Four people in a small space under constant stress and strain. Unforeseen weather, broken equipment and general physical discomfort threaten our mood and ability to cooperate. How have we kept our crew morale up?
Five concepts that have worked on board:
Rose ‘n Thorn: Record and share your highlights and challenges of each day. This keeps the focus positive while also giving an outlet to share what is really annoying you with your teammates. The sharing creates an environment of understanding and compassion. Every day always has a simple Joy. At the request of Dr. Terry Orlick, founder and president of Zone of Excellence, we are collecting voice recordings almost every day, stating our daily highlights and challenges. Keeping in mind that there is always something small to appreciate in the face of challenge keeps our spirits positive. Gratefulness is good. After the row, we will debrief our psychology with Dr. Orlick, and see which mental toughness epiphanies our crew used, and see how we can use this psychology to help other people’s life journeys.
Look How Far We Have Come, Track progress regularly: Early on in the trip, we were feeling quite low because the end felt so far away. Every day we wrote a couple times in the logbook to track navigation, weather and power management. When we first started writing, writing our daily notes felt like heavy labor. A couple weeks into the row I was surprised how reviewing our notes raised my spirits. This increased motivation to write in the daily logbook. When we record our daily achievements – no matter how small – we can look back into our journals to find empowerment.
Don’t Take It Personally: Sometimes your actions annoy me. I still like you, just not your actions. I know some of my actions annoy you too. I will compromise to ensure team comfort. Please turn off electronics as soon as you are done. Please don’t wear my clothes. Please ask before you borrow one of my personal effects. Let’s check our egos, and perceived self-importance. Both are secondary to the greater goal.
Fast Honesty: The quicker we can be honest with one another, the faster our team effectiveness will rise. Honesty is easily delivered through jest. Make sure you are honest and vulnerable with your positive thoughts, as well as your annoyances.
Small Gifts: Give small gifts to your teammates without expectation of return. Random acts of kindness can really raise the spirit of the team. Random is key. When small gifts become expected, they create a new norm that can feel burdensome and create resentment. Extra food rations, 10 more minutes sleep, alone time in the cabin are all great gifts on board the JRH. Small gifts can be particularly effective when you see others struggling.
Thats all for now.
aK