Business lessons from our beloved cat Tig's emergency surgery: Oliver Colling

It turns out that he had suffered serious trauma, including a dislocated hip, a broken tail and internal bleeding, probably due to being hit by a car, which is unfortunate, given we live in a very quiet rural village in Ryedale.

After lots of drugs and loving care by a range of veterinary professionals, including the 24 hour emergency service at Minster Vets in York and our own vets at Battleflats in Stamford Bridge, Tig’s condition stabilised.

He then had two operations, the most complex of which was expertly performed by the wonderful Stuart Cooke and his team at Vita Referrals in Wetherby, and underwent a period of recuperation including time in a cage to prevent him jumping up. I’m pleased to say that Tig is now back to his old self and as lively and handsome as ever.

What has this got to do with business? Well, it gives me an opportunity to highlight some of the fantastic veterinary skills we have to call upon in Yorkshire but there are also some valuable lessons here we can apply to business turnaround.

• Had we not acted immediately and taken Tig to the emergency vet as soon as we knew there was a problem, he would almost certainly have not survived.
• Rather than wait and see and try and fix the situation ourselves, we sought expert advice to appraise the situation and followed that advice
• We took the decision that we needed to pay for that high value advice and that ensured our boy’s survival.

You could take all of those lessons and apply them to a business showing signs of distress and that’s what we do at turnaround consultancy Kingsgate on a daily basis.

All businesses with employees have felt the hard edge of employment tax rises during 2025 and those in sectors which rely on part time workers, such as hospitality, retail and social care have been particularly hard hit by the lowering of NI thresholds and many have taken difficult decisions to reduce headcount or defer expansion plans.

But it’s not all bad news; many business owners have taken the opportunity to have a long, hard look at how they work and identify opportunities for efficiency in an attempt to create future growth.

We have seen businesses investing in securing their future and those who take a positive approach should find themselves in better shape than some who choose to hope that “something will turn up.”

Our small and medium sized businesses in Yorkshire are nothing if not resourceful but sometimes it does feel like they are at the mercy of policy decisions which take their ingenuity and hard work for granted.

The biggest positive for me is knowing that business in Yorkshire will always find a way to move forward, despite what obstacles are put in its way and for that we should be truly thankful.

If you are seeing signs of trouble in your business, then remember Tig’s story.

Oliver Colling is Managing Director of Kingsgate, a specialist turnaround and transformation consultancy.