How a Hot Air Balloon Taught Me 6 Things About Leadership
So what things did I learn about Leadership from my recent hot air balloon ride?
We set off on a crisp sunny morning at 5am to our take off site, we were all filled with anticipation and excitement. We all stood in a field with glee aware we were soon going to be squeezed in a basket a few hundred feet in the sky with a bunch of strangers and ultimately our life in the hands of our pilot.
“Can you all grab the tape” screeched the pilot, we all looked confused and tried to figure out what he meant, “now pull” we all almost toppled with the weight of all it “grab the tape, the tape, grab the tape” he shrieked to one person. I kept quiet...it’s not my turn to lead on this project, I had just worked out the tape was the white bit, I was unsure if he got it but it seemed to work we all got the balloon spread out on the ground. The sheer size of it was awe inspiring.
We all learnt our sides of the basket we would be on A or B just one job to remember when the balloon was full. A call for volunteers happened, two guys volunteered way before they knew what they had let themselves in for. “Hold the balloon open“ the pilot cried, they put on gloves whilst they battled against the wind of the fans filling the balloon full of air, just when their arms had had enough the burners where placed on almost looked close enough to melt their face.
We got taught to jump in once balloon basket starts to tip upright, “quick hop on, you guys are the weight to hold this thing down” we all clambered in with about as much grace as a bunch of sea lions clambering out of the sea onto a tiny rock after a long swim to get away from a killer whale.
We were all taught how we were to land “back against the basket and bend the knees whilst holding onto the loops” “you guys are doing it wrong, you are the wrong way, turn around” he yelped to us all on our side. We turned and practice “you are with him aren’t you? Well there isn’t enough room so you will go in front of him” I giggled, I actually enjoyed his some what frantic impatience out our incompetence to not automatically know what we are supposed to do in a hot air balloon ride...it’s not quite seat belt mirror signal manoeuvre like in a car we are all accustom to driving.
We had an amazing flight looking at deer ?? bouncing gracefully through countryside, cows and sheep trying to look up at us as we sailed by. We soon all became aware that landing in a hot air balloon is pretty much, anywhere that looks about right and that also on landing we have to face backwards looking at the direction we have just come and trust the pilot has made a safe landing.
He shouts “ooo we may have to use that tree to assist our landing” he says frantically pulling on ropes, trying to steer these beast of a balloon in-between to beautifully full trees, I couldn't help myself I shout “I believe in you, you can do it” In a style of a character from the film Big Daddy. He narrowly missed the trees and the branches narrowly misses a few peoples heads as they are tucked in the basket. We land and bump a few times very close to the next set of trees that forms woodland he wanted to avoid before he landed.
“Quick quick can you get out and grab the rope” he shouts frantically pointing at one poor bloke who was caught completely off guard, and still in mild terror about the tree and the land, he tries to scramble out and then slips back into the basket. “Quick quick...oh I’ll have to get it” he says frantically unbuckling himself from the basket with all the wires and ropes needed in flight....he then points to the guy who help set up “can you get out and grab the rope”...”yes clear as day, he asks for clarity "which rope?" he says as he jumps out and heads up towards the end of the balloon “the one at the top of the balloon” he runs to the end of the balloon and secured the rope, which stops further dragging towards the trees.
Whilst we all giggle at the multitude of near misses and less than clear instructions and the nobody panic...but panic feel of the landing.
"Come on all get out, grab a side and get the air out” we all looked at each other in a a way that we all knew what we were all thinking 'oh we have to put it away too' kind of way. On a muddy field everyone gets stuck in and tries to deflate this giant sleeping bag and put it in a bag. Eventually the balloon team arrive a man takes charge gives us all some instructions and we load the balloon with a few more slips falls and broken nails onto the trailer.
So what did I learn?....these top tips would have helped the balloon ride experience, passengers feel empowered and the pilot less agitated at our incompetence.
1)Trust (we trusted implicitly the pilot had what it took to take us safely up, fly and land, we trusted each other that no one would do anything crazy when we got up there and we trusted that we would enjoy the experience, which we all did)
2)Clear concise instructions (This was lacking at times, some of these at the beginning of the ride would have allowed for the people to succeed at the final grab the rope scenario rather than being shouted at in panic and setting them up for failure at not fully understanding the instructions)
3)Defined job roles and responsibilities (if the pilot had told the person before we took off or even before we landed what he wanted him to do, the guy who was asked to leap out could have understood his essential role and could have prepared himself and even had chance to ask questions, though at least by last minute instructions he completed the most important task of assuming the landing position safely, so most of the time safety comes first the rest we can figure out later)
4)Getting the best person for the job (at times the pilot picked men over women to do some tasks now a healthy young women over an older gentleman who was obviously struggling with the task although chivalrous, watching someone older struggling with the strength to do as task without putting himself at risk when I do manual handling day in day out was a tough watch and so picking the right people for the task not selecting based on a bias, female male, old young...let them know what the task is and get the right person is essential to getting it done safely and effectively.)
5)Team work makes the dream work (when we all pulled together in the same direction the job was effortless and there is no finer metaphor for successful leadership)
6)Fun it’s all part of the experience (although the tasks of balloon set up and pack away were a shock to some, everyone made it a fun experience, we all got in the mud got stuck in and giggled about the close proximity of hanging out with strangers almost laying on top of each other to squeeze the air out of the balloon and squeeze into a bag. The guy shouting “squeeze like your pulling on a pair of tight jeans” added some well needed humour and we’ve all been there so it made the task very relate-able and funny and let’s face it any dirty, physically demanding and new skill is much easier when it’s fun!)