Sh*t or Bust Time?

A relative closed her business down for good this week. It was a successful little shop, making the most exquisite cakes, which she ran, single-handed, six days a week. When Coronavirus came on the scene, she was one of those businesses that had to shut. At that stage, there was no clear light at the end of the tunnel, but in her case, due to some underlying health issues, she knew she would be one of those ‘twelve weekers’ - the ones who would have to shut themselves away to absolutely maximise their safety, to avoid catching the virus.

At the same time, the Treasury Minister for the Isle of Man was on his feet at one of the daily Covid press conferences. Here’s part of what he had to say;

“Businesses should also be carefully considering how they might operate in the future. There is much discussion taking place of what the future might look like - now is the time for you to consider how you might change or alter your business for the better.”

Twelve weeks is a long time at the moment. It is compounded by that lack of light. People keep talking about the ‘New Normal’, but the truth is, it is very difficult to plan anything when we don’t know what the future looks like. Some businesses I work with have done OK during lockdown, subtly changing the way they operate to enable some sort of continuity. One of them has actually adjusted so that it minimises the amount of business they can do - flattening their curve, in effect. If the New Normal turns out to be somewhere between the old world and where we are now, all it will need is some slight adjustment to the tiller to bring them onto the new course, and enable them to open up the taps again.

My relative ran the numbers and risks, and decided that her best option was to close down. Lots of others are following that path, perhaps in some cases confronted with the risks to their own mortality. But for others, it really isn’t an option. They are stood watching years of work unravel, and rainy day money wash away at an alarming rate. These are good, hard-working people, who are used to adapting and overcoming adversity, but right now, are as flummoxed as everyone else as to what the future holds. its a bit unfair of the Treasury Minister to be asking people to start planning for better business when government is providing little clarity on the future world that business may serve.

One option of course, is the ‘sh*t or bust’ approach. Do you just take every risk, and every chance to try and punch your way out of this mess? As Del Trotter reminded us in almost every episode of Only Fools and Horses, “Who dares, wins, Rodney!” - his unique take on the motto of the Special Air Service. But there is often one thing that stops us doing this; Fear.

I’m reading a lot at the moment, and my current book is ‘Staring Down The Wolf’, by a former Navy Seal, Mark Divine. He offers seven leadership commitments that forge elite teams. A big component of his assertions is the ability to ‘Stare down your Fear Wolf’.

If only it was that easy.

I’ve experienced extreme fear, in the face of violence. I’ve also experienced that low burn, nagging fear when running a high risk operation, and that gnawing fear you get when things aren’t going so well career-wise. But I’ve never experienced that all-consuming fear that you might lose everything you have, and others that depend on you might do the same, all as a consequence of something you had little or no control over. In fairness to Divine, he talks openly about his first venture in business, and the fears he had to overcome during its shambolic gestation. But he came out of it perhaps not as rich as he might have been, but OK as far as I can make out. Staring death in the face as a combat operative is one thing, but I’m getting less enamoured by the arguments that the principles are just the same as staring at ‘own world’ collapse. In the current context, fear has to be one of our greatest asset!. It is preventing us from taking steps that may be counter-productive in the long term.

But might it be right to ride ‘once more into the breach’, to risk it all on one last throw of the dice, predicated on the fact it is all likely to go down the tubes anyway? Its not an approach I’d advocate. I managed threat and risk for a large part of my policing career, but decisions taken were rarely based on a 50/50 option. I think there is another way to look at all this. Take the travails of business out of the equation for one moment, and consider this question;

“What do you want your ‘new normal’ to look like?

A few weeks ago, I wrote about ‘The New Ordinary’ https://www.kbotraining.com/blog/the-new-ordinary , how I was finding time to reset, and find a new appreciation for simpler things. I am still no clearer on what the New Normal will look like, but its been a start. It has also been something of a ‘beginning of the end’ of the three years since I prematurely left public service and found myself trying to make my way in a world I’d not experienced before. The crisis really has helped my focus on what I want my life to look like, and that has included readjustment of some of my personal aspirations and ambitions. I’m a lot more content as a result.

There were some really hard questions to ask myself about what I wanted out of life. This involved letting some stuff go. Its easier to watch something flow down the stream and out to sea, than to stand at the bottom of yet another mountain you have to climb. That little bit of a life laundry has made a difference.

I’ve signed up to provide some coaching support to businesses and more importantly, individuals through these times. There has never been another opportunity like this. Running the question as to what you want your future to look like is daunting, but it gives you back control.

Derek Flint Cert.Ed., MCIPR

https://www.iomchamber.org.im/covid-19-support/business-support-service/