We rounded the point with an idea of what we might find, but were shocked with what we actually did find.  This was not what we were expecting.  It was far worse…

Everything had gone just as we hoped up to this point.  It had been fabulous.  We were having a phenomenal time.  Now, on the last leg of our adventure, it was about to get more… adventurous.

Our adventure began years before with a desire to cruise the gorgeous waters of the Salish Sea on the west coast of British Columbia.  This cruising wonderland is dotted with myriad temperate rainforest-covered islands, awe inspiring fiords rimmed by the majestic Coastal Mountain range, and waters teeming with all sorts of aquatic wildlife.

My buddy and I had taken the appropriate piloting courses and were now equipped to begin living the dream of cruising these waters.  Thoroughly bitten by the bug we leased a 40’ twin diesel cruiser and booked our excursions throughout 2016.  Our initial voyage was without our wives to scope out the 4 day journey we were now on with our wives.

You see, our wives were not as sold on boating as we were.  We needed to win them over.  This was our maiden voyage with our wives to introduce them to the pleasures of “yachting”.  We chose protected waters, over nights in protected marinas, and dinners out at our various ports of call.  And everything was going swimmingly so far: great weather, great seas, great food, great beverage, great company – a great trip all round.

A great trip that is, until we rounded the point to finish our last leg heading for Vancouver’s Cole Harbour.

Two foot seas turned into 3 foot, then 4 foot, then 5 foot.  An ebb tide running headlong into 20 knot westerly winds created, what we were later to learn were known as, “white elephants” – large, sharp, cresting waves with foaming white water at the top blowing in the high winds.

We were outside our comfort zones, and our wives were in their terror zone.  They were literally, not figuratively, terrified.  It certainly did not help when a particularly large wave blowing in from our starboard stern lifted up the stern of the boat and pushed us sideways down the face of the wave causing the boat to tilt over to what felt like a capsizing angle.

We were in the middle of a storm that we had to ride out into safe harbour – there were no short-cuts.  My buddy and I needed to remember our training, work together and do what we needed to do to get through this very unpleasant situation.  And, we had to convey confidence to our wives in the midst of this reality.

Needless to say, we all survived and made it into harbour.

A day later, over 24 hrs on dry land, my wife was finally able to talk about the ordeal.  She said something very poignant,

“In the midst of my terror what gave me some degree of comfort was you and Brad working together confidently to get us through this mess.  If you had been in conflict I would not have been able to handle the situation.”

Our wives needed a confident captain working together within the leadership team to get us all through the storm.

In business oftentimes storms are thrust upon us.  Sometimes they’re anticipated, perhaps even predicted.  Other times we are caught by surprise.  No matter the nature of the storm your business is facing, what your people need is a Confident Captain working collaboratively with leadership to steer the business through rough water.  Your people can weather the storm if they see a Confident Captain in collaboration, not conflict, with the leadership team.

You may be terrified, but you can’t show that to your people.  Yes, you need your trusted allies with whom you can share your fears.  However, your people need you to be authentic about the storm you are facing, but confident about the course of action you will be taking to get through the storm into safe waters.

Your people need a Confident Captain to give them the courage to work through the storm.