Complementary Strengths vs. Interchangeable Roles

I really believe in focusing on strengths, rather than trying to shore up one's weaknesses. Often in teams, it may seem prudent to have someone trained to serve as a backup for another in case of absence; to have team members able to interchange roles. However, when it comes to sailing, and high performance teams, I question this practice.

If I were to change roles with the foredeck crew from being the skipper, it would be a freaking disaster! In fact, we tried this once on a light-wind, up-river, long distance race, just for fun. I gained a new appreciation for the work involved on the foredeck! This awareness, along with the fact that I realized that we contributed best in our chosen roles where we had practiced and honed our skills, was the real benefit of interchanging our roles.

I've heard many stories about how one crew member absent from the regular team causes havoc on the race course. When the skipper decides to mix it up and interchange roles, performance really takes a hit. In fact, I recently heard a story in the One Design racing where a C&C27 team learned this lesson the hard way. They won the first race of the season this year, with the crew in their usual roles; then last week the helmsman was absent, they mixed up the roles, and mixed up their performance as a result. It must have been bad, because they wouldn't even admit how they placed in the results!

I really feel that high performance teams gel when they have team members with complementary strengths, and they focus on their strengths, instead of putting effort towards backup or fallback plans in case of absence. It would be better to put effort on getting committed crew! Do you think America's Cup teams have crew members who interchange roles?! crew who aren't completely, utterly, totally, unquestionably committed to the team?! I don't think so!

WDYT? Do you agree? Or disagree? Share your opinion!

Complementary Strengths

Reflecting on the power in my winning team, I see how we built a team with complementary strengths.

Pete was the co-owner of the T22 Makai, full of energy, passion and a typical “Type A” personality. He had a “big boy’s playpen” at his office, and had the boat indoors in the warehouse space along with other big boy’s toys like sports cars and motorcycles. In the off-season, he spent hours working on the boat, rigging, working on the keel, fine tuning, using his talents to do everything possible to make the boat go fast. On the boat, he had the strength and agility to work foredeck, gybing the spinnaker pole. Peter did whatever it took to get results. He would even climb the mast if we lost a spinnaker halyard!

Scott was the tactician, and worked the middle of the boat. He trimmed the mainsail, genoa and flew the chute. His energy, passion and enthusiasm matched Pete’s. Scott is a creative visionary type, and well suited to the tactician role. He would always have his head in the game, looking out of the boat, surveying all the elements and giving input into our strategic and tactical decisions. He knew the rules, and used his knowledge to give us an edge on the race course. He loved to call people on the rules, yelling and barking at our competition.

I was the helmsperson, the driver. I focused on getting great starts, flying the telltales, keeping the boat on course and making quick decisions based on input from my crew. Some sailors find it unusual to have a woman skipper, although it made perfect sense for us! I had developed repetitive strain injury and chose to focus on driving as something I could do well. Scott took the job of trimming the mainsail upwind, usually the job of the helmsperson on a T22, and this freed me up to focus on keeping us on course. My strengths were focusing; getting results; keeping calm, cool, and collected; and collaborating.

Together, we made a great team. We raced together in all kinds of conditions, from light wind, through heavy storms. We got to know each other so well that we often knew what each other was thinking. We knew the roles that we had carved out for ourselves, and how we interacted best together. We were individually so committed that we wouldn’t intentionally drop our role, although when some condition came into play where we weren’t able to carry our part, someone else would step in to help out. Over the course of many races together, we really gelled.

Coaching Challenge: How will you capitalize on the strengths of your teammates?

Share your success stories! E-mail mailto:Sylvia@SylviaGoodeve.com

A Winning Team

We practiced. We knew our roles. We knew the rules. We were a team. We were ready to take it on the road, and enter our first out of town regatta.

The first racing season, we were pretty consistently “DFL” – Dead F***ing Last. Building our team was challenging: finding someone who had experience or willingness to learn, who was committed to racing, who “fit”. After a number of trials and misfits, we finally found the crew who fit: a passionate, energetic sailor, with incredible tactical ability, and knowledge of the rules!

The second racing season, we moved up to place consistently in the top 5 of the Tanzer 22 sailors on the Ottawa River. The next season, we progressed further, and really honed our skills and teamwork. We placed in the top 3 and started to make a name for ourselves. People started viewing Makai as a boat to beat, instead of “that new boat in the fleet with the woman skipper”.



Then we wanted to see how well we could do against other boats, in another body of water, with the team we built together. We bought a trailer, hauled out, and hit the road for the Tanzer 22 National Championship regatta.

The starting gun was at 10:00 a.m. It was light wind. Our competing sailors were light and jovial, expecting the race was blown off due to the light wind conditions. Still, we kept our heads in the game. Quietly, persistently, we altered course as we dealt with the changing conditions. We caught a slight breath of wind while others behind us were blowing off the race, anticipating the 3 gun signal that would cancel the race.

Instead, we got 2 guns – signalling a shortening of the race course. We needed wind to carry us another half leg of the course, and we could finish the race! Most of the fleet were so far behind that they didn’t have a hope of finishing.

We finished the first race in the top 3! Our competitors brushed it off as “beginners luck”. We knew our teamwork and tenacity paid off. The win built our confidence and inspired us to continue to perform at our best.

Although the wind conditions continued to be light, it picked up enough to allow for the requisite number of races. We scored 1st place in 3 of the 6 races. We turned out to be the boat to beat! We won the National Championship!

Why did we succeed? We had a shared vision: we were in the regatta to have fun, be challenged, and race our best. We were committed: we stayed in the game, and were tenacious despite the atmosphere around us. We communicated well: while others were joking, we whispered our strategies, made decisions, and carried them through. We knew our strengths: the boat performed best in light wind, and we were competent in our individual roles. We demonstrated the power in teamwork. "Together Everyone Achieves More".



"The strength of the team is in each individual member...the strength of each member is in the team."

Coaching Challenge: What experience have you had with a team producing results that surpassed your expectations?

Share your success stories! E-mail mailto:Sylvia@SylviaGoodeve.com