What happens to performance when we are in survival mode?
And why do leaders need more than hustle to truly thrive and perform at their best?
We often ask clients ‘do you feel like you are currently thriving, surviving or suffering? And why?’ We know, it is a tough question to answer. Trust us when we say that it is not an easy question to ask either 😅. Many of our clients at the moment answer ‘survive’.
Let’s get one thing straight:
Survival mode isn’t a weakness, it’s a very human response to pressure, stress, urgency and anxiety.
Yet, when it becomes your team’s default operating system, you are not just sacrificing wellbeing, you are sacrificing performance as clarity, creativity and courage disappear.
Here are 5 key things that really happen when survival mode takes over:
1. Focus narrows and we lose perspective
In survival mode, everything feels urgent. Everything is now and needs attention/reaction.
Instead of thinking long-term or scanning for opportunities, we default to the nearest fire or what we believe to be a fire.
We become reactive instead of strategic.
Creativity shrinks because there is no space for ‘what if’ when you’re stuck in ‘what now?’
We miss nuance, context and potential opportunities because we are head-down
2. Communication suffers -> we default to assumptions
Stress influences how we hear, speak and connect.
In a survival state, we stop listening to understand and start listening to protect. Ourselves, our interests and more.
We assume tone, jump to conclusions or miss important conversations altogether.
Defensive, aggressive or too directive communication becomes the norm.
Trust erodes quietly without any big drama, just a slow slide into disconnection.
BTW, this happens more often than you think.
3. Energy diminishes and we burn out faster
The longer we live in survival mode, the more we forget how to rest or why it even matters.
We push through illness, skip the basics (food, sleep, movement).
We lose our sense of joy and start confusing exhaustion for productivity.
Even purpose-driven teams feel flat and disconnected.
Burnout isn’t always loud. Sometimes it’s just the moment when laughter and niceties disappear from the group chat and is replaced by silence or just a sole focus on business.
4. Accountability drops and fear overrides ownership
Survival mode often breeds a culture of playing it safe. Too safe.
People stop asking, ‘What is best to do for xyz?’ and start asking, ‘What will keep me out of trouble?’
Blame creeps in. Ownership dries up.
The team starts passing the challenges around like a hot potato.
Leadership becomes about optics, not outcomes. Morale is down and business results suffer.
5. Identity shrinks as we completely forget our strengths
This is one of the saddest outcomes I see in high-performing yet high-pressure spaces.
Imposter syndrome is everywhere, especially when things are uncertain.
Leaders who once felt confident start questioning if they are even good enough.
We forget that we have done hard things before and that we survived them.
The brilliance is still there. Yet, it gets buried under fear, fatigue and a loss of focus.
A reframe is needed -> survival mode is human yet we cannot stay there too long. It is not sustainable and hurts us, our performance and the business.
The focus needs to therefore be on resetting and developing sustainable high-impact leadership, which does not come from pushing harder.
It comes from:
✔️ Intentional recovery
✔️ Relational trust
✔️ Mindset shifts that reconnect us to our strengths
Not just more doing. Not just more grit.
More wisdom. More space. More connection. More intentionality.
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If you are seeing these patterns in your team, you are not alone and it’s not too late!
Let’s create a reset. One that’s grounded in performance and people.
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