All in the same boat: The dock

When we think of canoes, we first think of them as a means of transportation or a sport. We like to tell our clients that it's at least as much a mirror. The canoe actually offers us a remarkable portrait of our ability to unite and work together to achieve our goals. Because we're physically connected by the boat, we immediately grasp our interdependence.

Eighteen years of outings on the water in the CANU laboratory have highlighted important lessons about teamwork, in sports and business. Here's a first article on the importance of the dock.

The underestimated importance of the dock

The first element to address in the boat metaphor to help the team recognize its business reality isn't the canoe, it's the dock! This is where we assess the state of the waters and the state of the troops. It's at the dock that we share facts, hold discussions, and make decisions. What we do at the dock is a bit like what we do in business during work meetings and management rituals.

The very first outing on the water in simulation mode with clients, when I began the CANU adventure in 2007, already led me to something significant regarding the importance of the dock. A participant told me: "Max, I gave up! The boat was going completely crooked and I decided to put the paddle on my knees because there was no point in continuing. During our preparation at the dock, we hadn't discussed what we would do if things didn't go as planned, so I stopped rather than continue wasting my energy in the wrong direction."

Terrebonne, Rivière-des-Milles-Îles

Talk to one another to understand one another

The on-water simulation highlights one of the biggest challenges for teams: communication. Do we really understand one another when we speak under pressure? A misunderstanding at the dock systematically generates chaos in the heat of the moment, and even the disengagement of some team members. More or less consciously, individual commitment seems conditional on things happening as each person thinks they should.

The team's behavior and attitude on the dock largely determine the experience they have when they leave the comfort zone. And when things might not go as planned, the team manages to become agile and stay engaged!

Extraits de préparations avant d'aller sur l'eau

Stabilization upon boarding

Boarding begins at the dock. While we take care of protecting the boat to prevent it from breaking on the dock or nearby rocks, we stabilize it to allow the crew members to board safely. We must trust one another. Is everyone there? Is the boat stable? Is the weight distributed evenly? Everyone adjusts their seat according to the impact of their weight on the boat's balance. We make gestures to stabilize ourselves and clear space to maneuver before setting sail.

Glenmore Reservoir, Calgary

To me, boarding represents the small gestures on the periphery of a steering committee that affect the quality of presence at this meeting. In the informal setting, we say hello, put our things away, turn our phones off (or not); in short, we settle down and prepare ourselves to contribute at the right level to the meeting. The first round of the table to get a feel for the state of the troops is a bit like stabilizing the boat. It's an opportunity to commit together to the upcoming activity.

3 important observations from the dock about leadership :

1. The leader's directionality

   Too many leaders, when under pressure, tend to see their leadership role as one that must provide direction and a plan for the team. It strikes me how leaders capable of managing large-scale projects over several months can struggle to manage a 10-minute conversation under pressure.

2. The absence of a plan B

   The concept of scenarios is absent from most of the exercises we witness in our simulations. The team creates a plan and hopes to deliver it. When we unquestioningly adopt the plan of the loudest speaker, there's little chance we'll have the presence required to explore alternative scenarios by integrating multiple perspectives or anticipating unforeseen events.

3. Assuming that there is a consensus

   It's easy to assume that we've understood one another because someone asked, "Is this okay, everyone?" when the team was already moving. Not only do we assume that everyone agrees with the plan being discussed, but we also assume that everyone has understood the same thing about that plan.

These three observations all point in the same direction, and the implications for the lives of management teams can be enormous: the form of our meetings and interactions is just as important as their content. We need to be as interested in how we make decisions as in the decisions we make.

Form affects the quality of presence. When the design of our interactions is conducive to increasing the quality of presence and the ability to observe one another, we drastically improve the chances of accessing the team's true potential. This ensures better decision-making and access to solidarity among members to implement and defend the decisions made.