For the most part, sailing is a team effort. It requires great leadership, communication, resilience, and problem-solving. It involves strategic thinking and the ability to translate that strategy into tactical and practical results.
The communication between the helm (aka skipper, captain, leader) and crew (team) can make all the difference in terms of results, experience, and success.
Great helms display confidence and courage and communicate clearly, always. If you’re doing a great job, they recognise it. If you’re not, they call it out. They are consistent. They support you. They have your back. They look you in the eyes and trust that you are doing your best.
Sometimes the race can be long and hard, the weather challenging, and things go wrong.
How do people feel about being with you – do you energise and motivate them, or do you exhaust and deplete them?
Sometimes there’s not enough time for a good conversation during the race. But knowing how to have a better conversation afterwards is vital for nurturing leadership, learning and change.
Here are Celeste Headlee’s top tips:
https://www.ted.com/talks/celeste_headlee_10_ways_to_have_a_better_conversation
“Being aware of the energy you add or take from interactions is a sophisticated technique that radically changes the outcomes of the conversations that fill your day. Add the good stuff, absorb the bad stuff and focus on the outcomes, not the bravado.” – Seth Godin
