The ‘Sailor’ Must Know How To ‘Swim’

■ were two sailors who had no experience of swimming in the deep ocean and that too in a very stormy one and due to this they couldn’t stay afloat.

It was later found out that these men had not revealed to the ship captain that they did not know how to swim.

Had they known how to swim they would have surely survived albeit with some injuries.

Crisis management

Dear Reggie and the other new joiners seated in this room, you all may be thinking about why am I sharing all this about the ocean and about swimming and sailing.

There is a reason for this dear colleague.

Please never forget that just as a sailor needs to learn how to swim even though he is going to be on that boat or ship. Similarly, you too must understand that despite your roles and responsibilities in the respective functions and departments in which you are working, it is extremely important to learn the art and attitude of what is known as ‘crisis management’.

Always remember, that just like every ocean could get turbulent and could possibly throw the sailors off the ship or the boat, similarly, in every business there will be the possibility of a different kind of turbulence occurring. This will be in the form of unexpected and sudden changes in business environments.

For example, the turbulence could be through your sales getting hit badly due to uncontrollable factors. It is in such situations that the same question needs to be asked and that question is. Do you know how to swim through this turbulent ocean of failure and get back on the ship and eventually help the ship and its other sailors to reach its final destination?

Strength

As an executive and especially as a leader you must therefore develop the skills of ‘crisis management’ which in a sense means the strength, vigor and wisdom to be able to plan, organise, ideate or innovate, delegate, co-ordinate, communicate and create strategies and solutions almost spontaneously, This could therefore help you and the others to somehow stay ‘afloat’ in the ‘turbulent ocean’. In other words, as is

Positive attitude

When the waves are whimsical and viciously high, in such times, there are a few but very significant aspects you must focus upon and these are positive attitude;

■wi●●-power;

■me■ta● balance;

■kee■■ess to find solutions;

■motivati■g yourself and more importantly your team;

■abi●ity to withstand the storm and finally,

Neutral times

Remember, our entire life is always going to be filled with great times, normal times or neutral times as well as the ‘not-so great’ times.

It is in the not-so great times that we must be most well-prepared and ready. You are a sailor on the ‘corporate ship’ and you are, for sure, keen to reach your destination of ‘success’. As you are sailing through the ocean of professional life it is important that you develop and strengthen all the skills of swimming in case you are thrown off the ship and into the turbulent ocean.

Like that boxer, you must able to stand up even after the knockdown, and eventually win the fight” along with Reggie.

All the other new joiners in that room had learnt a very important lesson about managing self, towards successfully managing a crisis, and in a way, about becoming the sailor who knows how to swim, if and when needed!

I hope we too can learn something from this and thereby help ourselves especially when faced with a tough scenario or a challenging crisis!