Leading Expeditions

Leading expeditions overseas can be a complicated business.

You can prepare for everything; changes in itinerary, flight cancellations, no electricity, where to get drinking water from, what not to eat, what to eat, where to find the best clinics and how to say thank you in the local language. The list is endless but it can all be planned into your day. What can not be planned, and at times not even predicted, are the actions of your clients. These could range from often weird and wonderful requests (day trips to the beach in a land locked country) to wanting to go home on the first day of an expedition. At this point I must stress that the latter request was not on a Sense Africa trip.

So, as an expedition leader, how do you cope with it all? My first bit of advice is to never assume that the client has has any prior knowledge about the destination country or their surroundings. More often than not, clients leave their common sense in the UK. And I have done this too whilst on holiday this year, we all do it. And the second, and most important thing to remember, is to never assume that the client wants what you would like. This has happened to me recently. I thought that the girls I took to Africa this summer would be really interested in the wildlife, but this was not the case.  They were much more interested in the local culture, the people and the project they were involved with.  I was astounded that they got bored looking at wildlife.  But as an ecologist the wildlife fascinates me and it took me a long time to adjust to the fact that the girls were not as interested as I was.  To start off I was mortified, but as the expedition progressed I realised that they were much more interested in things that I could have given a miss.

Every person is different, and that is why leading expeditions never quite pans out as you expect it to.  Life is a roller coaster, enjoy it, especially those that are on the same ride.

Do we deserve a holiday?

I have just finished five weeks work with VT who are the training section of the Navy.  I have been based on HMS Raleigh and living the life of being on board a ship.  My room is called a 'cabin', the loos the 'heads' and when leaving the base you are going 'on shore'.  It has been hard work as I have been facilitating an ILM Level 3 course for Network Rail apprentices, some of which, initially, can not see the value of the scheme.  Of course this changes as the week progresses but it often begins with an uphill climb.  There are two days of training, followed by two days out on Dartmoor and then the last day fire fighting (literally) and being in a sinking ship simulation tank.  And on top of this I have reports to write and have 121s with each person in my cohort.  ANd this is all done after mild sleep deprivation.

So do I deserve a holiday?

We run our own businesses, frantically trying to do every job in a business - telephonist, banker, accounts, advertising, marketing, general admin as well as keeping sane.  We often find ourselves working late at night or worrying whether we have done everything.  I have missed a goal of mine this month and I am beating myself over the head with a very large stick.  But at times this will happen and there are not enough hours in the week to do everything.  In order to achieve you do need to have a healthy mind, you need to relax and take time out.

This is the first time that I have said this.  I need a holiday.  I deserve a holiday. I am going on holiday.  I am going this week.

So ask yourself this, do you deserve a holiday?  Give yourself a break, take time out.

Storming is Good

Another week has gone, well nearly, and this time I am surviving on 4 hours sleep, one more hour than last week but it does not seem to have made a blind bit of difference, I am still exhausted.  I can hear my bed calling me, even the plastic sheet that encompasses the mattress.  Life on ship is certainly different but I can be thankful for a bed.

This week I had my own team and they went through Tuckmans's cycle a fair few times in the space of 24 hours.  Being out of their comfort zone, seriously lacking in sleep and having worked exceptionally hard on the Monday and Tuesday, I was not surprised.  I have to say what did surprise me was the way that they dealt with it. 

Having the knowledge that teams go through a forming, storming, norming and performing stage helped them understand the dynamics of the group and why people were reacting in different ways.  And it is good to storm, to challenge team members' ideas, to question why people think a certain way and to have a disagreement, it is one of the ways a team can reach its full potential.  Asking why people are reacting in a certain way or why they think their idea is better ensures that everyone has their say and that the outcome or decision is agreed by all and no one is following blindly and not contributing.

So do not be afraid to voice your opinion and your thoughts, just make sure you structure it in the right way, just like the group I had this week on Dartmoor.  They excelled themselves.

And now I must really go to bed.

Surviving on 3 hrs sleep....zzzzz

I have just got back from an overnight expedition on Dartmoor.  I am managing a group of apprentices who are participating in Level 3 ILM - Institute of Leadership and Management.  Anyway, part of the course which has been specifically created for these particular apprentices is a 24hr experience on Dartmoor.  This involves a task of trekking to certain locations all over the moor to pick up "battery cells" to create a large energy saving device to cut consumer spending and to keep them all in a job.  It is all in the way it is presented you know!  The teams got given their brief on Tuesday evening and by yesterday lunch time they were out on the moor after 'Jenny's Crash Course in Navigation'.  None of them got lost so I consider that a bonus.

A fair few of the guys had never experienced anything quite like it; carrying packs, radio comms from one meeting point to the next, walking across the Dartmoor landscape, camping, night navigation for 4 hours and mild sleep deprivation - most having had only 4 hrs sleep.  This is my eleventh time and I am still not used to it.  Some of the team members had to man an ops room throughout the night, so they had even less sleep to operate on.  And to top it all the moor was rather eerie last night, as the mist settled and the moon's halo tried to throw some light on the moor.

The most rewarding thing to see was these teams of people, who had never met before, gel to achieve a common goal. They got to know their own strengths and weaknesses, they gave constructive feedback and they developed their own individual style in leadership.  It was through these 'Action Learning Sets' that the apprentices could push their boundaries but in a safe and secure environment. Tomorrow they are in a sinking ship, and that is another adventure.

And of course they saved the world by creating an energy saving device!

SMART Objectives

Tomorrow I am driving to Plymouth to start teaching an ILM course on leadership for five weeks back to back.  It will involve working on HMS Raleigh, doing an overnight expedition on Dartmoor (with a spot of sleep deprivation thrown in) and going into a sinking ship simulation tank.  All in the nature of teaching leadership.

One of the main things that as facilitator I have to do is to hammer home the importance of setting SMART objectives; being specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time bound.  As I was reading about it I realised that I often set goals for myself but hardly ever applied SMART objectives. Life would be so much easier if I had done so - I may have not tried to count parrots in the Caribbean.... without a pair of binoculars.

My advice is that SMART goal setting does work, so apply them, and I will endeavour to do so too.

Healthy Body, Healthy Mind, Healthy Business.

Over the years I have come to realise that in order to run a business you need to look after number one, yourself.  And there is no way you can run your own business effectively and efficiently if you are tired, feeling out of sorts or out of kilter.  And this is where having someone to help balance your health and well being is essential.

Last week I went to visit Emma Treharne of Nuveya, I visit her on a regular basis and she has worked miracles.  Last year I had an emergency operation on my neck, not a pleasant experience and something that came out of the blue.  I had to stop my active lifestyle and work for six weeks and there was time for reflection - actually too much time, but it made me put things into perspective.  And I needed a helping hand to set things on the right course and this was where Emma came in.  Not only did she help with the recovery process from my operation but she has also helped me with getting that work/life balance into my life.

So last week, as I was lying down and Emma was doing some sort of 'voodoo' stuff on me, I thought how lucky I am to have found her.  I openly admit that at times I have not got a clue as to what she is doing but it works, trust me.  You may understand the whole process, I am just happy to have a bit of 'me' time, knowing that I feel better as a whole and that I am in safe hands.

We all need to find an 'Emma' to give us that boost and to ensure that our businesses can grow in the right way.

Prior Planning - the 7 P's

Yesterday evening I drove back from the Lake District having spent five days in Cumbria supervising four Duke of Edinburgh groups.  One group was being assessed and the other three were doing their practice.  Some had planned well for it, others not as much, and this was very apparent in how they set about doing things.  The groups that had put a little bit more planning and preparation into their expedition found the whole experience a bit easier going than those that had not.  This was not to say that they did not achieve their goals, they all did, but it did mean that it was tougher going, less enjoyable and certainly more uncomfortable.

Planning is a key element in ensuring that your goal or objective is achieved and it also make you think ahead so that if a curved balls comes your way you can probably deal with it effectively.  So make a plan, even if you need to change it.  Plans are for changing anyway, but you do need one to begin with.

Prior Planning and Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance - the 7 P's.