I have a friend who is an outdoor guide. He leads backpacking trips, fishing excursions and climbing weekends for beginners and casual outdoor enthusiasts.  In the summertime, he guides whitewater rafting trips in Nantahala National Forest near Bryson City, NC.  Now, I love all things outdoors, including whitewater rafting, and I have been on a good many trips and have guided a couple myself.  In speaking with him about the unpredictability of water conditions, the folks in the boat, and the boat itself, I realized that business owners can learn a lot about business from this bearded, inked and sunburned whitewater guide and the ways he keeps his crew going through some pretty extreme conditions.

One observation I have made this summer, while we are all in the locked-down pandemic state, is that we small business owners are facing some pretty rough water ahead.  We have spent time learning and understanding our customers, our employees, and our products, reading every dip and dive in the stream, to the point that, under normal conditions, we could navigate mostly without looking and still feel confident about what our results would look like.  However, during a global pandemic, things are hardly normal. This may be a familiar stretch of river, but the conditions are absolutely unprecedented.  My friend mentioned, about a recent trip after a hard rain, that “the river was the same one he was on 3 times a week, but it behaved like a whole new animal.” Reliance on past experience was not going to get him through the upcoming challenges the way they had in the past.

You see, being a guide is all about adaptation.  Water is not concrete; it changes by the very second, and the guide has to know how to read these changes very quickly and adapt to the new direction.  When you “guide” a whitewater trip, you basically need to 1) know very well the stretch of water that you are currently running so you know where the dangers lie and 2) know how to “read” the upcoming water well enough that you can tell your rafting crew what they should be doing.  Statements like “All Paddle straight ahead!” or “Left side backpaddle!” or “Right side, dig, dig , dig!” let the rafters know how hard they should paddle, whether they should push right through a rapid, or if they should stop paddling on one side while the other side corrects the boat.  Even in familiar stretches, if the water is high or low, the dangers are completely different.

That’s what we are dealing with right now in our current COVID world.  And here is what we can learn from a whitewater guide in order to make it safely to the riverbank.

Learn from those ahead of you:

Look at others in your industry, especially direct competitors, and see what they are doing to adapt to the current conditions. In rafting, we can watch the boats that just went over the falls to see where they hit it, whether they laid back or went full steam ahead, or got out and carried the raft over the danger area.

You may see competitors choosing to shut their doors temporarily, or you may find some beautiful examples of adaptation that work well and may even turn into whole new lines on fussiness when things return to “normal.” One example of this is the way some local restaurants had taken the challenge of being forced to close for dine-in business, and have instead begun creating a whole new family menu so they can reach families that want take-out.  This has proven very successful and some businesses are even reaching customers they wouldn’t ordinarily be able to serve, because of price-point, or physical location. Many business will keep the new family meals even after the pandemic eases and we all get back to the way things were.

Look for ways your industry is adapting, and don’t be afraid to find your own way to do things differently.

Watch the Horizon and read what’s under the surface:

Successful guides know that where there is a ripple or an eddy, there are rocks under the surface. They know to steer clear of these underwater obstacles or how to navigate through them in uncertain conditions.  Your sales numbers might be slipping, and you should look carefully to see where the losses are coming from, and how quickly they have come about.  Being able to anticipate decreased demand for one product line should give you the opportunity to invest in better selling or more in-demand products to server the consumers that are spending money.

Also, realize that you have to start correcting course on the boat long before you reach the rapids. If you wait too long to get everyone paddling, you will end up sideways under a waterfall, and your raft will be swamped.  Don’t wait until it’s too late to adjust to dips in revenue or inability to build  inventory, because waiting could be devastating when you end up with nothing to produce or nothing to sell. Ask suppliers about their ability to meet demand during the pandemic. Make sure your employees have the tools they need to work from home. Assess whether you need to add a product that is in high demand. One of our clients starting selling the machines that make face coverings, and their business has exploded because of their predictive guidance and adaptation.

Continually Talk to Your Crew:

Even though you feel confident, your team might be scared.  It is critical when on a raft that everyone know every moment what they should be doing. At no point should a crew member need to turn around and ask, “What do you want me to do right now?”  The guide’s job is to see ahead, and make sure everyone in the raft knows what to expect and what they should be doing to make sure the boat hits the trouble spot at exactly the right time and place.   

During lockdowns and uncomfortable financial times, your employees may be very concerned about working from home, possible layoffs, or the future of their job. As a business owner, you need to make sure your people know that you have a plan, what the plan is, and what they are expected to contribute to it. This will help the crew build confidence in the guide, so they won’t hesitate to follow direction when they need to.

Trust Your Instincts:

The truth is that sometimes you won’t know exactly what to do. In raging whitewater, what worked last time may be the worst thing you can do today. And sometimes you won’t have any way to know how to lead your team.  But the reason guides become guides is that they love the water, and they have fine instincts for choosing the right path.  They aren’t afraid to get wet or sometimes bruised, and they care deeply about protecting their crew.   That’s probably why you started your business as well.  If reading the water and learning from those ahead doesn’t give you any clues, trust your instincts. Go with what feels right and good, and your experience with past high water will guide you through the current channel.

Finish Strong:

One of the most important things I have learned from my whitewater loving friends is that you never stop paddling until your are told to change direction.  Once on the Chauga River, a group of us were shooting a Class 4 rapid with an 8 foot waterfall.  If you hit a waterfall, you have be going faster enough that your raft continues moving forward even after you are over the falls, and when you hit the river again you need to get yourself out from under the falling water as soon as possible or your raft will fill up and eventually be swamped.  Our Paddle Captain was a bit nervous about shooting this falls, as rains had made the river more treacherous than normal. What he told us was that we should ”paddle as hard and as fast as you can, and don’t stop until we are in slow water. Even when you think we are out of the whitewater, keep paddling until the water around you is calm. Don’t take your paddle out of the water until then.”

This is one of the best pieces of advice a small business owner can follow. Once you make a plan and determine a course of action based on research, looking ahead, and reading the water conditions, stick with it and keep your paddle digging deep until the danger is behind you. Too many business people second-guess a good plan and end up unable to build the momentum they need to safely make it down the pitch.  This pandemic will end, and while your competitors are on their heels, you can be miles ahead if you do your homework and paddle hard for the horizon.

While navigating the whitewater is something we choose to do, it is also hard work and scary at times! But persevering and facing the tough challenges, whether in a river or in a pandemic, only make us stronger and give us more confidence to push our paddle crew through the next challenge when it comes. There’s always another rapid, but luckily, there’s always another way to safely conquer it.

Need help from a pro? Contact Available Technology at https://available-tech.net or 864-232-1234 to ask us about an IT assessment of your small business or just to talk business with me.

Mike Lane, Available Technology Inc
http://dmichaellane.com

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