Canadian HR Reporter

STRATEGIC CAPABILITY NETWORK'S PANEL of thought leaders brings decades of experience from the senior ranks of Canada's business community. eir commentary puts HR management issues into context and looks at the practical implications of proposals and policies. CANADIAN HR REPORTER EXECUTIVE SERIES 13 www.scnetwork.ca FEBRUARY 2018 Using extreme experiences as a management development tool ree SCNetwork members discuss Scott Kress' presentation on teamwork Jan van der Hoop: is was a fi tting session to cap a year of great speakers. Scott Kress told his personal story of defeat and triumph on two diff erent mountains, with two very diff erent teams. I've long been a firm believer that how we show up at work is fundamentally no diff erent than how we show up in all our other activities — "who we are" colours how we engage with others to face challenges and shines through, re- gardless of where we are or the sit- uation in which we fi nd ourselves. Play and other non-work- related challenges are a great metaphor that sometimes makes understanding the complexities of team dynamics and culture easier. Hence the popularity of "experiential off-sites." People lose themselves in the game, but the debrief (if done competently) offers rich learning about the truth of the group's dynamics, which can translate well back at the offi ce. I once saw an entire executive team say, "Screw it, let's go for a drink" instead of engaging in a search-and-rescue for their CEO who was shivering somewhere in the woods — true story. It's not hard to predict how that shows up in the day-to-day. Kress did a very nice job of il- lustrating — with examples of successful and failed expeditions — how communication, shared vision, team respect and cohesive- ness, and a laser focus on things you can control, can be the decid- ing factors, far more important determinants of success than raw talent and experience. And there was one other fac- tor that he snuck in, almost as an afterthought: Refl ection — the willingness to debrief, to regular- ly discuss what's going well and explore what we need to learn or do diff erently. Most of us engage in it when we have the time or when it's con- venient (or when it's mandated by HR because it's performance review season) and it is almost al- ways the fi rst thing to drop when the going gets tough or people feel challenged. Yet, it can be the diff erence be- tween success and failure. Silvia Lulka: I agree, Jan. The leadership lessons in and of themselves were not new, but hearing about their application on Everest was so interesting, in- spiring and entertaining. I really appreciated hearing about the deliberateness with which Kress stuck to his princi- ples and knowledge in designing his Everest climb. How he struc- tured the team, how they walked with diff erent people every day to purposefully socialize and get to know each other better, how they refl ected, how they talked about what was going on — all the things that we know to do, Kress was able to apply. Even with the resistance he had at times, he stuck to it. One of my favourite parts was when they were faced with what seemed like an insurmountable challenge — they decided to have a party, complete with dressing up and toilet paper decorations. What a great way to fi re off the oxytocin that we release through social interaction, instead of the cortisol of stress. is clearly paid off for Kress and his team with all the extra challenges and delays they faced in climbing Mount Everest the year of the 2008 Olympic Games. I loved hearing that 80 per cent of the teams that focused on what they could infl uence reached the summit, in contrast to nine per cent of the teams that focused their energy and attention on the negative concerns that were out- side their control. e session had all that, plus learning bits of trivia. Who knew that your body uses 1,000 calories per hour at rest state in that alti- tude? And that you'd die within minutes if you didn't acclimatize? And that you can see the circum- ference of the earth from the sum- mit? So interesting. Paul Pittman: It was a great presentation, but before we get to that... Jan: How did you manage to get out of the forest in such dif- fi cult circumstances? We have all been in that ex- tremely trying work situation. Stress is at a maximum, and we're physically tired and mentally ex- hausted but still required to make critical decisions. When it all goes wrong, someone in the group will inevitably pipe up with "Well, no one died." In Kress' line of work, that just ain't true. I am in awe of people like Kress who manage at the extremes of endurance and push their bod- ies to the limit — I could listen forever to how he pulled that off and, truth be told, I would love to be that man. However, we must not let that distract us from the learning around critical decision- making, team-building, positivity and collaboration. e extreme experience as a management development tool has lost its sheen lately, I suppose because participants remem- ber the thrill rather than the les- sons, and because the objective becomes even more obscured when it's not just available to the business world these days. In our personal lives, we can pretty much experience what we want, even space travel, if we have the incli- nation… and the money. is was a fantastic session, but physical endurance is no longer a metaphor for business (anyone remember e Art of War?) and Kress made that point. e work- place is a lot gentler these days and mental health is regarded as key to productivity. e management lessons, how- ever, continue to be extremely (no pun intended) important, and that was the great takeaway. We encourage readers of our rants to think about these as they plan their activities for what we hope will be for them a very pros- perous 2018. PANELLISTS: • Jan G. van der Hoop, president of Fit First Technologies in Toronto • Silvia Lulka, director of coaching at Rogers Communications in Toronto • Paul Pittman, founder and president of the Human Well in Toronto Jan van der Hoop Paul Pittman Silvia Lulka Join our professional community of Canadian HR & Organizational Leaders: • Connecting @ monthly events • Collaborating with peers • Challenging conventional thinking The Power of Human Capital CULTIVATING LEADERSHIP FOR 35 YEARS Great Leaders GROW www.scnetwork.ca e trail leading to the top of Everest was treacherous at times, with the team needing to use lad- ders to scale ice mounds or cross over yawning crevasses. If that wasn't enough, the fi ve team members also encountered military resistance and searches by armed personnel as the Chi- nese government was determined to carry the Olympic torch to the summit with as little resistance as possible ahead of the 2008 Olym- pic Games in Beijing. Satellite phones and personal cameras were temporarily con- fi scated, cutting off communica- tion between climbers and their families, and climbing restric- tions were also imposed. Both oc- currences were major emotional blows, said Kress. Restricted to base camp, low- er-performance teams began to crack under the pressure, he said. Meanwhile, Kress' team worked hard to remain in a positive frame of mind, even throwing a small party for those awaiting the Olym- pic torch to complete its summit. "Climbing Everest, you've got to be strong," said Kress, citing an- other workplace parallel. "You've got to be physically fi t, but that's just your ticket to the door. Once you get there, the diff erence be- tween success and failure is… how you deal with the environment mentally and emotionally." e Olympic torch would even- tually summit, and phones and cameras were returned before hikers were allowed to resume their treks. And Kress' team went on to summit the highest mountain in the world. "For me, it was a pretty amazing experience," he said. Mental fi tness drives success EVEREST < pg. 12

• Cover