Making Space for Catastrophe: Feel It, Then Plan
A few weeks ago, I was leading a strategic planning session with a small team. In the middle of the session the Executive Director’s mood changed. Slowly the entire team started checking their phones and I knew I had lost them. The team shared they had just lost a million dollar multi-year grant and they apologized for disrupting the flow of the planning session. Immediately we stopped dreaming about the future and made space for catastrophe. We set a timer and I told them to take 20 minutes to wallow and be sad. So, they did, and then we moved back into planning although our direction was changed a bit. Right now in this time, in order to move forward you have to make space for the mess. This is your permission to wallow, but with a timer.
Feel It, But Don’t Get Stuck
Give bad news (the real kind with all of the details*) space - give yourself and your team permission to feel—grief, frustration, fear, exhaustion. Ignoring it doesn’t make it disappear. It just builds up and leaks out in unproductive ways – you can’t pretend you didn’t lose that grant or that donor. By carving out a designated time for it we allowed some time to breathe and to be sad and to feel like the world is ending – these are all important emotions to make space for getting to work.
Next – Short-Term Planning
Once you’ve given the emotions their due, it’s time to shift. No, you don’t have to solve everything today. But you do need a path forward. My brain is wired to long-term planning and strategies but these immediate crisis moments need a focus on short term planning that is essential to move through.
30 Days: Triage & Stabilize
What are the immediate needs? What’s on fire, and what can wait? Who needs support? This phase is about securing the foundation and giving energy to the most pressing items.60 Days: Adjust & Adapt
Thinking past the immediate, what needs to change? What new systems, strategies, or boundaries need to be put in place to ensure you’re not just reacting but responding with intention?90 Days: Rebuild & Refocus
Here’s where you reimagine. What did the catastrophe reveal? What’s worth leaving behind, and what’s worth fighting for?
The Bottom Line
Making space for catastrophe isn’t a luxury; it’s a necessity. Feel what you need to feel, then make a plan to move forward. The goal isn’t to bounce back—it’s to move through and emerge with clarity, strength, and a little more wisdom than before.
*(What about if it is just a Worry and Isn't Real Yet?)
Okay, I know many of you might feel like the entire world is a general catastrophe but without specific aims to harm your business or nonprofit today – what then is the role of catastrophizing? It still has a space, but this is when you pull on your own self-care modalities and focus your planning on long-term, and not short-term – honestly, this advice is eerily similar to what I said back in the early COVID days. Give yourself space for sadness and keep focused on the present and the risks that are at hand. If scenario-planning is stress-reducing for you, let yourself go there, but keep it brief.