Originally posted on July 7, 2020 @ 10:25 pm
Recently I competed in a 24-hour Adventure Race designed to test your physical, mental and emotional fortitude and abilities. I signed up months ago with a good friend to compete in the 2-person coed category. We’re both in good shape, and figured with some training, a practice race (shorter) and the right gear, we’d do well. In the end, we raced for 25+ hours and didn’t finish the race! During that time I learned a lot about myself, my teammate and leadership in general.
Let me start with a little background on the Adventure Race. I’m sure by now that unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know someone who’s done a mud run, Spartan Race, Tough Mudder, Ragnar or some other race that involves obstacles, mud and running. Those races generally are between 3 and 10 miles, have a predetermined course, well supported with aid stations, and confined to a small campus, park or field. The type of adventure race I’m talking about, is in a whole different category of racing. This race had three disciplines, Running/Trek, Mountain Bike, Paddle and covered over 80 miles of trails and river. Another unique aspect of this race is that there is no “pre-determined” course. Each team is provided a map(s) and race rules. The race rules lay out the legs of the race and how each is to be accomplished, e.g. “Bike – Collect checkpoints in order”. Each leg as a series of checkpoints that the team must visit (the teams are provided an electronic e-punch to prove they were there). There is no determined path or other guidance given to the teams. It is expected that the teams will determine the best path to get to the checkpoints in the least amount of time. The winner is determined by the number of checkpoints collected (some are optional), finish time is then used to break a tie. The race organizers provide a list of mandatory items each team and team member must carry and outlines some items that are forbidden (yes, a GPS device is strictly forbidden). The only navigation aid that is generally permitted is a compass, I guess if you wanted to carry a sextant you could, but that’s a lot of weight for very little benefit.
I’m sure a lot of you reading this are thinking that this is insane, Why would anyone do this? Though I know my Special Forces Friends are thinking, “sounds like a good Tuesday workout”. Throw in a little weather and this goes from a very difficult race to place to one where just finishing is a struggle. This year the race started with about 8 hours of rain, overflowing streams and making the trails mud pits. Of the 93 competitors who started the race over 30% dropped out after 12 hours and even more, my team included, didn’t finish the race before the 24 hour time limit.
Out on the trail, we heard and saw a lot from each other and other teams. That’s where the leadership learning really took place and I wanted to share.
1: Helping others is always the right thing to do.
One team in particular exemplified this, they had already qualified for the world championships and were out on this race for “practice”. They had nothing to prove to anyone, in the pre-race brief, everyone on the room knew who they were, and excited that they were part of the race. Every time we saw them on the course they were always smiling, talking, and ALWAYS without exception, asked if we were ok, how we were doing and if we needed anything. We never did, but just hearing that kept us moving, kept us focused on the task at hand and made us feel like we weren’t on our own. To be honest, just seeing this team coming from where we were headed gave us hope that we were on the right path.
Now take that example to your business experiences. Have you ever been working on a project that you felt all alone in? it’s your responsibility to get done and you’re just not sure that you can do it? You’ve gone down some rabbit hole in the code/process/document and it just wasn’t what you expected? Then someone comes along and asks how you’re doing, checking in, is there anything they can help with? It breaks you out of the rut you’re in, maybe it just helps get you back on track or you can bounce some ideas on your friend.
As a leader, it’s our responsibility that those we lead understand they aren’t on their own. We will help when we can, offer advice if possible, and always listen. Sometimes that’s all they need to get back on track.
2: Negativity brings everyone around you down, halts progress, and can make you look like a fool
The contrast to the team above is one we saw towards the end of the course. You could hear them from 500M away. “I can’t believe anyone hikes this for fun”, “No one could do this course in the estimated time”, “It’s impossible for anyone to fine all the checkpoints in 24 hours”, “This is the worst race ever, by the worst race company ever”, “I can’t believe they didn’t provide water”. This team was clearly unprepared for Virginia mountains and the rocks that are everywhere in the Appalachian Mountains. They were from a southern state who’s highest natural point is probably 90ft above sea level. We had over 3 miles of ascent in this race! They were blaming everyone but themselves and being very negative about the whole thing. You could see it in some of the team members, they were tired of hearing about the problems, they just wanted to be done and away from the negativity. To be honest, we took a break and sat down on a rock for some food, water and rest just to let them get far enough ahead of us that we didn’t have to hear them.
In business, attitude is contagious and spreads like wild fire. If you or your staff is negative, it just becomes a huge drag on the organization. It affects productivity, moral, retention, customer satisfaction, attendance, and corporate performance. At times, it’s important to be the CCL – Chief Cheer Leader be the positive voice among the negative ones “Let’s learn from this lost contract and we’ll win the next.”. As for that team I mentioned above, A pair of runners passed us and were running the trail for fun, Another competitor completed the leg in under the estimated time, the winning solo male competitor “cleared the course” visiting all checkpoints, and the race company was chosen to host the world championships, this year and next!
3: Sometimes you have to carry the team
Late on Saturday night, after some really grueling hiking and riding through the rain and mud, we were pretty exhausted. We were both a little discouraged, we expected to be about 10 -15 miles further into the event than we were, and the trails were just un-ridable for our skills. My teammate was exhausted and I could tell that we were on the verge of collapse. We had mountain bikes, beautiful machines designed to be ridden across a variety of terrain, but we had been pushing them for hours because they just couldn’t be ridden. The trails got steeper and had more rocks, roots and mud. The only way was forward, there was no turning back, and I don’t think either of us wanted to just sit down, in the middle of the woods, and quit but exhaustion and frustration were setting in. That’s when I asked for her bike too and started pushing both. Not to be a superman, or macho or anything like that, it’s because that’s what the team needed at the time. Those little breaks, from pushing the bikes, kept her going and the team moving forward.
As a leader, sometimes we just have to pickup the ball (or bike) and help move it forward. I’ve found that employees and staff respect a leader who’s not afraid to get their hands dirty. I’ve worked with people on both ends of the spectrum, those who think “I’m the boss so I need to be in there helping get the job done” and others who figure “I’m the boss so I don’t have to do the work”. In the end, the ones who help get the job done, have more loyalty, and better connections with their employee’s.
4: Sometimes you have to let others take charge
Towards the end of the race, we were both pretty beat up, physically and mentally. My knee finally gave up after hours of complaining. I started to limp a little, then a lot, then could barely move. I figure I was moving about as fast a slow snail. After being lead for most of the race, I had to have my partner lead, identify the right path, the best way to the next checkpoint (CP). She did great! She found the easiest (if there were such a thing) path down that I could follow with a bum knee.
As a leader, you can’t always be in charge of every program, project or effort within your organization. You need to trust those around you to do the right thing, even if it’s not exactly what you would do. Delegation is one of the most important things any leader must learn. Without it, you’ll never take vacation, grow beyond a small organization, or have a successor (if you with the lottery or want to retire). Don’t be afraid to hand over the reins, you’ll often be pleasantly surprised by what happens next.
5: If conditions change, so should you
Going into this race, we had high hopes. So high, that we packed a camp stove and soup to heat up because we thought we’d have the time and need the calories and warmth. In the end, we didn’t have the time for either the calories or warmth, we just had to keep plowing on. The terrain and weather played a huge role in our progress through the course. By the time we hit the second Transition Area, we were 4 hours slower than we expected! We had to reassess the optional points we were going to get so we’d have time to continue the race. In all, we eliminated 7 optional points we wanted to get, because of time. We realized if we even tried, for a few minutes to find these points, we put our finishing in jeopardy.
As leaders, we need to be able to assess the market, identify trends and adjust accordingly to make our business successful. Mike Tyson once said, “Everyone has a plan ‘till they get punched in the mouth”. Somedays it seems that every time you turn around you’re getting punched in the mouth. Adaptability is one of the key components needed to keep moving forward, even if it’s slower than expected. Know what has to be done, and when and keep those in mind as you push for the end goal. Everyday, or even multiple times during the day, reassess where you’ve been, where you’re headed and make sure your still on track, otherwise you could lose days, weeks or even months heading in the wrong direction.
6: Learn from your mistakes so they aren’t repeated
As I said earlier, this wasn’t our first Adventure Race, it was just our longest, most complex and grueling one. In our most recent warm-up race, we learned a lot, mostly through our mistakes. The first one we made in the warm-up is not having an agreed upon long term plan, and sticking to it. We haphazardly looked at the map, said “we should be able to get all the CP’s except these two”, and were ready to go. Well in the end, there were a lot more we couldn’t get to, and wasting time looking for those hurt us in the long run. I spent the following days after this last race evaluating where we went, when and why. Looking for alternative routes, re-living decisions before and during the race and making plans for “next time”. I’m sure I’ll make mistakes on the next race but they won’t be the ones I did on this one.
One of the most important tools we can use in business is an After Action Review (AAR). That’s a simple process to capture lessons learned focused on improving future performance. The most basic AAR answer’s 4 simple questions: 1. What was supposed to happen?; 2. What actually happened?; 3. What caused the differences?; 4. What have we learned? Theses sound like simple questions and many people will gloss over the details. Those people are destined to repeating the same mistakes over and over again.
7: Never, Never, Never give up!
In one leg of the race we were required to find 2 mandatory points on the map on foot, in the woods, at night. These weren’t necessarily right on easily identified trails and we ended up off trail, wandering through the woods with headlamps and flashlights. Visibility was only a few feet because of the vegetation and we wandered for 30 minutes looking for the CP. At that point, we had been racing for over 12 hours, we were cold, wet and tired. It was after midnight and if we didn’t find this point, we’d be disqualified (it was mandatory after all). We had to decide, press on or give up. In the end, we continued to search and with a little help from another team, we found the point and quickly made it back to the transition area and finished that leg.
In business, there are times that it seems impossible to achieve the goal you’ve set for yourself. If you give up once, the next time it will be a little easier, and easier every time after that. Successful businesses don’t easily give up, many times, the most successful will simply pivot their goal and keep moving forward. If it is submitting a proposal as a prime, and it’s just not going to be a winning proposal, join forces with another team. If it’s a major release of software that is riddled with problems and going to be delayed by several months, consider adjusting for incremental feature releases instead.
Whether running a race, leading a business or simply trying to be self-sufficient: Help others, be positive, step up if needed, be a good follower, adapt, learn from your mistakes and never give up!
In the end, we didn’t finish the race. That was a disappointment. It was an unbelievable challenge and I’m glad I tried, because in the end, I never would have known how far I could go. I learned a lot along the way, I’ll study my mistakes, and if I can convince someone to do this race with me next year, I might just give it another try!
