Turning Adversity into Triumph
At the start of each year, we formulate new hopes and goals in the form of New Year's resolutions. We may also reflect on last year's accomplishments and look forward to a clean slate for the coming year. In business, it is likely that each of us face a unique set of challenges to achieving success, whether it be in generating new business, dealing with seemingly impossible deadlines or implementations, being over or under-employed, or working with demanding co-workers or customers. Interestingly, it's in adversity that we gain our best insight, become wiser, and experience our greatest achievements.To quote Zig Ziegler:
"Sometimes adversity is what you need to face in order to become successful."
- Recognize that adversity is a normal cycle in business and in life. Businesses cannot exist without hurdles along the way and they affect even the most successful organizations.
- If a challenge arises, embrace it instead of resisting it. Resistance can lead to paralysis and fear and cause you to give up. Conversely, truly accepting a challenge teaches personal lessons and helps you attain inner strength. Accepting adversity causes you to reflect on what a situation is teaching you and requires you to consider different strategies or creative solutions to a problem.
- Stick it out through the hard times. By not quitting when times are hard, you gain understanding and tactics for the next challenge that comes your way.
Forbes offers the following five powerful steps in managing adversity.
- Remember the larger goal and its benefits when combatting negative situations.
- Solicit help from your trusted network of colleagues and associates when needed.
- Maintain a positive attitude.
- Keep calm. Don't allow panic and negativity to rule your decisions.
- Don't quit. Learn from your experience, implement improvements, and try again.
|
|
Managing the...
Here are examples of challenges we may face in our professional lives and ideas to help manage the outcomes - allowing these adverse situations to transform us into stronger and more capable individuals:
Difficult co-workers or management:
- Maintain focus on tasks.
- Do not gossip.
- Do your personal best.
- Self promote achievements in a professional manner.
- Try to find something in common in order to build a professional relationship.
Overworked and overwhelmed:
- Identify and prioritize all tasks.
- Confirm prioritization of tasks with management.
- Identify reasonable timelines.
- Decide on tasks that can be delegated, outsourced, shelved.
- Get buy in from management, include any costs for additional help.
Tight time frames:
- Document tasks that need to be performed during a specific time frame and include: existing resources, budget, hours required, dependencies, etc.
- Provide a written case for alternatives and solutions including: assistance, extension of time frame, or elimination/delay of tasks. Include costs.
- Communicate to management.
Limited budgets:
- Identify priorities and dependencies including required resources and costs.
- Consider alternative solutions.
- Communicate to management.
Under-employed; business generation:
- Strengthen and grow your network.
- Create a marketing strategy.
- Increase your personal or professional presence.
- Be more active on social media - create an informative blog, obtain more recommendations on LinkedIn or Facebook, etc.
- Volunteer.
- Look for new partnerships, propose new ideas.
Complex situations, products, systems, implementations, etc.
- Attain a clearer understanding by creating a solid action plan.
- Break down tasks, responsibilities, dependencies, time frames, etc.
- Communicate to all partners and associates. Ensure everyone is on the same page.
- Hold frequent but short status meetings to address issues.
- Document outstanding issues and solutions to closed issues.
- Continue to communicate with all parties.
|
|
| |
|
|
for the following upcoming conferences:
Seattle, WA
February 27 - March 1, 2018
Annual conference for user experience professionals. Participants will enjoy 40+ presentations from expert practitioners and academics from around the world.
Las Vegas, NV
March 20-22, 2018
Content Strategy event for marketing and communications professionals. Learn how to scale content, leverage the technology, repurpose and reuse content, and deliver to the right person at the right time regardless of the device.
San Diego, CA
May 6-9, 2018
Obtain knowledge, strategies, and solutions for retaining top talent and designing, implementing and measuring learning programs. Over 10,000 attendees, 400 speakers and 300 sessions.
Orlando, FL
May 20-23, 2018
Provides technical communications professionals with insight into future trends of the profession through education sessions and networking. The conference attracts 600 attendees and 40 exhibitors.
New Orleans, LA
October 21-24, 2018
A gathering p;ace for content strategists, content engineers, documentation managers, and other content professionals.
|
|
