The Trust Factor

Trust is an important attribute in teamwork. Here's how this works on a sailboat and with a sailing team.

1. Trust the Foundation. The sailboat is the foundation, the core on which we rely in sailing. Trusting the boat includes trusting the designers who designed it, the manufacturers who made it, and the sailor who rigged it. The standing rigging, what holds up the mast, is rigged at the beginning of the season, after launch, when the mast is raised. Tensioning and all kinds of fiddle-f*ing is done to ensure the safety of the boat. Trusting the rigger isn't often considered, although when I hear of a de-masting during a race, as I did last week, I appreciate the capabilities of the person who rigged my boat! I don't question the safety of the boat; I rely on it completely. In heavy wind, squalls, and all kinds of seemingly disastrous situations I have found myself in on a sailboat, that the boat will survive and can be trusted.



2. Trust the Leader. The skipper is the leader of a sailing team, the one who takes responsibility for the boat and the crew. It's important to have one person designated for the final calls in tough situations, and that person must have the respect of the crew. The crew looks to the leader to make the tough calls. The leader earns trust through her actions, capabilities and track record.



3. Trust the Team. Whether with rookie or seasoned crew, the team together make the boat move. In my experience, I depend on team members to sail the boat, while I drive. I avoid singlehanded sailing since I know my limitations, and it's much more fun to participate in a team! With rookie crew, I trust my capabilities as a sailor and communicator to be able to coach and teach people to do what it takes to sail the boat. Whether it is hauling halyards, trimming the sheets, grinding winches, or recovering from some messy situation, I depend on my crew to do whatever it takes.

There are multiple layers of trust involved in teamwork. It goes beyond trusting each individual team member: it includes trusting the leader, and the foundation on which the team is built. I've been in some hazardous situations throughout my sailing career, and have survived them all due to the power in teamwork.

Dealing with Pressure

Finally the America's Cup is making the news! An incredible action shot of Alinghi made the front page of the Sports section in the Ottawa Citizen this week. In the article, the Alinghi principal stated the "team stayed together" and it "showed it could deal with pressure".

Sailing and business create situations where team members are forced to deal with pressure. How you deal with pressure can make or break a team.

I'm humbly aware of how I could have better dealt with some stressful situations on the water in the past week. In one situation, I was trying out a potential new crewmate, with just the 2 of us on the boat, in heavy air. The engine died as we were getting out of the harbour! This kind of thing has happened to me before, and I'm confident getting in and out of the harbour under sail instead of power, if need be. However, this was a new boat to us, we didn't know each other or our capabilities, and the wind was blowing like stink!

At first I was calm, cool and collected, and asked her to raise the mainsail, while I tried to keep us on course. While she was raising the sail, the boat was drifting beyond the safe water marks in the harbour. Finally I could feel the boat start to gain way-on as the sail filled with air. Then I looked up and realized she didn't raise the sail correctly! Only the slide was in the slot at the top of the mast, and the boltrope wasn't fed through the slot! I yelled "Get it down! Get it down!", reacting under pressure. Then I explained the problem, and she carefully raised the sail with the whole luff in the slot. It isn't my nature to yell and scream, although sometimes while sailing, that's what comes out!

Fortunately our tiny team of two was able to safely navigate the harbour mouth, cruise for awhile, and sail back to harbour safely. We docked at the first dock temporarily and yelled at a powerboat nearby to ask for a tow. Yelling in this situation was necessary so they could hear us! Different communication styles apply for different situations.

I'm aware that my communication style during racing this week wasn't all that effective. When things weren't running as smoothly or as fast as I wanted, I fed information to my crew, like "we're half a boat length from the mark", when we should have had a lot more put away so I could round the mark by that time. The way that I said it, impatient and judging, couldn't have helped the team. It isn't what you say that conveys the message sometimes; it's how you say it. I'm sure that the message I sent was more one of "you're not good enough or fast enough". This doesn't help build effective teams! Gulp.

Awareness is the precursor to choice. Next week, I'll be more aware of how I'm reacting to pressure, and use a communication style that's more effective.

The Bullet!

We got the bullet! My newly formed chick’s racing team won the race! This is an enormous improvement from being DFL and 11th place in the first race, and 9th place in the second race. We got the bullet in our third race!

OK, for you non-sailors, the bullet has a lot of significance in racing. “The bullet” is when the gun is fired from the Race Committee (RC) boat. The gun is fired at significant times during racing:

• when the RC boat leaves the harbour (which scared the bejeebers out of me on Monday, because they were right us when they fired the gun!)
• during the start sequence, to count down the time to the start of the race (5-4-1-Go!)
• when there are any course changes during the race
• when the first boat crosses the finish line!
  

The time I most like to hear the bullet is when my boat crosses the finish line first! OK, OK -- enough gloating. Why did we win the race this week? Here are our keys to success:

1. Start ahead and stay ahead. Especially in light wind conditions, it’s important to be at the start line on time. One of our strengths is our starts, and we had it going on! Three of us had our countdown timers on our watches set, and we communicated frequently about what we were doing, when. We had an excellent start, along with only 1 other boat! The rest of the fleet started with a handicap. They had to make up time right from the beginning.

2. Play well together. It takes some time for each team member to learn their role and how to interact with others. On a sailboat, interacting with others includes knowing where to be physically, communicating quickly, letting others know what you need and what you’ve done, all the while keeping it competitive and light at the same time.

3. Keep everything running smoothly. Keeping everything running smoothly is a constant challenge on a sailboat. We headed out of the harbour 45 minutes before the start of the race and took the time to practice both upwind and downwind. A few things went wonky on the downwind trial that we sorted out before the race. If they had happened during the race, we would have lost our place for sure. Preparing in advance and checking all the lines throughout the race is critical.

What does it all boil down to? Teamwork. Working well together.

Coaching Challenge: How does this translate to your business teams?