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Step into the Breach
Strategy #7
Find ways to share the helm.
Steering a boat through a furious storm is exhausting work. The concentration and stamina required to maneuver through howling winds, towering waves, and drenching downpours takes an immense physical and mental toll.
Steering a team through other kinds of adversity—economic setbacks or tight deadlines, for example—can be just as strenuous and emotionally draining. Without some kind of support or relief, the burden can be too heavy for one person to carry. Rather than rely on one person's heroic efforts, teams at The Edge need to draw on each other's strengths. They need to share the load.
Sharing the load involves two different but related concepts. The phrase stepping into the breach is perhaps best known because of Shakespeare's play Henry V. With England at war with France, King Henry encourages his countrymen to step “unto the breach” by attacking a gap in the walls of a fortified French city. In combat, stepping into the breach can mean plugging an opening in a defensive perimeter. When applied to business teams, stepping into the breach means finding a gap in the performance of the team, then taking the initiative to fill it.
Team members on a sailboat can share the helm by taking turns steering the boat. In other teams, individuals can figuratively share the helm by providing direction or helping in other ways. This distributed leadership can be extremely effective, taking the burden off the formal leader and spreading the load.
Tactics for Teamwork at The Edge
Scan for gaps in team performance and fill the holes
After his “hard or squishy” self-examination, Chris and the other Ramblers were satisfied that the injury wasn't life-threatening. But Chris was prohibited from climbing back on deck and standing his watch—so there was a key role that needed to be filled.
Gordon Livingstone stayed on the rail without complaint, filling in for his injured teammate. Ed Psaltis describes the scene:
When Chris was injured, Gordon was sitting up on the side of the boat. I was so busy doing my steering that I wasn't even aware of him. Gordo sat there on the rail for hours without complaint. Even one hour in those conditions was tough physically, but he never complained.1
Why did Gordo do it? Because he was part of the team, and he was determined to stay there until someone told him to move. There was no “Come on, guys, give me a break.” He was simply determined not to budge until someone told him to budge. He was not going to be a weak link.
Gordo finally asked politely, “Hey, Ed, do you reckon I might be able to go down below now?” But when he saw the gap left by Chris’ injury, Gordo had been more than willing to pitch in without complaint.
Monitor your own stamina and that of your teammates
Gordon had filled the void created by Chris’ injury, but there was another gap that needed to be plugged: a system for managing the crew under the extraordinary conditions. Ed was completely focused on getting over the mountainous waves, and no one was thinking about crew management. When Arthur realized what had happened to Gordo, he thought:
We've got to get a grip because we can't go on like this. Ed had been sailing far too many hours, and the thing that struck me the most was that the storm is getting worse, and we're in daytime. What happens when it gets to be nighttime? We're going to need our best sailor, and Ed is our best helmsman in these conditions. We've got to rest him during the daytime, because the last thing we need is to have him fatigued at night.2
Arthur realized that the crew was not being managed well and that Gordon had suffered because of it. That insight was the catalyst for creating a new system that would spread the load more evenly. Arthur felt that there were three people capable of steering the boat and three who were capable of wave spotting. Both roles required different skills, but people needed to be rested to do either well.
Arthur took the initiative and spoke with Bob. They discussed a watch system that would give Ed some time to rest. They would also limit others to an hour on deck with two hours down below. With the new system, the Ramblers were able to have a fresh wave spotter and helmsman on deck at all times.
By monitoring each other's limits, the Ramblers saw the gaps and took action to fix the shortfall in crew management. The new system was critically important to their survival. It was a psychological boost to know that their time in the maelstrom was limited to an hour. And the new system meant that they were going to be physically ready for their exhausting jobs and capable of dealing with the storm.
Find out what people can do before the storm hits
Everyone on AFR Midnight Rambler had a clear understanding of their teammates’ abilities. Many had sailed together for a number of years, and even those relatively new to the boat were intensely scrutinized during the ramp-up to the race. Ed Psaltis was the principal helmsman, but Arthur Psaltis and Bob Thomas had also shown their skill at steering. When the critical point of decision came during the storm, Ed had confidence that others could take the helm and give him some relief.
On boats with crews that have had less time working together, it is still possible to let people try different positions—and to see how well they perform. Some skippers make a point of systematically letting each crew member steer to assess their skill at the helm. With these trial runs in relatively calm conditions, the skipper and crew are able to inventory the full range of their capabilities.
I've sailed on boats where crew members are given a chance to show their stuff, and I've sailed on others where important tasks are limited to a select few—the people who are close to the skipper. Their capabilities, and their limitations, are a known quantity.
The problem with this approach is that newer members of the crew may have talents that are overlooked or unappreciated. In some instances, I've seen team members with limited skills given preference over others who were more talented but untested. The result of this narrow selection process was poor race performance—and frustration on the part of those in the crew whose abilities had been overlooked.
Leaders may feel more comfortable assigning tasks to members of their inner circle. But this insular approach fails to account for the full potential of the team. Under normal conditions, playing favorites will result in subpar team performance. But in crisis conditions, an inability to draw on the full potential of the team can be disastrous.
The implications for Teamwork at The Edge are clear. Teams need to provide opportunities for newer or untested members to demonstrate their skills in safe waters. Junior partners, for example, can do presentations, show what they are capable of, and get coaching from more experienced team members. Over time, these opportunities for broader participation encourage initiative, increase motivation, and—ultimately—strengthen the team.
Be willing to let go
In the middle of the storm, Ed Psaltis thought to himself, “I'm at the end of my tether.” Yet it never occurred to him to ask for help. He was focused on only one thing:
I was intent on steering the boat, because this was life and death stuff. If you get this wrong, people are going to die. It wasn't that I didn't care about other things, but I didn't have time to think about them.3 Ed wasn't going to tell the crew, even though he knew he couldn't keep going on like this. He felt that there was no one else who could steer the boat.
When Arthur came up to confront his brother, he interrupted Ed's fixation on driving the boat. Arthur's confidence that he and Bob could steer, combined with his insistence that Ed had to get off the helm, was persuasive. Still, in the middle of the storm, Ed needed to take his hand off the tiller and let go.
The process of letting go can be difficult. It can be hard for a team leader to let others step into a leadership role and provide direction. It can be hard for any team member who excels in a particular role to let someone else “give it a go.” But to develop the full capability of the team—to bring other resources to bear on a problem—people need to move out of their familiar space. They need to take their hands off the tiller—to let go of something at which they excel. Letting go may not be easy. But for teams that aspire to the highest level of performance, it's a skill that needs to be mastered.
There are many ways to contribute—and small things make a difference
The most visible ways the Ramblers shared the load involved steering and protecting the helmsman as wave spotters. But that was not all they did to contribute to the team, and the less dramatic actions were important, too.
People down below could have retreated to their bunks. But attuned to the needs of those on deck, they got out of their berths and stood by the hatch, passing water up to the crew above. They asked if crew members on deck needed food or something else—anything—to ease the strain. It was comforting for those exposed to the waves to know that their mates down below stood ready to lend a hand.
They were all terrified. At times, their faces were ashen white with fear. They knew they might die. Yet the crew still did everything they could to minimize the suffering of their teammates.
Those who were most seasick were truly at the depths of despair. They felt like they wanted to die, and at the same time they were frozen with fear that they might die. But those who were most sick were comforted by those who were less so. Those who were most able to help gave water to those who were immobilized. And somehow, in spite of the terror, they summoned the energy to provide a few words of encouragement to those who were at their limits.
Everyone made a difference, and everyone contributed. Even with the blur of their fight for survival, people saw the small things. And even small actions reinforced their shared belief that they were in this together. Chris may have been injured, but he shifted his weight and held on to the pipe as ballast. He did everything in his power to help the team.
Some team roles are more visible than others, and some efforts are more dramatic. But the impact of small contributions cannot be overestimated. A word of encouragement can help a teammate regain confidence. And the smallest contribution is symbolically powerful. As Ed put it: “If we had simply been seven individuals, there is no way we could have gotten through the storm. But the teamwork made us so much more powerful. We were more than seven individuals. We were a team.”
Navigation Points
1. Do team members look for gaps in team performance? Do they take the initiative to step into the breach and fill in for others?
2. Are team members aware of their own stamina—both physical and psychological? Do they keep an eye on how others are holding up?
3. Are people given the opportunity to test their abilities in different roles and positions? Is there a shared understanding of team members’ capabilities?
4. Are team members willing to step aside and let others help them out when needed?
5. Do team members encourage and value all contributions, both small and large?