As a life, business coach and motivational trainer my role is often to help people to gain perspective and to see a way out of what can be perceived a hopeless situation. For my money, if we want to understand how to survive and even thrive in these times we need look no further for inspiration than the incredible teams sailing in the VOLVO OCEAN RACE. They race 70 foot boats in all conditions, 37,000 miles around the world. Their survival abilities in storms serve as a great parallel for the storm we now feel in business and the economy.
On crackling satellite phone call, with bangs, thuds, creaks and screeches of ropes loading and unloading above him, I spoke with Ian Walker skipper of the Irish Chinese entry the Green Dragon. Ian's overriding sense of how businesses and people can survive and succeed is to always think of the 'big picture', which comes as no surprise from a skipper's perspective. He described how when on the leg to Qingdao they had to stop and make a serious repair to the boat and shelter from a particularly violent storm.
Walker describes this as "the defining moment" for them as a team as after the repair they headed out into an even worse storm, but all the time with a steely determination to get the China. As much of the Dragon's sponsorship had come from the region there was extra pressure to arrive and in his own words they would do this "come what may". Getting to China marked a huge achievement on a leg that forced two boats out of the race.
I asked Ian how he deals with fear on board both personally and around him. His first rule (tongue in cheek) was "tell no one you are scared!" and while he jests there is real logic in this approach. Fear is contagious and fearful leadership it is possibly the worst thing for motivation of a crew or business.
He went on to describe the "idle mind" as the breeding place of fear and how when people are scared or frightened it is very important to keep them busy. A lesson I think many businesses can learn from. Ian revealed how coping with fear was also about knowing what you really wanted in life and bringing your thoughts to those things rather than the fear growing in your mind. He shared that he realised this after loosing his 470 sailing partner, John Merricks, in a car crash. As he says "it helps you to know what is important".
The next call I received was from the legendary American sailor Jerry Kirby from the PUMA boat. Straight off I was struck by his positive tone and I got real sense of his drive and passion. The question of how to relate sailing in the race to business was a very simple thing for Jerry. When not sailing he and his business partner run a successful construction business with over 130 employees from Newport, Rode Island. The firm specialises in major renovation and house builds, much of this work coming from the New York financial elite. As you can imagine this business was seriously hit as Wall Street nosedived and the property market got wiped out. When this happened Jerry spoke of his "number 1 rule; keep it positive".
While this may sound clichéd, Kirby is living and breathing proof of making this work. As a firm they immediately all agreed that they would try to be the most positive firm in the market. In fact, they created a marketing campaign telling people this was the best time ever to get work done, a chance that would never come again. And guess what? It worked. As well as bringing in new business and diversifying into government contracts he also applied his 2nd rule "Do more with less".
To drive the point home he said "take this boat, we have 11 guys, 4 bowls, 4 spoons, 4 cups and you know what, we are all fine and racing this boat hard". Here he mirrored what he had done is his own business with himself and his partner taking themselves off the payroll.
Jerry's 3rd rule was "be innovative". He described how on this leg they ran low on gas and this was going to mean cold food, not a good thing in the frozen Southern ocean! However, the crew developed a way of using the heat from the diesel engine combined with a blow torch for curing carbon repairs to cook their meals. This shows real innovation driven by necessity.
I asked Jerry about how he deals with fear? He replied "your fuel is the thoughts that are in your head". For Jerry it was simple and came back to his number 1 rule of keeping it positive, it you have fearful thoughts then you are in trouble and if you put positive thoughts in your head then you will succeed.
My final interview was with Richard Brisuis, Team principle of the Ericsson Syndicate. He is an accomplished Ocean racer with many campaigns managed under his belt. I caught up with Richard as he was arriving in Rio to welcome in his two boats in first and second position for the leg. From a business perspective he sees no difference between the sailors on the water, the shore team and the administration side, all are considered by him to be "one integrated team". Obviously this is also a term widely bandied by businesses but rarely adhered to. In the case of Ericsson however, you do get a sense of them living this principle of 'one for all and all for one'.
I asked Richard how he deals with fear. He recalled a time when he was in southern ocean racing and felt fearful and remembered how "it was the experienced among the crew who settled the nerves" and got people refocused. This subtle but very powerful observation I believe is a key lesson to modern businesses. I feel many businesses are in 'goldfish mode', they seem to forget that many people in their employment and have seen many recessions and know that companies do survive and so do people.
Fear in Richards eye's only arises when the territory is "unfamiliar" or the "fear of the unknown". Again his earlier point about experience is the perfect antidote in this scenario. On a practical level I asked him how he would advise a struggling business? His answer showed why he is running the most successful campaigns on the water. He simply stated "deal with what you can now".
7 lessons from the VOLVO OCEAN RACE to succeed in tough economic times:
1. Do more with less.
2. Always have a positive mental attitude.
3. Never, never, never, give up.
4. Know when to compete and when to survive.
5. You can always find a way - be innovative.
6. Do the basics really well.
7. Deal with what you can now.
Brendan Foley, of Seachange Training, presented a session on 'Personal Success Strategies' at the ICAI Annual Conference, which took place on 15th & 16th May.
Seachange Training provides coaching, leadership, teambuilding and faciliation services.