The ingredients of strong leadership and what really counts

Imagine the scenario. It’s minus forty degrees and the wind is blowing straight into your face. All you can see for miles around is whiteness and you have to trust that the person in front is skiing in the right direction as there are no landmarks to follow. You have been skiing in these conditions for eight hours and you are exhausted, but there is still another hour to go before you stop for the day. So how can a leader inspire a team to keep going when faced with that situation?

Having also helped many business leaders and entrepreneurs to improve their performance over the years I have come to realize that it’s the same factors that make the difference in both the arctic and the world of business. These factors are all part of what’s known as a transformational style of leadership. It’s not motivation by fear, but empowerment and team building and leaders who understand are far more likely to be more successful.

What really counts as a leader when striving to achieve tough goals

• To have a genuine concern for others
• To have integrity and openness
• To empower, delegate and develop potential
• To be decisive, determined and self-confident
• To have a high level of self-awareness and manage relationships
• To be accessible and approachable
• To clarify boundaries and involve others in decisions

On my first expedition to the Magnetic North Pole, our leader David Hempleman-Adams used empowerment very effectively to motivate the team. He gave the responsibility every day for leading the entire team to a different group of four people. These groups consisted of one experienced adventurer and three novices. On the first day Group A encouraged us all to ski at a fairly brisk pace and try to ensure that we could keep going at that pace for the entire day. This strategy worked initially but by the middle of the afternoon it was clear that the pace had slowed down. At the end of the day they calculated we had traveled thirteen miles. David congratulated them on their result and then passed the map and global positioning system onto the second group so that they could make their plan.

The next day Group B planned to maintain a slow even pace for the entire day. At first people were complaining because they were cold but once they warmed up they found that they were able to maintain this pace for longer. Again at the end of the day, the team calculated we had skied fourteen miles. This improvement spurred Group C on the following day to think of a way to do even better.

David’s decision to delegate the leadership to individual groups each day provided an opportunity for the novices to be involved in decision making whilst under the watchful eye of an experienced person. But what really impressed us was that the David was willing to trust in our capabilities to help us all reach our goal. It was not just a case of following the leader blindly.

The same principle works in business where self managed teams can be highly effective provided they are given a clear overall vision and boundaries for their task, and report back results on a regular basis. People are motivated when they are trusted to deliver and are involved in the decision making process. Too often, leaders are afraid to delegate for fear of them losing their personal power. Yet in my experience a team must utilize the capabilities of all its members if it has any chance of achieving a challenging goal.

To know what capabilities a team has, each individual must understand their own strengths and weaknesses. This point was reinforced to me very clearly on a subsequent expedition in Greenland. The goal of our four person team was to cross the Greenland Ice Cap which is a distance of around 350 miles. As our expedition was completely unsupported we were dragging sledges weighing over 60kg each that contained all the food, fuel and equipment needed to survive on our own for a month.

After a few days it became clear that there were varying skiing abilities in the team. Terje, the Norwegian was extremely strong and fit and was always out in front. He was closely followed by another Norwegian woman and the German photographer. That left me, the Brit at the back struggling to keep up! Terje began to get frustrated at me as he was anxious to complete the expedition as quickly as possible and return to his family. I initially felt annoyed because having completed three previous polar expeditions I knew the sort of pace that one must keep to. After a while my annoyance turned to despair as the others seemed able to cope, so I began to focus on failure rather than success and naturally my skiing performance rapidly deteriorated. At the end of the day inside the tent, nothing was said. This situation can be common in the workplace too when issues which are affecting a team are not addressed. Yet in extremely challenging environments, it is foolish to ignore problems as they are likely to eventually cause a team to fail.

Next day Terje did raise the issue of our skiing speed and as a team we had to come up with a solution. Terje suggested that he could take some of the weight from my sledge so that I could ski more quickly. We all agreed this was the best outcome. I had to face up to my weakness but in doing so I would be helping the entire team to succeed. This was a tough lesson for me, but one that really helped us become closer as a team. It takes courage as a leader to admit your weaknesses to your team and to ask for help but it is easier if there is a climate of trust. Leaders who have a transformational style of leadership are able to do this by listening to their team, being prepared to delegate and seeking solutions to problems, not seeking to blame.

The Arctic is an extreme environment and the price for failure can be death. The stakes may not be so high in the world of business, but for any leader keen to get the best from a team adopting a transformational style of leadership will certainly go a long way to helping them achieve any challenging goal.





The ingredients of strong leadership and what really counts - To learn more about this author, visit Sue Stockdale's Website.

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