What to do when you take a fall
15/10/2014

The landing stage was slick with dew and goose poo … I slipped, turned my ankle and fell whilst carrying a boat.  My rowing partner was at the top of the ramp carrying the other end and so I had most of the weight of the boat on my shoulder. It all happened in slow motion and I managed to prevent the boat from hitting the landing stage …. it just bounced down my body as I fell to the ground and it landed on my feet.

I could do nothing but squirm in agony.  Luckily the GB Start coach came and lifted the boat off me and put it away with Lyn. (Not a word of condolence, no “are you hurt?” he just removed the boat in silence … eek!)

Obviously I felt a fool, eventually limping up the ramp, apologising profusely, trying to make sense of the event and deferring the blame … “the ramp was slippery”, “maybe these are the wrong shoes”.  Why do we do that?  Accidents happen … we are in pain, manage to save the most important thing and put our needs to the rear. So what’s the lesson?

Sometimes in business things go wrong.  We are carrying the burden and take a fall.  It might be our fault, it may be the environment, maybe inappropriate tools … Whatever the event, sometimes people get hurt or at the very least inconvenienced.

My learning?

• Apologise to those affected
• Take whatever qualified help shows up
• Listen and qualify the opinions of others, they may be feeling emotional too …
• Try and save the most important thing ie the business relationship
• Take care of yourself, by which I mean, don’t collapse into self-recrimination or self-pity
• Decide what you might do differently next time … and DO IT!

(New trainers for me then!)