure you go through is just a prelude to future success and every unknown is simply a chance to learn a new skill? 

Either way, it’s the ultimate test of self-belief: Do I have confidence in my own abilities?

You are the captain of your business

I’ve lived on an island for over 15 years, so I know my boating and ocean metaphors. While I like the idea of a rising tide lifting all boats, I’ve also worked with enough businesses to know that floating along with the current is not the best way to reach your destination. 

Those who have a clear direction go the fastest. Obstacles will get in the way, and you’ll have to get back on course and adapt to the new normal. Believe in yourself, because no one is going to steer your business for you. 

You can’t control the ocean, but you can choose the direction you take to get through it.