Lessons from the Worlds Toughest Race

Last week I was watching an exciting show, and it had me riveted. This was a show about endurance, grit, and the stretch of the human spirit. When you put your mind to something, there is nothing you cannot achieve. Pushing physical limits is only the beginning. 

Imagine you're thrown into the wild jungles and waterscape of an island. Acres and acres of thick greenery engulf you.

??magine you're thrown into the wild jungles and waterscape of an island. Acres and acres of thick greenery engulf you. ???? ????????????, ???? ??????????, and you do not have access to modern technology. The challenge is to follow a paper map and an old school compass to make an arduous journey of ?????? ???????????????????? over mountains, jungles, and oceans. Welcome to the eco-challenge of the Fiji islands! 

This is a multi-level, long-range challenge spread over different terrains and includes traveling in non-motorized formats, including biking, walking, swimming, climbing, rappelling, paddling, etc. Almost 66 teams from 30 odd countries participated in this challenge. 

As I watched the show, I couldn't help but draw the parallel of running this challenge to leading an organization as a leader. Both scenarios have teams with different strengths and weaknesses, leaders with grand visions and innumerable challenges that one has to wade to through, not to win, but to survive! More often than not, the teams in Fiji - like the teams in an organization in these difficult times - are under constant stress and fighting one crisis after another. 

??????? ?????? ???????? ???????????? ???????? ?????? ???? ????????????????:

??hat does it mean to build a team? 

Building a strong team was at the crux of this competition. Everyone was put through so many physical and mental challenges that one had to depend on their teams to make it through and not be dropped out of the competition. There was a significant emphasis on relying on the team and leaving no one behind. 

The teams usually had four members who complemented each other's strengths and knew how to manage each other's drawbacks. They were fully aware of what was possible and how much they could push each other while keeping the end-goal. Some teams comprise what one would assume to be a 'compromised' team member - as a person with Alzheimer's or a physically challenged war veteran. But they used these team members' stories to weave into their motivations, and they became their strengths! 

This is so true in the work environment as well. As leaders, we could have grand visions, dreams, and aspirations. But without our teams, who work towards building these dreams from the ground up, it doesn't mean much!

The eco-challenge team members were long-time associates, friends, or people who went on other adventure challenges together. These experiences fostered their bonds and wove a tight-knit camaraderie between them. 

WH??T if we can build water-tight teams like these at our workplaces? Wouldn't it be exhilarating to come to work every day?

• ??????????????????????????: This could be seen in its most accurate form as the stakes for not collaborating meant a problematic dance between life and death. There was a team with a father-son duo. The father had ??????????????????'??, and he was a veteran athlete who was now beyond sixty years of age. On the other hand, the son was robust, young, and energetic, and he had a fair chance of winning, if only he chose a different team composition. 

But, his motivation was to experience this adventure with his father. And to that end, the team had to come together in many instances as his father could not physically make it happen in a few competitions. 

There were times when two team members stopped to carry him over waterways or helped him zip up his waterproof jacket as he had lost cognizance of how to do it. But he could climb mountains like a gazelle and navigate effortlessly. The team honestly used each other's strengths to collaborate and make it through the competition. 

• ?????? ?????? ??????, ?????? ?????? ??????: Imagine you have a strong team, everything is going great, you are taking on challenges head-on. You are feeling generous and can see the finish line in close view. 

And then suddenly, everything changes in a split second. One of the teams had a great going when their team captain fell off his speeding bike and hurt himself. Though superficial bruises wouldn't stop this athlete, he hits his head and is suspected of having a possible concussion.  

As one of the teammates puts it, they put their captain's health and life ahead of a race.

They backtrack, lose time, and reach the nearest camp to seek medical help. After the diagnosis, though the captain is determined to keep going, the team members insist on pulling out the competition. As one of the teammates puts it, they put their captain's health and life ahead of a race. This is a dream that ends for all of them. But no matter what the outcome, they were all in, standing strong together. 

• ??orking with the weakest link: Your team is as strong as its weakest link. One of the US teams starts off strong and makes it to the top ten teams of the leaderboard. 

But one of the team members is affected by heatstroke, and in one hour, they get pushed back to the 55th spot in the competition. 

Knowing that they have a team member with a challenge, they all work together - collaborate, stay together but manage the weakest member of their pack. During one stretch of a hiking path, you can see one of them tying a rope around the team member's waist to take the load off of him and keep him going forward. It is fascinating to see how far they would support this team member instead of falling out, getting frustrated, and getting down to a blame game. 

• Believing in the common goal in the face of adversities: Whether it competes with this, or at work or in life, hardships have a way of catching up and showing up without an invitation. Trying to keep the common goal or vision alive during these fire-fighting times can be more challenging than one can imagine. 

Take the example of the underdogs of the competition, a team of geriatrics. The youngest member of the group was 62! As expected, one the team member has terrible pain in his ribs and knees and cannot continue on the path. The team sits him down to have a chat with him about the bigger picture, the common goal, the vision, and reiterates the importance of the team's well-being. 

It is fascinating to see that when a 68-year-old man cannot walk up a mountain anymore, how he counters it with grit and mental strength and moves at a snail's pace but keeps moving forward nonetheless to achieve the common goal they set out for their team - to keep moving till they are told they cannot continue. 

• Keeping the vision alive: In these exceptional times, like an unbelievably hard adventure challenge, the onus of the team rests on the shoulders of the ??????????????. ?????????????? have to ensure that they still have to navigate the team towards a future they have envisioned together irrespective of the current difficulty.

Like the New Zealand team that had a clear vision of the finish line and won the challenge, there was a time in the competition when they reached a mountain climbing section at the dead of the night. This included a waterfall and was a challenging climb with daylight. And they were already ahead of the pack and bone tired. 

But the NZ team leader guides them and motivates them to complete this section before they rest for the night. And this, in turn, gives them a good headway in the competition that proves very advantageous towards the end as other teams fail to catch up with them. 

• Motivating the teams when they can't seem to go on: This couldn't be more true today than any other time before in our lifetimes. Our teams are struggling to manage work and home, are facing mental stress, and are possibly heading towards a burn-out. As a ????????????, our role is to motivate the team, especially when everything seems to be falling apart. 

As the Spanish team with three men and one woman composition, during the competition's swimming section, one team member is tired and cold and stops moving. This results in a loss of body heat and brings him close to hypothermia. But the team leader, the strong, relentless woman, keeps swimming and finds a unique way to tie their backpacks that enables them to float and swim more efficiently. She moves around and helps her teammates similarly tie their backpacks and motivates them to keep moving ahead. 

• Understanding and working with each individual's strengths: For any team to work seamlessly together and succeed, it is essential to identify and play to each team member's strengths. But it is equally important to recognize and stop when the team needs help. There is no shame in asking for help. 

One of the teams had a war veteran who had lost her ability to hear as she was close to a bomb shelling. This could be considered less than ideal for a team embarking on the world's toughest race. But the team understood her strengths and used her grit and never-give-up attitude when the going got tough. But after an incredibly difficult stretch of hiking and losing many hours to navigational errors, the team finally stops and asks to be rescued. 

1. ??s a ????????????, build a culture of trust and ??amaraderie above anything else. Let your teams spend quality time and foster deep connections even outside of work. This, in itself, will become a core strength. 
2. ??dentify the team's strengths and work with that while looking at the cumulative weaknesses and plan to manage it. The team is as strong as your weakest link.
3. ??hen the going gets tough, the team will look up to the leader to keep the vision alive and motivate them. Ensure you invest in yourself to build resilience and grit. Practice being optimistically cautious. 

???????????????????? is not a comfortable ship to sail in the best of times. But during a crisis is when the real mettle of a leader is truly tested. The most challenging race in the world and leading an organization seem more alike than one would imagine. 

What other lessons would you add to the list? 

Welcome your thoughts and perspectives on this Article and your personal experiences.

???????????????? is known as the"???????????? ??????????" Official Member of #FORBES Coaches Council and he is ???????????????? ?????????????????? ?????????????????????? ???????????????? ???????????????? ?????????????????? ?????????? as well as ?????? ???????? ?????????????????? ??????????. Furthermore, he is a Certified Corporate Director, an Author, and authored books ???? ??????????????; ???? ???????????? .

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