Leadership & Rock & Roll

Leadership and Whitewater Rafting

"The first river you paddle runs through the rest of your life. It bubbles up in pools and eddies to remind you who you are.”-- Lynn Noel, Voyages: Canada's Heritage Rivers

Whitewater rafting in the Upper Gauley, West Virginia is considered to be one of the top ten adventures in the world. It's a steady stream of rapids right out of the gate, with five Class V monsters and tons of non-stop Class III and IV thrown in between. Over the course of two days, you'll raft world famous rapids and drops like the big five: "Insignificant," "Pillow Rock," "Lost Paddle," "Iron Ring," and "Sweet's Falls." You don't need to be an expert to run the Upper Gauley (your guide takes care of that), but you do need to be active and have an adventurous spirit. It is truly the adventure of a lifetime.

Your first day out includes some pulse-quickening rapids. After camping that first night, you actually go through the same rapids on day two. It's actually harder the second time around, because you know what to expect, and you know enough to be afraid! The scenery is beautiful: cliffs, sky, and trees in their original, natural, pristine state against a backdrop of the West Virginia mountains and hills. People come from all over the world to experience the Upper Gauley.

The guides are amazing. These are the people many of us wish we could be. Fit, tan, independent, low-maintenance Nomads living in Colorado or Vermont in the winter, teaching skiing and snowboarding lessons, with free room and board in Aspen, Boulder, or Vermont. Then they begin their whitewater rafting circuit, traveling throughout the U.S., following the seasons for each river as guides.

BobbiJo has been my guide for two years. She has been working the Upper Gauley for more than ten years. She is fabulous; she keeps the team members on their toes, and has very little tolerance for anyone who is not pulling their weight, not listening, or just goofing off at the wrong time. BobbiJo reads the lines of the rapids. She has a relationship with the Upper Gauley. She respects its power and beauty. She does not take it for granted. She talks sense back into weekend warriors who confuse theme-park adventure with real-life adventure riddled with actual danger and undeniable risks. Sometimes, of course, people don't heed BobbiJo's advice. These people generally have to fall out of the raft to understand the power of the water and rocks below. Either way, a healthy sense of responsibility and accountability sets in. And you start to pay attention.

The stories around the nightly campfires are inevitably about those who went swimming and those who got lucky. It is always a treat when a guide takes a dip. BobbiJo has been identified as the guide with a “golden horseshoe” up her bum - you won't go swimming unless she purposely puts you in the water - so spots in her raft are always in high demand.

The “war stories” told at the campfire create traditions and a sense of belonging for everyone on the trip and in your raft. The fact that you rafted the Upper Gauley and are alive to talk about it makes you feel proud and energized. The sense of teamwork and accomplishment is rewarding and intense.

How can you create a sense of team, adventure, and accomplishment as a leader without rafting the Upper Gauley?

Any leader who has been responsible for a team for any real amount of time (six months or more), should have traditions, war stories, language, and a sense of accomplishment that helps define the team.

Whitewater rafting provides wonderful opportunities to watch leadership in action. The guides are the leaders. Their number one responsibility is safety. With safety comes the opportunity for the adventure of a lifetime. With clear expectations comes the opportunity to learn from and respect the river. With teamwork comes a sense of camaraderie, and knowing that while you have someone's back, they also have yours.

As a leader, recognize when someone has a skill set you do not possess, and nurture those skills. Providing feedback about what went right is more important than catching what went wrong. Let your team members know how capable they are. Point it out when you see it in action. Catch them in moments of excellence.

When working at a public hospital in Austin, my new boss Cheryl was responsible for getting quality efforts up and running. The program had a rough start, and Cheryl needed to revive the concept of teams improving processes, and ensure her team's commitment to this effort. Cheryl facilitated an actual “revival” of quality. There was a choir, a preacher, a sermon, the whole shebang. She did not do this alone; she worked with a committee of influential people within the hospital, and together a “revival” happened. It created energy, fostered teamwork, was risky (public hospitals usually don't encourage pomp and drama) -- and the outcome was terrific. Quality had a new face, a new birth, and people were committed because of this jump start.

Working with Cheryl was the only time I actually felt invincible as a professional. She was so competent and thoughtful about everything she did. Together, we were a powerhouse team. She trusted me and had my back, just as I had hers. We helped change the culture; the Quality Steering Body was made up of hourly employees, doctors, and high-level administrators, all of whom checked their egos at the door and worked as a group of peers. Decisions were made, processes were improved, and the culture was nudged to a more productive place.

Cheryl now is the CEO of a company, and has an amazing culture of competence and process improvement. She expects the best, and gets it. She is thoughtful, kind, and competent, and hires others who are, also. Cheryl is a true leader who knows how to create high-performance teams capable of tackling any whitewater rapid, any time.

Provide environments that are safe, and you'll discover that many people are ready and willing to take risks. Create opportunities for your team to create an identity. Provide them with opportunities to face healthy challenges, create traditions and tales that make them proud to work with each other. Give them opportunity and a chance to be successful and proud of what they do as a department, organization, or team. Provide challenging opportunities that, when accomplished, make team members more passionate about and engaged in what they do. Get out of the way of your people and let them do their jobs. They know how!