Things I learned Sailing #3 - Teamwork means letting people do their jobs themselves

I'm not the first person to point this out (Actually Adam Smith probably was, when he wrote about the Law of Comparative Advantage), but this is one of those things that real-life experience really brings home.

I'm a pretty good sailor overall (apart from steering...); truth is that on most of the yachts I've sailed, I've been one of the strongest crew members on day one, and that causes a problem.

I can't stand watching someone else do a job badly if I think I could do it better; so when I first joined a racing crew I had a terrible habit of jumping in to do everything.  This works up to a point, but it misses the bigger picture - on long races (24 hours or more) you run a watch system - you HAVE to take turns so that you can rest. 

The first time I was really aware of this was on one of our first overnight races, when I woke up in the night to hear the on-watch changing spinnakers - something I'd *always* done - I had to consciously stop myself from running up on deck to 'help' and lay there fretting instead as they got the job finished. 

Afterwards I realized I didn't have to worry about that any more - as a crew we were good enough all-round that no-one was vital; I also understood how difficult would have been for ME to have to get up to do the job every time...

I still have that urge to step in, but I am better at avoiding it now and, almost 20 years later, rarely succumb - all because of that night in the English Channel listening to the rest of the crew doing a job I thought only I could do!