First understand that having these feelings is natural. FUD is powerful because it magnifies your core needs to avoid mistakes, to minimise risk and to stay part of the tribe. FUD slows you down or stops you taking action. It also plays on our deeply embedded animal reactions when faced with perceived danger, which are:
Freeze, Flight or Fight
By freezing in the face of danger your hope is, the predator won’t see you, they’ll pass by and the problem will go away. The issue in business is that moving at pace, with flexibility and decisiveness has never been more needed.
If standing still doesn’t work our next instinct is to run away. In your business you may see people mentally running away by denying there is a problem, or busying themselves in other tasks and retreating to their comfort zone.
When running doesn’t work we fight. Unfortunately that fight can be misdirected to the messenger, the data, the team or even ourselves rather than fighting for the solution.
Not only is FUD powerful but you’re surrounded by it. By information which suggests that life and business is a scary place, each story backed by reams of ‘stuff’ proving their case.
Secondly recognise that FUD is feeling, not fact. What that feeling does do, is trigger your body to release hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol getting you ready for flight or fight. This is why your blood pressure and heart rate increase. Cortisol also affects your abilities to think flexibly and adapt.
Being aware that FUD is charging up your body to move and move fast, what are the ways you can channel that energy into useful responses?
No. 1 Practice productive acceptance, FUD is there, always will be and has the capacity to make you feel horrible, insecure and overwhelmed. You can’t change those feelings but you can change your response to them.
No. 2 Recognise you’re not alone, to a greater or lesser degree everyone is going through the same thing. However not everyone, wants to, or is able to step back and change their response and actions. Be quicker at turning uncertainties into a result, whatever it is, then you can address it.
No. 3 You can’t predict the future but you can map out likely scenarios and start preparing for them now. Prepare for ‘3 Cases’
Case number 1, what’s the best that could happen?
Case number 2, what’s the worst that could happen?
Case number 3, with what we know now, what’s most likely to happen?
No. 4 Work out the characteristics of the 3 cases and prepare your response to each. When you start seeing one of those sets of characteristics appear you won’t be paralysed by FUD you’ll respond, quickly and with purpose.
No. 5 Beware! FUD doesn’t give up easily, even as you deal with one of those cases, FUD will be whispering, ‘yes but is it really this? Why not wait a little longer just to be sure? What are other businesses and owners doing? Keep FUD away by following through on your decisions. This will give you a timeline to work with. The Fear generated by the unknown isn’t just about what to do but when is the right time to do it. Waiting for the ‘right time’ can be a way of denying what we’re really saying to ourselves. Which is “My decision is not to make a decision and to leave it to someone else or something to happen that will force me to react (note – not respond) at a time and in a manner not of my choosing.”
No. 6 Build your people, processes and business for Chaos and Confusion. Yes that’s right, chaos and confusion.
Business is highly disruptive even in “normal” times. So build to cope and succeed in a chaotic and confused market where the tides of change lap ever faster against your sandcastles.
No. 7 Consider the characteristics necessary to deal with chaos and confusion. Apart from preparing for the 3 cases we highlighted above build Fluidity, Flexibility and Focus.
Fluidity is the ability something has to flow easily with smooth elegance or grace. “they moved with supreme skill and graceful fluidity”. Who wouldn’t want to be part of an organisation moving with skill and grace? It’s the way to flow around or over obstacles, to change direction and pace. Business and life is dynamic, it’s constant movement.
Flexibility, in processes and in thinking. The questioning and questing to consider that you may be wrong and they may be right. Just because something has worked or didn’t work in the past what is needed now? How teams flex and approach change, requires interpersonal trust, candid communication and a common purpose. How does your team score against those criteria?
Focus, the ability to keep sight of the bigger picture and the task in hand whilst being bombarded by distractions of all shapes and sizes. Focus is the habit of striving to achieve the outcome rather than getting stuck in the detail of why it’s not working. Focus enables us to lead ourselves and show leadership to others, regardless of our formal standing in the business.
No. 8 Be the model of the behaviours, attitudes and performance needed to overcome FUD. We learn more from being shown than just being told.
