How can your business survive when the worst happens?

This month’s blog is going to be something a little bit different.

32 years ago, in August 1991 the MTS Oceanos, a Greek cruise ship, sank off the coast of South Africa after she suffered uncontrolled flooding.

The captain and some of the crew abandoned ship as soon as they realised it was in trouble, leaving the entertainment staff to make a mayday transmission for help in rescuing the passengers. The call was made late in the evening of the 3rd August.

At the time I was a helicopter pilot in the South African air force. We received the call to assist in the early hours of the 4th August and arrived on site within three hours. There were sixteen helicopters in attendance and we were operating in incredibly difficult weather conditions. We winched the remaining crew and passengers to safety, assisted by the lifeboats of a cargo ship which was in the area.

As a team we rescued all 571 people on board – no life was lost in the sinking of the Oceanos – the bow sank under the water approximately 45 minutes after the last person was winched to safety.

You can see a video of the sinking, filmed by ABC News (from my helicopter) HERE

So, why am I telling you this, I’m a business coach now and on first impression this story appears to have no relationship to my current role.

The fact is, that rescue was one of the most successful maritime rescues in history. Saving nearly 600 people from a ship in distress in adverse weather conditions is no easy feat, so how did we achieve it.

Preparation was the key!

Did we know that we would be called to rescue people from a stricken cruise ship that morning? No we didn’t! I was happily dozing away in my bed dreaming of a cooked breakfast before the call came, but we were always ready.

We had plans in place to react quickly in emergency situations. We drilled every day, practicing our responses. We worked together as a team, so we knew how each other reacted. We had plans in place, detailed plans, which we all knew inside out, so that when the worst happened we were able to respond quickly, efficiently, effectively and save lives.

When Covid hit I heard many business owners say that they never saw it coming. I heard the same in 2008 during the banking crisis and property market crash. The fact is that we never really know what is coming, but one thing that is certain about change is that it IS COMING.

As business owners we must be prepared. We must have thought about what might happen. We need to have contingency in place if problems do occur. Now it is unlikely to be your business sinking in a storm (although you never know charter yacht owners), but it could be a key member of staff becoming ill, a big client leaving, a cyber-attack or even something happening to you – the owner.

How long could your business survive without you? Do you have contingency plans in place for your business to ensure its survival whatever the future holds.

If you don’t, but you’d like to have, why not book a call with me today to talk about how we can get started on the path to long-term business survival – whatever happens.