Leadership: A Viking with a mother’s heart - Leadership the Shackleton way

Part 2:

Continuing the tribute to Sir Ernest Shackleton’s gift to leadership from the last issue of Human Resources.

6. See and own the future

The future has to be owned by the leader.

The Boss could visualise things ahead and plan accordingly. Extensive planning needs to be performed. The extent of the Boss’s detail in planning included: different gear to avoid the problems he had experienced in past expeditions; provisioning food and equipment that saved their lives many times; packing cases made of ply wood (a new material) that could be reconstituted into building material for a hut.

Bold in planning but careful in execution

The Boss was bold with planning but careful in execution. While the vision must be bold every conservable risk was minimised to ensure a safe outcome. He was over provisioned. His original plans were to be away for just over a year but had wisely provisioned for two years based on 4,000 calories a day.

Equip the team

In providing for the team only the best was good enough for the Endurance

expedition. And where necessary new equipment was designed. The food on board was fit for a King. Unusual treats that were capable of being stored for years were taken. In the bleakest moments the Boss used a treat to say to his men “There is more of this when we get home”.

7. Develop, engage and trust

Removing barriers of rank to build cohesion

The Boss broke down any and all barriers that would get in the way of a cohesive team. He devised rotas where all team members, including himself, were involved. All members including the Boss did the dishes and cleaned the floors. When it came time to ration the fur lined sleeping bags to the team, straws were drawn, the three main leaders drawing a blank in a rigged draw, benefiting the younger men. The Boss insisted on courtesy and mutual respect between all members of the team.

Motivate others

The team were prepared to take on any task the Boss wanted as they knew he would be in the line with them. It could be the fruitless task spending weeks trying to break the ship free from the ice, the hauling of the lifeboats over the ice floe, to the seemingly impossible transverse of South Georgia.

Fitness and health of the team

Being focused on the fitness and health of the team he devised many activities on the ice floe to keep the team in good health.

Communicate the (organisation’s) critical success factors clearly to the team to help enforce alignment

Shackleton knew the importance of getting the team totally aligned. He recognised intuitively that this happened through understanding the critical success factors and ensuring each day the team planned their daily duties with this in mind.

Cross train and rotate teams to develop staff

Shackleton cross trained and rotated the teams to develop staff. He changed all the given rules for previous expeditions. All staff were required to master new skills, to act as backup in case of injury. For example, the surgeon was skippering the Endurance when it docked at Buenos Aires on the fateful voyage.

Match tasks to the individual capabilities and personalities

Shackleton went to great lengths to suit tasks to the individual capabilities and personalities.

Know your staff inside out

The Boss knew his staff inside out and spent time with each member of his team to find out what made them tick, how he could best lead them, and how he could serve them.

8. Constantly innovate

The Boss always learned from prior experiences. He designed special clothing, the equivalent of a breakthrough as cortex is today. He also designed a tent that quickly could be erected in a blizzard. These two innovations no doubt saved the lives of his men.

The ‘James Caird’ lifeboat that made the crossing to South Georgia was modified, and these modifications saved them all as a rogue wave 40 foot plus swamped the boat during the journey. The wave was so large the Boss first mistook it for a cloud!

Embracing learning

From an early age, Shackleton looked for experience. At the age of 14, he was a cabin boy on his first sea voyage. He learned from working with both accomplished and not-so-accomplished captains. He sought to go on as many polar adventures as he could, to prepare himself to get to the South Pole.

The Boss trained himself to become an exceptional leader. He learned from prior mistakes, he was a student of other explorers’ experience and he too had as a hero the Norwegian Roald Amundsen. He admired and sought to emulate the skill, preparation, and attention to detail displayed by Amundsen in the 1911 race to be the first to the South Pole.

9. Embody the values

Value people over results

He valued results, but he valued life and people more. No goal was worth the loss of life. He took no unnecessary risks. He never attempted a goal if the return journey was not guaranteed. In an earlier expedition, the Boss could have been the first to the South Pole but he knew that some of the team would have died doing it.

Love thy neighbour as thyself

The Boss was a religious man. He took the bible with him from his first trip on the sea as a cabin boy. He knew many of the scriptures and had a profound love of the common man. He respected his colleagues, their life and time.

Maintain humility

Whilst the Boss loved the limelight, enjoyed the public adoration and the attention from the fairer sex, he was very humble when communicating to his team, knowing that through humility greatness can be achieved.

In his public relations, he only laid claim to what was rightly his achievements.

Embed hostmanship

He treated his crew as equals. He knew that helping was the most important task and thus welcomed the interruption. Shackleton time and time again gave up comforts for his men. During the trip he gave up the fur lined sleeping bags, his bed for a sick member, his gloves at a point where he risked severe frost bite. He always shared the provisions faultlessly to all, no matter what their contribution. Jan Gunnarsson calls this trait ‘hostmanship’ in his book ‘Hostmanship: the art of making people feel welcome’.

Never comprise integrity

The Boss set high values and when these were compromised, he was unforgiving. The four staff that had

jeopardised the safety of his men were later severely punished on return to the UK by the withholding of the Polar medal.

10. Finding and using a mentor

Shackleton realised the importance of mentorship and this is what he said in his book, South: The Endurance Expedition:

Leonard Tripp, who has been my mentor, counsellor, and friend for many years, and who, when the Expedition was in precarious and difficult circumstances, devoted his energy, thought, and gave his whole time and advice to the best interests of our cause.

11. Be a serving leader

The Boss looked after the comforts of the team. He was a mother hen. He genuinely cared for his team members as if they were his own flesh and blood. He saw a leader as one who served rather than one who was served. He dutifully took his turn performing the most menial of chores and expected his leadership team to do the same. He was “a Viking with a mother’s heart”.

Ken Blanchard’s book “the Secret” neatly records that a leader exists to serve others rather than be one who is served to. The boss would be the first to nurse an ailing member, he would be the first to make a cup of brew if he knew his staff were at the end of their tether.

He saw such service as a strength not a weakness in his leadership.

References available on request.

David Parmenter is an expert in performance management. He has four books published including “Key Performance Leading-Edge Manager’s Guide To Success”. His work on KPIs has received international recognition.