What to do when it ALL goes wrong
Sometimes things go wrong.
Running your own business is hard. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it. If everything was smooth sailing, every business would survive and every business owner would be super chilled about their work… and we all know that’s not always the case.
The skills you have in running and growing your business are going to be instrumental if the 💩 hits the fan, and you’re going to apply them in three stages:
Stage 1 - WTF!
This is the moment right after you realise you’re in crisis mode, and you’re going to handle it in 3 steps:
1. Regulate Your Emotions
To navigate your way out of a crisis, you need to be on solid footing. That’s why your emotions come first. Not second or third, first.
This will look different depending on your preferences, the nature of the crisis, and the situations surrounding the crisis. Whether it’s breathwork, going for a walk, or trying out havening, take time and space to return to a more level place. Once you’re there, it’s time for step 2…
2. Scope Out What Needs to Happen
This is the brain dump of crisis thoughts. This is where you write a list, create a mind map, or bring out the post-its. In a crisis, your memory is likely to be patchy, so write down as much as you possibly can. The more you can see, then less you have to remember, and the more mental energy you can put into the next step.
3. Prioritise and Plan
Now you have all of the different moving parts of this less-than-ideal situation out on paper, it’s time to move them around. You are going to identify the urgent tasks and then plan how you are going to approach them.
All of the other tasks will be picked up in Stage 3, but for now it’s urgent only. There is likely to be a lot of important stuff that you leave until later - that’s a normal part of recovering from a crisis, and you have it all written down so you will pick it up!
This is likely to include some PR and communication!
Stage 2 - MTF
(Manage the f*ck)
This is where you do the urgent. Your technical expertise and experience will be vital. Follow your plan and do what you do best. As the expert in your business, trust yourself to make the right calls!
All you need to do here is follow your plan. It may be tempting to do everything all at once, but I promise you are better doing one thing well than trying to multitask. If you need to include more people and bring in extra resource, make sure your communication plan is clear and regular.
Stage 3 - RFTF
(Recover from the f*ck, obviously)
1. Take a Breather
Once you are out of the urgent-doing, it’s time to step away. Depending on the crisis, you may only need a cup of tea and a chat with a business-bestie.
Wherever possible, I’d recommend trying to head home and get a full night’s sleep. If you’ve been ‘up’ all day on adrenaline, you will need the rest before you can think clearly again. If it was a bigger crisis, you might even need a few days or weeks to recalibrate!
Take as much time as you can. If all you can fit in is a cuppa, make it the best cuppa you’ve had in weeks.
2. Plan and do the Non-Urgent
Remember all of those other tasks you wrote down in Stage 1? This is when you bring them back out and work out your next steps. Some things may be irrelevant and need to be replaced, so take time to re-scope if you need to.
Then it’s time to make a plan, and follow it as best you can.
Include non-urgent but important communications in this stage!
3. Debrief & Thank Your Helpers
It’s tempting to skip this step, but it’s really important for moving forwards and away from a crisis - particularly one with a big emotional impact.
Your debrief could be some solo reflection or an organisation wide process, whatever it is, you are looking for unresolved issues and lessons learned. Record your lessons learned, they are important for the final step!
4. Add any changes to your project plans and SOPs
Now you have your lessons learned and any outstanding issues have been identified, it’s time to add them into your plans. It’s important to add lessons learned in as part of your processes and behaviours, otherwise they will live in a document without helping you prevent a similar WTF-moment in future.
Q&A
What if you have no idea what to do?
Start with regulating your emotions. Overwhelm in a crisis is super common, and we need time and space to leave overwhelm. You might want to ask a friend for support with getting out of the mind-blank-oh-sh*t mode.
Once you’re out of overwhelm, get a blank page. Write the name of the situation or a simple 2-3 word description in the middle.
From there write down any thoughts or tasks or considerations you have about the situation. Don’t worry about having a final plan, all you need to do here is dislodge some thoughts and start getting an overview of what you’re working with.
Keep breathing, and soon you’ll be able to see a plan formulating!
What if I’m too busy for the debrief?
Well, if we don’t learn those lessons now we are probably going to learn them later!
It doesn’t need to be a lengthy process - even 30 minutes with a journal, reflecting on what could be improved, what went well, and what you need to do to avoid a repeat is significantly better than no debrief!
What if I can’t take the time to regulate my emotions in the moment?
Yeah, these times happen. My advice is to do everything you can to care for yourself in the moment, even a few deep breaths can make a difference, and then take care of yourself and your emotions later on.
It’s common to be OK in the moment, then shaken up later. Give yourself the time and space for feelings to come up, and be kind to yourself when they do.
If you can, take some time to haven after the fact!
Help! I’m in a crisis!
If you need help with a crisis - be it emotional or strategic help - you can reach out to me on: seonaidh@seonaidhjamieson.com
If you need longer term support we can talk about on-going coaching and consultancy, so don’t worry if you need more than a quick call, we can figure it all out together! 🤍💪
