A Sense of Present

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For me the acid test of an organisation’s culture hits you the moment you walk in through the front door. Often the first interaction can tell you a lot about team morale. The question I would ask is: Where as an organisation are you right now? There is nothing like the sense of present to make you realise where your focus needs to be. Have you got the right team players? How are you viewed in the marketplace and who are the key influencers in your team that can help you make change happen?

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When we were cast adrift at the start of our 4000 mile voyage, I looked around at the crew. Most were in a sense of disbelief about the challenges that lay ahead. Afterall, we were making a TV programme, no one is going to come to any harm! Ant stood up and made a quick speech to settle the nerves - but it was largely symbolic. The crew were looking for a clear direction - Where are we headed? and how are we going to get there? The Island of Tofua lay 25 miles to the North East and we could just make its towering peak through the cloud line. We pulled up the sails and after organising people into roles and watches, we set sail. 

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My biggest challenge onboard was not to be seen to override Ant, but to instead help him to lead. We didn’t know each other well and I was acutely aware this was his gig. My role onboard was simply to keep people safe and to use my experience as a yachtsman to navigate the boat and keep us on course. I think we largely got it right. Ant was a natural leader and at times during the voyage his skills honed in the SBS proved invaluable. In the main, he gave me the bandwidth to get on with sailing the boat. 

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My biggest challenge onboard was not to be seen to override Ant, but to instead help him to lead.

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Influencers and having influence without authority

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It’s difficult to motivate people unless you know what makes them tick. In 2000-2001, I led the winning team in the BT Global Challenge round the world race. I kept very detailed notes on every crew member and devised a scoring mechanism to monitor their progress throughout the race across a wide range of areas from sailing ability to personal attributes. It was my Bible! Every leg of the race, I made changes to the crew watches, as I tried to build my optimum team. 

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One thing I learnt was to identify those crew members that could have influence on others. As a leader you need great followers and to me followship is as important as leadership. One of my crew members was a larger than life character who would really ‘pick people up’ when he was happy and motivated. Conversely, when he was down, he could take half the crew with him. By getting to know him well, I was able to keep him motivated and his natural enthusiasm in turn helped me keep the crew motivated. I referred to him as my ‘Barometer’, he helped me to take the temperature of the crew during difficult moments. He was a key influencer.

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The other thing about influencers, is finding people who are happy to step up and take decisions or to lead without necessarily having the authority. This was a key factor to our success. At the start of the BT Global Challenge, every team in the race had just one professional skipper. I realised that I would need to be woken up for every decision. That wasn’t going to work. Just a few days before the start, I made the most significant decision of the whole race and that was to appoint a co-skipper, who could take decisions whilst I slept. Our shared leadership structure also had many other benefits which I will touch on in another blog.

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Finding people who can lead at critical moments is not a weakness, it’s essential if you are to remain energised to tackle the big challenges ahead.

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Enjoyed this article, have a look at this one next: How to create a Sense of Excitement

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