Maybe this idea is coming to me because I’m writing it to the hiss of a Coleman lantern (my dad’s from his early days in the late 1970s and early 1980s working out of a tent deep in Canada’s bush). Maybe it’s because I’ve got a touch of writer’s block, but I promise I’m honouring my commitment of personally writing every single one of these - no ChatGPT here. Maybe it’s because I’m quite proud of the truck I can live out of and love the chance to show it off in my professional network. Maybe it’s all three of these things and more - but most of all, beyond anything else, I truly believe if you reflect on these 5 things the way I have through the following stories of my family and our adventures in our truck, it will help improve your leadership skills. This week we’re covering Part 1, the importance of choosing your team.
My family and I have had a bit of a road trip addiction. Not just any road trips - we like to go to the most remote places on earth, experience a range of geography and culture, and do it all from the seat of our truck or, occasionally, my motorcycle, but the important context for this post is this: Our road trips last 4 to 6 weeks at a time, stopping only for gas or groceries, and living entirely out of our vehicle and sleeping in a tent mounted on the roof. I could fill an entire independent blog with the reasons why we do this (and we kinda do - check out our adventures at www.chasingourtrunks.com as we’ve got photos and a few videos up there). Suffice it to say, these aren’t really relaxing holidays. Some come with really significant risk, and it’s important to be prepared and properly equipped, especially when it comes to the vehicles we depend on to get to these remote places and get us home again.
After a lot of design and thinking, and a few weekends of work, we outfitted our 2017 GMC Canyon to be the perfect overland touring vehicle. It’s got a fridge and a freezer, running water, a shower, a household plug for a hairdryer or a kettle, and a set of drawers to keep things organized. It’s basically a mini-camper and it’s got everything a camper would have including the kitchen sink, and we love it. This is the latest in a long line of “adventure vehicles” that we’ve built out, and with vehicles equipped in a similar way, we’ve travelled extensively through western and central Canada from the Arctic Ocean to the US border with Mexico. We have more plans to go further afield still, exploring the world’s remote beauty.
I keep saying “we” because even though there’s only one driver on a road trip, these trips require a unique kind of teamwork - especially with a toddler in tow. On the planning stages, there’s always a billion little details that need to be accounted for, ranging from meal planning and prepping food to vehicle maintenance to packing everything for the whole family for wind, rain, sun, or snow - we never know where we’ll end up.
And on the actual trips, the teamwork really shines. As Blue Rodeo says, when we’re lost, we’re lost together. We make the decisions to try a route or to aim for a destination, and when we encounter obstacles, we sort it out together. Travelling this way is never predictable, and you need dynamic, collaborative teamwork to do it successfully. Imagine if we were yelling at each other every time we took a wrong turn or blamed the other for a subpar camp site? It wouldn’t be worth doing at all and we’d hate it. Teamwork is essential on these trips, just as it is in every leadership context.
In my life as a leader, I’ve always been at my best because of my great teams. And I’ve had some great teams - both that I worked alongside as leaders of divisions, and those that I supervised. Just like my three favourite humans who I get to go on overland adventures within our truck, the team is what makes the experience possible - and often, they are what make the experience great.
So how are you selecting your team? Are you using the same 10 questions that your HR advisor or your prior manager gave you? Do you like those questions? Are there other questions you feel you need to ask in your review of the candidate to get to the bottom of this most fundamental question: Do you want this person on your team?
Of course, Leaders don’t always get to choose their teams, we often inherit them, and I’ve been in that situation a few times. And as a leader, sometimes you enter into a position where the team is already established or is a mix-up of many teams - don’t worry. This topic is a blog post on its own, but the most important thing is to go in with an open mind to these new teammates. They may function great already - but you need time to assess that. If there are problems, as a leader it’s your responsibility to address them, but there are good human-focused ways to do that. As a leader, I believe you should always be supporting your people if they choose to take their career somewhere else - life is short and they must pursue those opportunities. Being upset about it or taking it personally that they are leaving is never a good path, though many leaders fall into that. But if you make it a habit to celebrate new chapters or promotions (even if the person goes elsewhere), it’s a lot easier to have conversations with each individual on your team about exploring new opportunities - including if there’s a team fit issue. If it’s not a habit, you may struggle to find a supportive way to re-define an inherited team that isn’t potentially quite disruptive on others, so celebrate your people’s success - because their success is your success.
There is one other strategy that I can connect an analogy from our adventures for, and it works for new teams where you pick every person and inherited teams where you don’t. We sometimes end up travelling with others from time to time, and we’ve both been on more than a few tours with total strangers. But what’s neat is that humans have a knack for forming teams, especially during wild and crazy experiences, like cave diving in a Cenote in Mexico or playing motorbike leap-frog as we passed (and then were passed as we stopped for photos) by a couple of Japanese motorcyclists all the way to Deadhorse who arrived at the sign just as we did, forming a fast friendship over hand warmers and photographs. When humans are challenged to do hard things, they tend to come together and help each other out - and here’s how that strategy plays out in your leadership: Don’t be afraid to challenge your teams. Give them hard objectives, and you’ll be amazed by what they’ll accomplish, especially if you as a leader are supporting their wellbeing more generally.
That’s long enough for today’s Sunday Story, though I’m quite sure I can make more analogies about the importance of team in this context. There’s a reason it’s first - the team is critical. But that team needs the structure, support and tools to function together, and that’ what we’re going to talk about next week: How can long term Overland travel teach you about process mapping and organizational efficiency?
If you hear the word “process” and groan, don’t fret - next week’s story will be way more exciting than it sounds, I promise. It includes a story about bear spray testing and sensitive skin, and the importance of choosing a good soap.
See you next Sunday.
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