„Crisis is a productive state. You just have to take away its taste for disaster.“ (Max Frisch)
I read this quote more than 10 years ago, when I had just arrived in Switzerland. Although I couldn't get it out of my head, it initially triggered a lack of understanding. Over the years of parenthood, changing working relationships and roles, more clarity emerged about the resilience-building effect of crisis. This was closely linked to the realization that I always liked to avoid problematic, challenging situations: for example, situations in which people who think differently "trigger" me.
The productive in crises
In terms of systems theory, crises are moments in which the complexity of a system exceeds its ability to process information. In addition, the equation applies: the greater the complexity, the more contradictions there are and the more they have to be endured. To a certain extent, the logic of "right is wrong and wrong is right" applies. And this is where it becomes exciting and relevant to the question of whether and how crisis can be productive. The less willing and able we are to endure contradictions - both internally and externally - the more difficult it will be for us to use crises productively.
Contradictions outside the "bubble"
In this day and age, when we are lulled into a state of "we all agree" by social media, this is more the rule than the exception. If we then come across people who think differently in the physical reality outside the bubble, their contradictions take us by surprise. But it is precisely these contradictions that we should face up to and seek out social situations outside the bubble. We should also become more aware of our own parts. After all, contradictions only become problematic when I silence parts of myself that can gain something from the contradictions on the outside.
The catastrophic in crises
So how does a crisis become catastrophic? Most likely when an individual or a group carries on as before and relies on the supposedly tried and tested: "Fight fire with fire". This can happen if actionism is followed by even more actionism. Or in other words: if we continue to work in the system driven by avoidance instead of on the system, this is a guarantee for standstill.
--This post also appeared on LinkedIn--