More Than words…

On a recent holiday in Egypt I decided to do some scuba diving in the Red Sea as it is famous for being some of the best diving in the world. I originally became certified as a Scuba Diver in 1996 on a trip to Australia however I had not done a lot of dives in the intervening years: maybe 15 dives or so.

The result was that I was a little ‘rusty’ (excuse the pun) on my diving basics including, signs, techniques and safety procedures,  so I decided to take a refresher course on the basics. Whilst Egypt was very hot (around 28-29 degrees C) I had to do some drills in the unheated swimming pool of the dive school.

When I jumped in the pool it felt colder than Loch Fyne and I shivered my way through some basic skills for the PADI diving course. As I had still done a few dives over the time (the last one being just over 2 years ago and up till now I  had not had any serious problems) I was reasonably confident that I knew the basic skills as a recreational diver.

My complacency was a little premature it seems. Very quickly (after the initial shock of the cold water) I learned that I had forgotten more than I remembered As my instructor put me through the paces and some basic signs and skills I realised how out of touch I was in the basics. Yeah sure my previous dives all went fairly smoothly and with no problems, however, in life’s true fashion, I realised that I was vulnerable in my situation and I had to re-evaulate the risks and prepare for circumstances. The ‘dive’ in itself is fairly straightforward and with a little practice I would have been up to scratch but what would have happened if I had any issues without doing the refresher course?

I would almost definitely been in trouble and not been in control of my situation as I had forgotten some safety  and procedural basics. It was good that my instructor put me through some drills to remind me of procedures that I was aware of my weaknesses.

Why is this relevant to business practices?

It is easy to get in to routines and plain sailing by getting used to doing things in plain sailing ( oh no , not another pun) and forget that sometimes you need to go back to the first principles and basics to remind yourself what you need to do in an unusual or emergency situation.

Tasking a look at the basic of anything you do does help yo give a bit of perspective and I believe that doing that in business is also a useful exercise. Whilst all seems plain sailing what happens if you encounter some tricky situations? Are you ready to deal with it?

<blockquote>What if your Sales Manager leaves? What would that do your business?
What would happen if you lost all your computer data? Do you have backups? Are you sure you can reinstate your data form the backups (have you ever tried?)

If you are sick what happened to your tasks? Can someone else cope? Do they know where your information is kept
Do they know our procedures, diary, logins contacts, To Do lists?</blockquote>

I know I sound like an Insurance Salesman but it is better to plan and learn how to deal with an emergency before it happens than wait till your scuba tank is out of air.