Ever hit a guardrail?

Faith’s parents live in the mountains of North Carolina where the Appalachian trail passes through. Last year when we were there to visit they took up to an old fire tower at the top of one of the mountains.?

The road we had to travel to get up to the top was a dirt road, barely wide enough to have a car pass you going down, in some spots it wasn’t wide enough, and lastly no guardrails. The gradual climb wasn’t bad until I realized how steep the cliff was and how easily it would have been for us to fall off the edge with no guardrail to prevent us from taking a big tumble.?

I believe had there been a guardrail my anxiety wouldn’t have been so high during the ride up and back down.?

On April 25, 1933 Samual R Garner was granted the patent for the Highway Guard Rail. The guardrail was created for motor vehicle safety.?

Do they work? Yes.. guardrails reduce fatalities and serious-injuries caused by roadway departures crashes by 16-47 percent. Median barriers are super effective at reducing cross-median crashes with a 52 percent reduction in fatal crashes and 61 percent reduction in all serious-injury crashes.?

What are the two things guardrails provide us while we are driving? First they offer us safety from driving off the road, this is like when bowling and you use the bumpers even if your ball hits the bumper your ball will still stay in the lane.. Secondly they offer peace of mind, like when using the bumpers you have more certainty when you let go of that ball that it will hit the pins.?

You are probably wondering what guardrails have to do with our leadership email this week. Well we have talked a lot about laying down some guardrails lately and I had an in depth experience with a studio this past week dropping some fresh posts in the ground to put the rails in place.?

I wanted to share what I learned in the process, so you can be confident when setting up your own guardrails in your studios.

The first thing we have to do is understand the makeup of the guardrail. Good news is that they aren’t super complex. The consist of three main pieces, first you have the post this is the vertical anchor that established the height of the rail. They are usually spaced up to 8 feet apart, they are driven deep into the ground to give these posts extra strength.?

In your business think of these posts like the issue or situations you are trying to create accountability around. I’ll give the example of the studio I worked with this past week. I had asked them what are three pressure points inside the studio at the current moment??

One issue that all coaches could agree on was studio communication/communication platforms.?

So… post one became communication. We drove that post into the ground and now we are able to add the rails of accountability to it to keep everyone moving in the same direction and not falling into the gutter or off the cliff.?

The next piece of the guardrail is the actual rail itself. These steel or aluminum rails run horizontal to the ground, the rail can withstand about 200 pounds of force. Like I mentioned above the rails become the accountability, instead of you just driving off the road. You are able to see the rail and be reminded of your commitment to the post and stay accountable to the plan that was established.?

What were some of the rails we put up around communication? We first established what platforms the teams found beneficial and easy to use, then we had to define what each is for and put some boundaries on the others.?

A quick example, texting is so simple to use, but it is also very personal, that's where communication comes in from family and friends. So, if work starts to invade your personal space you feel like you have no personal space or separation from work life.?

We decided to lay down three rails for this post:

Slack is a work related communication only.

• All things work related go into slack.
• You need to check slack after you clock in when you are at work?
• Anything that requires a response or acknowledgement you are expected to respond appropriately.
• You are not expected to check or respond to slack if you aren’t working?

?Texting is personal or urgent work related issue?

• You are expected to respond to it when you see it?

Phone call is a 911 urgent work related issue?

• If you see this you should answer immediately?
• If you miss the call, call back asap?

If you can picture a guardrail for a moment this post for communication has three rails of accountability.?

Lastly, the post and rails are no good if there are no bolts to fasten the system together. The bolts become peer to peer feedback. This feedback is critical for keeping the rails in place and the system intact.?

This process is done by getting everyone to contribute to fastenging the rails to the post together. We sat down at lunch and everyone agreed to keep these rails in place and keep each other accountable to them. This isn’t just the manager anymore, it has become a team feedback system where they give each other permission to give and receive feedback openly and without negative or defensive responses.?

As you can see, having guardrails in your business are just as important as having them on the side of a mountain or highway.?

Are there some posts you need to drive into the ground??