5 Leadership Lessons you can learn from Sailing

Last week, after months of practice, weeks of learning and 5 days of intense skills assessment, I have successfully passed my exam and obtained an internationally recognized captain′s certification (RYA Day Skipper), allowing me to charter and skipper a boat in coastal waters. The 5 day course taught me not only vital skippering lessons (while managing a crew of three people 20 years older than myself), but also important life and leadership skills that I′d like to share with you today.

Let′s be honest and transparent from the very beginning: I have a strong love-hate relationship with sailing. I love the sense of freedom and independence, the connection with nature, the sea itself, adventures and sunsets; but at the same time, I am extremely sensitive (I get terribly sea sick), which does make the passionate relationship somewhat challenging. It draws a nice parallel to my own professional life as a learning & development professional leading the growth of 2000+ people across 10 countries at Nortal , a founder and Diversity and Inclusion expert at BeamReach Inclusion and a founder and community lead at BerLearn , because you know what?

′′A smooth sea never makes a good sailor′′Franklin D. Roosevelt

Lesson 1:

Preparation is the Key

Anything can happen at sea. You set the success of your journey while on shore. Way before you leave the land, you are responsible for victualling (provisioning), passage planning, pilotage, weather, tides and tidal streams analysis as well as the full boat inspection and repair. You are also the one who needs to verify your crew′s readiness for journey: both physical and mental states as well as safety briefing. This is similar to pre mortem many organisations are practicing before project kick-off: a project management strategy that will help you prepare?for every twist and turn.?Think about?what could happen in a project - good?or bad?- and make a plan before it starts. Here is a good template .

As a new skipper, I′ve done many mistakes: getting (way) too excited about the destination, forgetting about the journey. Once I was so carried away about our new destination, that I completely messed up the passage plan and ended up taking the boat 90 degrees off the course and almost running in the shallow waters. We ended up facing strong winds and rough weather, causing a lot of anxiety and panic among my crew since I did not organise proper briefing or prepared them for such rough conditions. The lesson was learned and I always spent 2-3 hours before each passage, ensuring everything is taken into account, preparing for the worse possible case scenarios.

Lesson 2: Be ready to throw your plans overboard and adapt to change

Ok, this one is exactly the opposite from the lesson before, but is also closely related. No matter how well you are prepared for the sea, how thoroughly you checked the conditions, how highly experienced, skilled and motivated is your crew; in sailing, just like in the business world, you are dealing in the VUCA environment, especially when dealing with mother nature. The nature does not care how prepared you are or what course you are willing to take- it has a mind of its own and a very fickle one. Winds change, rain starts to fall and temperature drops - all within minutes. All these, couples together with human error (your own or of your crew′s), boat defects or even killer whales randomly deciding to attack your radar ( true story )- you need to act fast, alter your course, reef (reduce) your sails and be in the survival mode if needed- all within minutes. Agility and flexibility are the key of success of any project, but when it comes to sailing it is the matter of survival.

′′The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.′′ William Arthur Ward

Lesson 3: Practice clear communication

The language of sailors can be extremely alienating...

``Ok, crew, open the jammer on starboard and use the winch handle to tighten the genoa. Let′s go close haul then after 2 miles we′ll tack to go across the wind, our SOG is pretty neat now′′

′′Take that line and secure it to your aft cleat′′

Yes, that was English.

My first sailing terms were learned in German which was hard enough as my German is not far from fluent. I struggled enormously to understand what my instructor is wanting from me (he was mostly shouting): `ALLES KLAR ZUR WENDE? REEEEE!′, ′Schotten los, Olla!!′). I was thinking that perhaps my German skills were simply not proficient enough. Later I′ve learned that my German sailing buddies struggled just as much.

Little did I know that sailing language is just as complex in English and can be extremely confusing and not exactly inclusive - as technical and full of jargon as it is for doctors or lawyers. The last thing you want on a boat is confusion, lack of psychological safety and a crew who doesn′t understand what you want- especially in high winds. As a skipper, you are responsible for the boat, your crew and ultimately for your team′s understanding what you want them to do: while you can′t simplify the sailing language and come up with your own terms (′′pull that blue thing′′ or ′′this shiny thing on the right′′), you need to be able to onboard your team and explain the sailing terms BEFORE you set to cruise or in the very beginning of the journey. Same goes for business world: many organisations tend to use jargon and acronyms in the very beginning of newbies journey, not bothering to explain the meaning behind: this endangers psychological safety, making newcomers feel self-conscious, and afraid to ask a question, making mistakes that could′ve been easily prevented. Inclusive language, clear communication and simple English (globish) are key when it come sto working in a global diverse environment. Native English speakers: please stop using complex idiomatic expressions and check this video .

Lesson 4: Develop trust and delegate religiously

As a captain of a boat, you carry responsibility of your crew and the boat. Every mistake of your crew makes it ultimately your mistake- because either you did not give clear instructions or assumed that they know what is expected of them. At the same time, it doesn′t mean that you are the one who has to do everything.

Just like any good leader, you need to adopt several leadership styles and know the motivation and skills of your team, helping them to unlock their potential, do the job they′re best at and enjoy the most. Everyone has different role to play on a boat and the team has to find solutions or make decisions together. As a skipper of the boat, I did daily briefing, rotating responsibilities and splitting tasks: someone had to ensure the boat is ready for departure, someone had to take care of the anchor, someone had to release the lines when we leave the dock. You need to trust your team members and delegate every operational task that makes the boat move forward, trusting them to do their job, while you focus on the course and external factors like weather that could alter your course- and be prepared to give orders to change the direction or trim the sails.

Democracy vs Dictatorship:

However, here is an importance difference when it comes to sailing and the business world: unlike in business, when dealing with the force of nature, you cannot adopt situational leadership, servant leadership or be a coach, allowing your team to make mistakes and learn from them. In situations of crisis, you need to adopt a completely different leadership style: you have to put your foot down and act as a dictator, making quick decisions and giving clear orders- because the nature would not forgive your well-intended ``What do you think is the best approach in this situation?′′ in the times of crisis.

Lesson 5: The shortest route is often not the best route

We often tend to think that the shortest route is the best one, the most efficient and suitable for everyone. Let me explain you some basic sailing principles with this diagram. In short, you can only sail up to 45° from the wind, anything closer to the wind is considered a ′′no-go′′ zone where there boat stops and sails start to flap. If you want to go in exactly in the direction from which the wind is coming, you would need to move across from left to right side of the wind, in zigzag (tacking ).

The closer you are to the wind, the more challenging it is for both the boat and the crew, the choppier is the sea, the rockier the boat, making the journey uncomfortable and stressful for everyone. BeamReach, 90° is considered the fastest and the safest and generally, the best way to sail. (Hence the name of my company BeamReach Inclusion ). The most dangerous item on a boat is a fixed deadline with a “must arrive” date. The aim is to reach your destination in one piece; the exact time of arrival is secondary. Lesson? It′s not just about by how fast you reach your destination, but how enjoyable and safe the journey is, and which condition and mood is your boat and the crew at your destination :)

Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed my reflections! I am wishing you good winds and sunny weather. Feel free to connect or leave a comment below. Also happy to connect with fellow sailors from around the world :)

I also offer Diversity and Inclusion awareness programs and strategy development at my company BeamReach Inclusion . Let′s set the right sails into the journey together!