More than once on team building / performance courses the facilitators have used the analogy of a rowing eight, making the point that the best performance is gained when all the members are "in time". In each case this is as far as the analogy has been taken. As a sometime oarsmen it strikes me that there is more to be made of the analogy and I want to cover three aspects here. aspects that I do believe are relevant but rarely mentioned.
They are:-
> Balance
> Letting the boat run
> The value of the cox
Dealing with balance first (and hoping that the reader has at sometime either rowed or seen it on the television) this is at least as crucial to attaining good performance as is timing. In a boat a lack of balance is blatant and evidenced by the juddering of blades across the water surface and the haphazard spray of water into the air and over team mates, wasting energy and damaging morale. This is a case where a poor oarsman can impact and impede the better oarsmen around him - it only takes one! In the worst case this can lead to the dreaded "catching a crab" or worse losing n oar as it is ripped from an oarsman's grip.
The analogy is even more apt in choppy waters when balance is even more important if one is to achieve best performance.
The relevance of this to teams is to build them with an understanding of balance and of the importance of everyone's contribution/behaviour. Once balanced any tinkering may have a detrimental effect.
The second point I best illustrated if you watch rowing on television where without doubt the camera will focus at some point on the bow (front) of the boat as it rhythmically rises from the water and surges forward before falling again. What is often lost is that this surge is when the boat is moving fastest and is also when the oars are no longer in the water, as the crew's seats slide back and they catch a breath before the next stroke of delivered exertion.
The physicist knows that this is due to the conservation of momentum as the crew move backwards relative to the boat, the boat moves forward to compensate. No matter it is an interesting point for teams and certainly gels with driving change.
The point is that there are times to let go, to catch one's breath and let the organisation "run". Surprisingly it may run faster at this time if you have done the right preparatory work and can let it run cleanly - with balance.
It is similar to not trying too hard, knowing when to push and when to let off, at least a little. This may seem counter intuitive, but is also seen in team sports like tug-of-war.
The last is the value of a cox. Now if you look at rowing crews can be coxed or uncoxed, but where a cox is present they play an important part. They may not be big or strong physically, indeed it suits that they re not, but the are the ones who face into the direction of progress, provide feedback and encouragement to the crew who can then focus on what they are there to do, and they decide how and more importantly when to steer. If the cox is out of tune with the crew and the crew's timing the contribution is limited and possibly destructive. For example if the cox steers when the blades are out of the water they can badly fact both the balance of the boat AND the run, by adding drag to one side.
The best coxes I have rowed with, trained just as hard and often as the oarsmen, gaining respect and earning their right to be in the boat and part of a winning crew.
The point here is that you don't have to have a cox for the team, but where you do they can add real value as long as they do what they need to do....well!
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