How To Overcome Adversity in the Workplace

Your boss sets unrealistic deliverables each week. Your team doesn’t listen to your ideas. You’re overworked with no promise of a promotion anytime soon. These are all examples of workplace adversity, but how can you overcome these challenges? Experts offer strategies for not just how to overcome, but grow stronger, through adversity.?

By Helen Harris

Can you recall a time at work when you felt like you were hanging on by a thread, emotionally??

Maybe you felt like your boss wasn’t working with you and you didn’t have the support or resources you needed to succeed.?

Or perhaps, like many organizations throughout the pandemic and even after, financial resources in your company remain sparse. You feel the strain of several positions on your shoulders and don’t know where to turn for help.?

The fact is that adversity affects us all in the workplace in some capacity. There are many ways to react, ranging from fear to panic to excitement and most importantly, opportunity.?

Harvard Business Review expands on this, stating that the initial challenge with any adversity you may face is to turn a negative experience into a productive one and to “counter adversity with resilience.”?

“But resilience can be hard to muster for many reasons: Fear, anger, and confusion can paralyze us after a severe setback,” said Joshua D. Margolis and Paul Stoltz in the HBR article. “Assigning blame rather than generating solutions is an all-too-human tendency. Worse yet, those to whom we turn for counsel may offer us exactly the wrong kind of advice.”

It can be easy to slip into a negative state of mind and play the blame game when adversity arises.?

How can you develop effective tactics to shape adversity to work in your favor??

The first step is to understand the kind of adversity that you are dealing with.

Types of Workplace Adversity?

Adversity is a state or instance of serious or continued difficulty or misfortune.?

Lisa Rangel , executive resume writer, clarifies further that there are six different types of adversity: financial, physical, mental, social, spiritual and emotional.?

“Relating these to the workplace, a physical adversity could be something like a poorly structured job that has extremely long hours or perhaps it’s poorly resourced,” said Rangel. “So perhaps the person is working too often and doesn’t have enough days. It’s physically taxing and not sustainable.”?

Rangel also notes some examples of mental and emotional adversity in the workplace: a non-supportive boss, a boss who is gaslighting you, or co-workers that are bullying you.

“Emotional adversity in particular is a big one — and the hardest to overcome,” said Tea Cooper , workshop facilitator and leadership consultant. “Do you feel like you're getting too much negative criticism? Are you and your boss not connecting? This emotional component is vital to your social aspect at work, so you want to think about how you build relationships at work — or if you are just showing up every day and not putting in that extra effort.”

Cooper suggests that if you feel like your ideas aren’t being heard, for example, to dig deeper into the “why”. Are you speaking up in meetings? Are you actively listening to others’ ideas and finding ways to contribute and join the conversation? And if you feel like you’re not connecting with your boss or are unsure of what they expect from you, set an appointment to have a conversation.?

By opening the dialogue with your colleagues and your boss, the social and emotional aspects of the workplace become less adverse as the doors of communication are open.?

“After meeting with your boss, you should have a clear set of actions of what their expectations are from you so you can move forward,” said Cooper. “You recognize the adversity, acknowledge it, recognize it, communicate and move forward. But if you sit on that negative side for too long and don’t acknowledge the problem, that leads to being miserable at work and never truly addressing the issue.”?

Regarding financial adversity, Cooper states that this can pertain to something as simple as your salary or as perplexing as inflation.?

“Financial adversity is one that hits home for most of us because a lot of us are thinking about our salaries and budgets,” said Cooper. “You may be having budget constraints at work, or there may be a hiring freeze until the company feels like it’s in a better place to make decisions.”?

Ultimately, Cooper stresses that the key to any adversity you are dealing with is to first, honestly acknowledge that there is a challenge, then understand the issue at hand and finally, develop a plan for how to overcome the issue.?

So, with Cooper acknowledging the importance of tackling adversity, what are the best steps to take??

Tips To Cope with Workplace Adversity

“I think a lot of the recent-entry individuals to the workforce are very good about setting boundaries and speaking up for what they need and being clear about what they will and won't do,” said Rangel. “And I think the solution for dealing with adversity lies in a multi-generational approach. “It’s a combination of having boundaries, knowing what you will and won’t accept and knowing what is good and bad for your mental health.”?

But when those boundaries are crossed and adversity does arise, consider this plan of action recommended by Forbes :?

• Write down what’s bothering you.??
• Pinpoint the emotion you’re feeling, label it and give yourself a “time out” by remembering a positive emotion, memory or by thinking of something you’re grateful for.
• Ask yourself what you “could do” about the issue (not what you “should do”).?
• Think about which things you can realistically control and try to pull influence from people you admire.?
• Consider how far-reaching the issue is. Do you need support from others? Do you need to develop small steps to overcome the ultimate problem??
• Consider how your actions could affect others. How can you make the most positive impact, most immediately???

Jay Colan, career coach and personal branding expert, adds to this list of tips for dealing with adversity, stating that it’s important to not be defensive and personalize the situation.

“Even though it is affecting you, you want to realize that many times, it’s someone else that’s under pressure, trying to get noticed or is having their own issues. So, where possible, figure out what’s driving the situation or other person or try to clarify metrics and deliverables.”?

A Healthy Approach To Adversity?

While you may dread the thought of conflicts or challenges in the workplace that get in the way of your road to success, there is a helpful way to look at adversity: An opportunity for growth.?

By adopting a healthy mindset to overcome adverse situations in the workplace, you’ll not only reach your goal — but exceed it in every way you imagined and become mentally stronger than before.?

Cooper stresses the opportunity adversity brings to build character.?

For example, those who have not attained a certain level of education may strive to earn certifications to get a position they want. Or maybe someone struggles to form a social connection in the office because of a language barrier and subsequently decides to learn that language. Someone could be afraid of flying but overcome that fear once they take a job that requires frequent travel.?

Adversity can be dark and scary, leading to unhappiness in the workplace if you let it. But like these examples, you can take adversity, develop a plan and become stronger.?

“The most important thing is to recognize the adversity is there and to not dwell on the negatives,” said Cooper. “Figure out how you can fix it and understand that adversity is always going to exist.”?

Top Takeaways?

How To Overcome Adversity in The Workplace

• Adversity is a state or instance of serious or continued difficulty or misfortune.?
• The initial challenge with any adversity you may face is to turn a negative experience into a productive one and to “counter adversity with resilience.”?
• There are six different types of adversity: financial, physical, mental, social, spiritual and emotional.?
• If possible, figure out what’s driving the situation or other person or try to clarify metrics and deliverables.”?
• By adopting a healthy mindset to overcome adverse situations in the workplace, you’ll not only reach your goal — but exceed it in every way you imagined and become mentally stronger than before.