Into the Storm (27 page)

 

 

P
sychologists have long been interested in trying to understand why some people flourish under stress, while others collapse. Those who thrive under tremendous pressure are described as
resilient
, or high in
stress hardiness
. They enjoy change and look forward to dealing with problems. For these resilient people, the tougher life gets, the more they enjoy it.

Though stress hardiness may have a genetic component, other explanations involve early childhood experiences and family structure. But whatever individuals bring to the workplace, there is reason to believe that they can learn to increase their ability to deal with difficult situations.

Just as people vary in their ability to deal with stress, so do teams. And like individuals, teams can also develop the capacity for rebounding from pressure and setbacks. They can increase their level of
team resilience
.

By consciously working together, teams can pool their individual resources and strengthen their shared ability to deal with stressful situations. This increase in team resilience will enable them to overcome setbacks. It will enhance their ability to recover rapidly so that they are prepared to deal with the next challenge.

By the time the Ramblers got to the ‘98 race, they had overcome numerous obstacles as a team. They had capsized, torn sails, and dealt with a host of other problems that accompany ocean racing. Some of the difficulties were totally unexpected, and some occurred because they were pressing the limits. But throughout their history one thing was clear: There would be problems.

Problems will occur even when all of the
Teamwork at The Edge
strategies outlined in this book are put into practice. Teams can be clear about what it means to win; select the most capable, talented members; put the right people in the right roles; prepare meticulously with checklists; encourage each other with a sense of mateship; and take only measured, calculated risks. They can do all of those things—and things will still go wrong.

Teams that win races at
The Edge
know that they will encounter problems with regularity. They anticipate setbacks with the confidence that, when things go wrong, they can deal with any problem that comes their way.

When a boat broaches or is knocked down by a wave, anything can happen. Those on deck need to keep their heads down, because the boom can swing rapidly. Ropes and lines flap everywhere, and the mast is often submerged. The challenge is to get the boat under control and to move quickly back into racing mode.

Some crews accomplish this better than others, and the Ramblers are one of the best. Samantha Byron—a relative newcomer to the
Rambler
team—had the advantage of observing their teamwork with fresh eyes. She was struck by their ability to execute a seamless recovery:

The first offshore race I did with the Ramblers lit a fire as to why I wanted to join them as a team member. On our way back to Sydney after the Bird Island Race, we were hit by some really bad weather and very high winds. We had the wrong sails up for those conditions and the boat was flattened.

The reaction by Ed and the crew was so fast, and so quick. Equipment had failed, crew members were all over the place, yet we all managed to pick ourselves up. Within minutes everything was back under control. The old sails were down, we had new sails up, and we were off. In no time, we were powering off again to finish the race.
¹

Samantha had sailed on other boats, but she was taken aback by the speed and seamless recovery exhibited by the Ramblers. Teams at
The Edge
need to start recovering while they're still in the water, and then move quickly to finish the race.

Once problems are accepted as inevitable, it follows that setbacks do not equal failure. To maximize performance, teams need to take risks—and some of those risks may flip the boat.

Because the team's focus should be on its ability to recover from mistakes, the amount of time needed for recovery is a key metric for judging performance. While recovery will never be instantaneous, teams can aspire to spending an ever decreasing amount of time putting the pieces back together.

Once the
Midnight Rambler
made it through the storm, the crew started pushing the boat hard again. The winds were still blowing at gale force, and the seas were rough. But after what the Ramblers had been through, Ed thought it was “like a walk in the park.” And he was determined to press the limits and make up for lost time.

Bob Thomas went below and charted the position of every boat he could locate. He found that
AFR Midnight Rambler
was winning the race by a very large margin. The news was uplifting, and as Bob recalls:

I came on deck. We were sailing with a full main. We were a little bit overpowered, and I said to Ed, “We're in a bit of a hammer position here. If we can stay in one piece, we should be able to win this race.” Then I said, “I think we could probably use a reef in the main now.” I thought if we could keep the boat in one piece, we'd be very difficult to beat.
²

Ed Psaltis has a slightly different recollection. He knew that they were sailing hard. It was exciting that they were sailing past bigger boats, and they were speeding past boats that were their own size. Ed remembers:

I was thinking,
keep pushing, pushing, pushing
—push as hard as we could. And Bob came up on deck and said, “Look, don't do this. Don't crack any gears, just maintain. Don't lose it.
Don't break the boat
because we are in such a fantastic position!”
³

Whether Bob actually said “Don't break the boat,” or whether that's what Ed heard, makes little difference. What is important is that Ed took Bob's advice. For the next twelve hours they were still racing hard—but also making sure that they stayed in one piece and finished the race. In spite of his passion to win, Ed understood that it was important to “never lose sight of the ultimate goal.” He adds, “I had to avoid getting too excited, pushing too hard, and cracking something!”

As important as it is to seamlessly recover from setbacks and shift back into racing mode, it is equally important to avoid overcorrecting. Recovery needs to be rapid but also measured. Teams at
The Edge
have to be able to put the pieces back together and then calmly push as hard as they can, without breaking the boat.

1.  Does your team accept problems and challenges as part of doing business—something to be anticipated and overcome? Or do they see setbacks as cause for alarm and panic?

2.  Can your team assess the situation when things go awry and calmly take corrective action?

3.  Does your team track recovery time as a metric for success?

4.  If problems occur, does your team respond without overcorrecting when trying to make up for lost time? Can they push hard
without breaking the boat?

 

 

T
eams that succeed in the face of extreme adversity share two complementary characteristics: They persevere in the face of enormous odds, and they devise imaginative solutions to problems. These two elements—determination and creativity under pressure—make a team unstoppable.

All the Ramblers brought their own sense of resolve to the team. For Ed Psaltis, his determination started in sports:

I played rugby football and was reasonably good. I might not have had as much talent as my other schoolmates, but I had a lot of tenacity. I never gave up. If we lost a game, I came back twice as hard the next time. Tenacity is something I've always had in anything I've done in life—business or sports. I don't give up. I keep at it until I get to the goal.
¹

Individual tenacity was important, but it was the combined effort of the team that enabled them to not only persist but also to innovate in the most stressful and life-threatening situations.

In the '94 Hobart, when
Nuzulu
was rolled and lost its mainsail, things seemed truly hopeless. The Ramblers were disappointed and demoralized. They had come close to drowning, and they had no chance of winning the race. It would have been easy to pull out.

Yet they came together as a team, and they found the determination to persevere. Mix Bencsik created a catalytic moment with his resolute statement: “Don't even think about pulling out of this race. We have gotten this far and we have to finish the race. If we do, we will remember this as one of our proudest moments.”

The race became a milestone for the Ramblers—but only because they were able to combine tenacity with creativity. Arthur Psaltis recalls:

We tried a number of different jury-rigged systems that didn't work. But the solution was staring us in the face: We could create a series of knots that we could put into the mast, and then tie some knots onto the sail. Once we'd done it, it was obvious how it could work. But it took hours of thinking to come up with the solution, and we were going sideways all that time. It looked hopeless, but we really wanted to finish. By constantly thinking about what we needed to do, the solution finally came.
²

The solution did emerge, but it didn't come from a think tank in Silicon Valley. It came from a group of guys who had just recovered from a capsize. It came from their determination to devise a way to finish a race they knew they couldn't win. And it was one of their proudest moments.

The unyielding tenacity that the Ramblers demonstrated in 1994 stayed with them through other daunting times. It was there in 1998, when they encountered hurricane force winds and walls of water twice the size of their boat. It was there when they needed to devise a crew management system to survive the storm. And it was there near the end of the race, when they lost their navigation instruments and were fighting dying winds in the Derwent River.

The same spark of creativity that had enabled them to devise a makeshift sail on
Nuzulu
helped them on the Derwent. Improvising once again, the Ramblers created a makeshift wind instrument by breaking a cassette and fastening the tape to the mast so they could judge the wind direction. It wasn't elegant—but it worked.

The Ramblers' ability to persevere has been displayed on many occasions, and one of the most memorable examples came in a 2007 race. On a pitch-black night, with a hard southerly wind and big seas, their mainsail burst. They could have turned around—numerous other boats did. But surrender is not a word in the team's vocabulary. The Ramblers sailed on through the night to Flinders Island, turned around, and made it home, completing the “out and back” race that was part of the
Blue Water Point Score
series.

Because conditions were so difficult and so many boats retired, even with their small storm sail the Ramblers still finished in third place. When the season was over,
AFR Midnight Rambler
had won the coveted
Blue Water Point Score
by two points. If they had retired, they wouldn't have won the series.

Tom Barker—another newcomer to the team—shared his observations on the 2007 competition:

That race was a good metaphor for the crew's approach to racing. Even when conditions are tough and everything is stacked against us, we find an answer to make our way through. Finishing the race was important and it is a testament to the crew. When those other boats turned around and retired and headed home, we were still out there.
³

This strategy, then, is a state of mind—a set of lenses for viewing the world. It is grounded in the belief that the team will succeed, but it is much more than stubborn persistence. It is based in reality. If a solution isn't working, then it's time to try something else.

The Ramblers—and other teams that succeed at
The Edge
—maintain an unshakable belief that somehow, somewhere, there must be a path that will get them to the finish line. As Ed Psaltis observed, “
When the chips are really down, our mentality is—never give up. There is always another move, and always another option.”

1.  Does your team persevere in the face of adversity?

2.  When faced with setbacks, is your team able to think creatively and develop innovative solutions?

3.  Are there “proud moments” in the history of your team—times when the team has come together and exhibited tenacious creativity?

4.  Do you draw inspiration from stories of other teams that have worked together to overcome daunting challenges? Does your team share stories as a source of inspiration?