March 13, 2024 • 13 mins
If you've got a problem at work, is it:
a) you
b) other people
c) the environment
d) all of the above.
Have you ever changed jobs, only to find the issue still exists in your new job? This is a definite sign that you thought it was (C - the environment) but it was actually (A - you).
So how do you figure out the cause of the issue before making big changes? In this episode I use a metaphor from Positive Psychology called the Sailboat (I also referenced this tool in podcast episode #60 with Liz Bradford).
I talk through the sailboat, a story about my own 'sailboat', what happened when I moved to Paris, and how you can answer the multi-choice question above by listening to the episode.
Here are three key takeaways:
- Know Your Sailboat: Just as a captain must understand every aspect of their vessel, effective leadership begins with self-awareness. Identifying your strengths (sails) and weaknesses (leaks), clarifying your values (steering wheel), and setting clear goals (destination) are crucial steps toward navigating your leadership journey successfully.
- Navigate the Waters: Understanding the dynamics of the environment you operate in (life's domains) is essential. Whether it's adapting to change (weather events) or managing relationships (other boats), recognizing the external factors at play allows for more informed decision-making and effective leadership.
- Chart Your Course: Leadership is not a solo journey; it's about leading teams toward a common goal. By fostering open dialogue and aligning individual and team objectives, you can create a shared vision and set actionable steps (SMART goals) to propel your organisation forward.
If you find yourself seeking a tailored approach to leadership development or team building, reach out to discuss our workshop options. Whether it's a one-off session or a comprehensive leadership program, I'd love to help you unlock your team's full potential and achieve your desired outcomes.
Remember, small changes can lead to significant growth over time. What 1% will you apply from this week's podcast?
Find out your personal Leadership Style with the free quiz
Join the Mailing List - hear first when new episodes are live
Zenith Journey website - leaders aren't born, they're trained
Buy the Delegation Playbook - delegate seamlessly, for better results, without the stress
Zenith Journey Instagram
Kate Peardon Linkedin
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to the Level Up Leadership Podcast.
This is the go-to podcast forchronically busy leaders and
small business owners who areready to get out of the weeds
and start leading.
The weekly episodes have microleadership lessons focused on
how to level up your leadershipand help you to be 1% better
every day.
It's all about growing yourleadership wisdom, building your
(00:25):
team and being the leaderpeople want to work for.
So let's get into it.
I recently facilitated aworkshop for a leadership team
in the tech industry using ananalogy called the sailboat.
Today I want to share a littlebit about the sailboat analogy,
how it could be helpful for youand a few of the different
(00:45):
techniques I spoke about at theworkshop and how it helped this
leadership team.
So firstly, the sailboatmetaphor it's something that I
learnt through positivepsychology and through my
positive psychology masters.
So the concept is that you arethe captain of the sailboat and
the sailboat represents a lot ofdifferent elements.
For example, the sails are yourstrengths, the leaks in the
(01:08):
boat are your weaknesses.
The steering wheel is yourvalues.
The water that you're in islife's domains, and I'll explain
this one in a moment with thestory.
The destination, so whereyou're going is your goals and
aspirations.
The weather is, the differentevents that happen that are
outside your control, and theother boats are the other people
(01:30):
that are in your team or otherrelationships that are outside
work.
So why is this useful to use asa team?
Whenever I look at developmentfrom a leadership point of view,
it always factors in threedifferent sections.
We always look first for self,second for team and third for
business or organisation, andthe reason this inside out model
(01:52):
is so important is if you don'tunderstand yourself and what's
important to you, what you value, what your hot buttons are, you
are not going to understandother people in your team,
what's important to them andtheir hot buttons, and you are
certainly not going tounderstand a business or be able
to inspire a business.
So I'll always include anelement of self, team and
organisation when I do myleadership development, and that
(02:14):
might even be just saying atthe beginning.
These are the three elements asa group, what of these three
things are you most interestedin?
And that can also give a bit ofa guide on how the team wants
to focus their time.
So back to the sailboat analogy.
Why is it useful?
Well, if we're a captain in aboat.
Often we think, well, I am in ajob that I don't like, so the
(02:39):
water might be the company thatyou're in.
I'm going to put my sailboatinto some other water and that
will solve my issues.
So it might be that your boathas a leak or there's no wind in
the sails and you're not goinganywhere and you fell stale and
stagnated.
So you take your boat and moveit to some other water, which is
another company.
Another question is are youclear on your compass?
(03:00):
What is your direction?
And one of my other favouritesis whose boat is there to help
you?
And these are great questionsto really understand how we can
use this analogy to help aleadership team work well
together.
Now, as I tell this story, a fewpeople might resonate.
When I was in my mid-twenties,I felt a bit unsettled in life
(03:23):
and decided to have aquarter-life crisis.
So I took the steering wheel ofmy boat and sailed into New
Waters, also known as Moving toParis.
This, on the outside, was avery legitimised reason for
moving to the other side of theworld, because I was studying at
university.
In hindsight, I look back andrealise my boat and all the
(03:44):
different parts, all the leaksand the wind in the sail or lack
of wind in the sail all thosethings was still the same in
Paris, even though I had my sailbit in a very different water.
So a very different environment, different people, different
interactions.
I wasn't in the same workplace.
Everything was still somewhatthe same, and I think this is
(04:05):
really important to note whenyou think that you need to
change a relationship or changea job or change a house is to
really unpack the difference ofis this an issue with the water
that I'm in or is this an issuewith the boat that I'm the
captain of?
That if I put my boat indifferent waters or different
situations, will those issuesstill follow me?
(04:25):
And for a number of clientsthat I have, often it might be
the fact that they thought theywere going to solve it by
changing relationship orchanging jobs, but actually the
issue was with their boat.
What do I mean by this?
The boat might be that they arenot feeling inspired in what
they're doing.
You're not going to feelinspired if you go somewhere
else, most likely.
(04:46):
How can you find other ways tofeel inspired?
Another point is the weatherevents.
So if your boat is in its waterand all of a sudden, this
weather event comes, is noticingthe difference between what's
new control in your boat andwhat's water and what's weather.
I think COVID is a wonderfulexample of what the weather was.
(05:08):
That was a storm that camethrough that was out of your
control.
What you could control was yourboat and the leaks that were in
it, how good your sail was andhow well you sailed in that
weather event.
Now, of course, there's so manyother things that go on to it,
but I think you might be able tosee how this analogy is helpful
.
So how do I use this in aleadership sense?
(05:31):
First of all, I give thissailboat technique and worksheet
to people within the team andjust to jot down a few different
notes on what the elements arefor them.
So this boat that they arecaptain of, what does it mean to
them for their steering wheelor their values or their
destination?
Do they feel clear on theirdestination?
(05:53):
This is a great one inleadership teams when people
will write in that they don'tfeel clear on the plan ahead.
And we've used an analogy of asailboat to actually get this
conversation happening, whichwould never have come out, or it
may not have come out if Ihadn't have used an analogy.
The power of a story or ananalogy means people can unpack
(06:15):
things that they might not havebeen aware of if I'd asked the
question directly.
So they get this worksheet withtheir sailboat and jot down a
few notes on the differentelements and what it means to
them.
And then we ask what's thecurrent status of your sailboat,
how would you describe yourcurrent journey?
(06:36):
And for some people they say oh, I've got so much wind in my
sails, but I feel like I'm goingin circles which, on more
conversation, it could be thatthey have a lot of energy, but
they don't know what thedirection is that they're going.
Or another person could sayI've been on this sailboat for
years and years, but I just feellike I keep on springing leaks
(06:57):
and I'm just bailing water outand not getting anywhere.
And if you think about this ina work sense, well, maybe
they're continually putting outfires and not feeling like
they're getting ahead.
Or another person coulddescribe their journey they just
feel like they're holding onand weathering the storm.
And the conversation could beis it the storm or these weather
(07:18):
events that come and go, or isit the water that your boat is
in.
That perhaps is not the bestwater for the boat that you've
built.
So you can see how having theseconversations, with the use of a
sailboat as an analogy, can bequite fascinating for a
leadership team.
If you recall, at the beginningI talked about self-team and
organization.
(07:38):
We look at this sailboat inthree different ways.
So first people would look attheir own sailboat that they're
captain of, and then they lookat the sailboats that are next
to them, and then theconversation we would have
around that is how are the othersailboats in the water with you
?
So how are these other peoplein the team?
Do you feel like you're headingin the same direction?
Are you blocking the wind fromeach other?
(07:59):
Are you crashing into eachother?
And those analogies could bethat they're blocking the wind
from each other, as in theymight be taking each other's
project work or they're crashinginto each other.
It might not be cleardelineation of who's responsible
for what.
It could be that they're allsailing really fast, lots of
wind in the sail, but they arenot heading in the same
(08:20):
direction.
So it could be a lack ofstrategy that has been
communicated and understood.
So that's how you canunderstand the individual
sailboat and then how you canunderstand how the sailboats fit
together.
And there can be great visualsdone with this as well.
Often, when I facilitate it, Iwill create on the whiteboard
pictures of what people aresaying and just staying curious,
(08:42):
because it's what's happeningfor them.
So once we've understood theindividual's opportunities,
challenges and the teamsopportunities and challenges we
then look at building actions.
What's similar, what'sdifferent, and what is it as a
company or a leadership team dowe need to focus on?
If the conversation is comingup that people are sailing their
(09:04):
boats and not clear on thedirection, then the actions that
can come from this could beabout how to make a clear
strategy and how to communicateit.
It could be that they talkabout that all their boats are
heading in the one direction,but the rest of the regatta is
so far behind.
Well, okay, how did we buildthe bridge between the
leadership team and the rest ofthe company?
It could be, as I spoke aboutbefore, that boats are running
(09:27):
into each other.
Well, what are the actionsCould be?
How can we get some clarity onwho has responsibilities for
what?
So the third section of this islooking at the organization and
the team.
My workshops always finish withactions, so it's wonderful to
have a discussion and open uptopics and greater understanding
of yourself and your team.
(09:48):
I'm always really keen on theso what Now that we've learned
this.
So what?
How can we apply it to ourbusiness?
How can we apply it toourselves?
And we finish the session withour actions, and not just
actions that are what you thinkpeople would like to hear or
what you think is supposed to besaid.
These actions are specific.
(10:09):
They are measurable.
If anyone knows what smartgoals are, that's probably
what's coming next.
They are achievable.
They're realistic in theirtimely.
We look at what are theseactions and who is responsible
and by when.
If you've listened to my podcastbefore, you'll know that I am
really big on 1%ers, and thereason for that is if we try and
(10:30):
move the needle and do so muchchange all the time, people get
changed, fatigue and they don'tkeep up.
If we look at 1% changes butyou continually implement 1%
change, it is compoundinginterest and that is the
wonderful thing about growingyour leadership skill.
So, if you'd like to usesomething like the sailboat as
(10:51):
an analogy, some great questionsyou can ask are what is your
direction?
How can you be a team of boatseven though you're in a separate
part of the business?
What are the challenges thatare coming up as a business?
Is it rough seas?
Is it calm seas?
Is it weather events that areon the horizon?
Is it uncontrollableenvironments?
Another question is are youclear on your compass?
(11:14):
What is your direction?
And one of my other favoritesis whose boat is there to help
you?
And these are great questionsto really understand how we can
use this analogy to help aleadership team work well
together.
If, on hearing today's episode,you think you could do with some
injection of strategy and teamcohesiveness and challenging and
(11:37):
actions, please reach out to meto discuss different workshop
options, whether it's a one-offor a leadership program.
A sailboat is one example of aworkshop that I run, and what
you get when you have aprofessional come and facilitate
a workshop for you is reallyfinding the nuance in your team
and working out what workshop isgoing to be best.
(12:00):
Yes, I have a set of workshops,but I will always work with a
client and decide what is goingto be the best way to help move
this client forward in thedirection that they want to go.
So for this particular workshop.
I looked into my bag of tricksof workshops and pulled out the
sailboat and then tailored itfor their particular team to
make sure that they get whatthey wanted out of the workshop.
(12:23):
The other thing with having anexternal facilitator is, as a
leader, it's really hard tofacilitate your team development
and growth as well as being inthe team, and one of the things
your team wants is to see thatyou're human and part of it, not
just sitting to the side andpointing so wherever possible.
Being part of development withyour team is really, really key
and getting an externalfacilitator is worth their
(12:45):
weight in gold.
I hope you enjoyed today'sepisode.
If you're looking on moreinformation for the sailboat,
have a look in the show notes oryou can Google positive
psychology and look for thesailboat.
Thanks for listening.
Welcome to the Level Up Leadership Podcast.
This is the go-to podcast forchronically busy leaders and
small business owners who areready to get out of the weeds
and start leading.
The weekly episodes have microleadership lessons focused on
how to level up your leadershipand help you to be 1% better
every day.
It's all about growing yourleadership wisdom, building your
(00:25):
team and being the leaderpeople want to work for.
So let's get into it.
I recently facilitated aworkshop for a leadership team
in the tech industry using ananalogy called the sailboat.
Today I want to share a littlebit about the sailboat analogy,
how it could be helpful for youand a few of the different
(00:45):
techniques I spoke about at theworkshop and how it helped this
leadership team.
So firstly, the sailboatmetaphor it's something that I
learnt through positivepsychology and through my
positive psychology masters.
So the concept is that you arethe captain of the sailboat and
the sailboat represents a lot ofdifferent elements.
For example, the sails are yourstrengths, the leaks in the
(01:08):
boat are your weaknesses.
The steering wheel is yourvalues.
The water that you're in islife's domains, and I'll explain
this one in a moment with thestory.
The destination, so whereyou're going is your goals and
aspirations.
The weather is, the differentevents that happen that are
outside your control, and theother boats are the other people
(01:30):
that are in your team or otherrelationships that are outside
work.
So why is this useful to use asa team?
Whenever I look at developmentfrom a leadership point of view,
it always factors in threedifferent sections.
We always look first for self,second for team and third for
business or organisation, andthe reason this inside out model
(01:52):
is so important is if you don'tunderstand yourself and what's
important to you, what you value, what your hot buttons are, you
are not going to understandother people in your team,
what's important to them andtheir hot buttons, and you are
certainly not going tounderstand a business or be able
to inspire a business.
So I'll always include anelement of self, team and
organisation when I do myleadership development, and that
(02:14):
might even be just saying atthe beginning.
These are the three elements asa group, what of these three
things are you most interestedin?
And that can also give a bit ofa guide on how the team wants
to focus their time.
So back to the sailboat analogy.
Why is it useful?
Well, if we're a captain in aboat.
Often we think, well, I am in ajob that I don't like, so the
(02:39):
water might be the company thatyou're in.
I'm going to put my sailboatinto some other water and that
will solve my issues.
So it might be that your boathas a leak or there's no wind in
the sails and you're not goinganywhere and you fell stale and
stagnated.
So you take your boat and moveit to some other water, which is
another company.
Another question is are youclear on your compass?
(03:00):
What is your direction?
And one of my other favouritesis whose boat is there to help
you?
And these are great questionsto really understand how we can
use this analogy to help aleadership team work well
together.
Now, as I tell this story, a fewpeople might resonate.
When I was in my mid-twenties,I felt a bit unsettled in life
(03:23):
and decided to have aquarter-life crisis.
So I took the steering wheel ofmy boat and sailed into New
Waters, also known as Moving toParis.
This, on the outside, was avery legitimised reason for
moving to the other side of theworld, because I was studying at
university.
In hindsight, I look back andrealise my boat and all the
(03:44):
different parts, all the leaksand the wind in the sail or lack
of wind in the sail all thosethings was still the same in
Paris, even though I had my sailbit in a very different water.
So a very different environment, different people, different
interactions.
I wasn't in the same workplace.
Everything was still somewhatthe same, and I think this is
(04:05):
really important to note whenyou think that you need to
change a relationship or changea job or change a house is to
really unpack the difference ofis this an issue with the water
that I'm in or is this an issuewith the boat that I'm the
captain of?
That if I put my boat indifferent waters or different
situations, will those issuesstill follow me?
(04:25):
And for a number of clientsthat I have, often it might be
the fact that they thought theywere going to solve it by
changing relationship orchanging jobs, but actually the
issue was with their boat.
What do I mean by this?
The boat might be that they arenot feeling inspired in what
they're doing.
You're not going to feelinspired if you go somewhere
else, most likely.
(04:46):
How can you find other ways tofeel inspired?
Another point is the weatherevents.
So if your boat is in its waterand all of a sudden, this
weather event comes, is noticingthe difference between what's
new control in your boat andwhat's water and what's weather.
I think COVID is a wonderfulexample of what the weather was.
(05:08):
That was a storm that camethrough that was out of your
control.
What you could control was yourboat and the leaks that were in
it, how good your sail was andhow well you sailed in that
weather event.
Now, of course, there's so manyother things that go on to it,
but I think you might be able tosee how this analogy is helpful
.
So how do I use this in aleadership sense?
(05:31):
First of all, I give thissailboat technique and worksheet
to people within the team andjust to jot down a few different
notes on what the elements arefor them.
So this boat that they arecaptain of, what does it mean to
them for their steering wheelor their values or their
destination?
Do they feel clear on theirdestination?
(05:53):
This is a great one inleadership teams when people
will write in that they don'tfeel clear on the plan ahead.
And we've used an analogy of asailboat to actually get this
conversation happening, whichwould never have come out, or it
may not have come out if Ihadn't have used an analogy.
The power of a story or ananalogy means people can unpack
(06:15):
things that they might not havebeen aware of if I'd asked the
question directly.
So they get this worksheet withtheir sailboat and jot down a
few notes on the differentelements and what it means to
them.
And then we ask what's thecurrent status of your sailboat,
how would you describe yourcurrent journey?
(06:36):
And for some people they say oh, I've got so much wind in my
sails, but I feel like I'm goingin circles which, on more
conversation, it could be thatthey have a lot of energy, but
they don't know what thedirection is that they're going.
Or another person could sayI've been on this sailboat for
years and years, but I just feellike I keep on springing leaks
(06:57):
and I'm just bailing water outand not getting anywhere.
And if you think about this ina work sense, well, maybe
they're continually putting outfires and not feeling like
they're getting ahead.
Or another person coulddescribe their journey they just
feel like they're holding onand weathering the storm.
And the conversation could beis it the storm or these weather
(07:18):
events that come and go, or isit the water that your boat is
in.
That perhaps is not the bestwater for the boat that you've
built.
So you can see how having theseconversations, with the use of a
sailboat as an analogy, can bequite fascinating for a
leadership team.
If you recall, at the beginningI talked about self-team and
organization.
(07:38):
We look at this sailboat inthree different ways.
So first people would look attheir own sailboat that they're
captain of, and then they lookat the sailboats that are next
to them, and then theconversation we would have
around that is how are the othersailboats in the water with you
?
So how are these other peoplein the team?
Do you feel like you're headingin the same direction?
Are you blocking the wind fromeach other?
(07:59):
Are you crashing into eachother?
And those analogies could bethat they're blocking the wind
from each other, as in theymight be taking each other's
project work or they're crashinginto each other.
It might not be cleardelineation of who's responsible
for what.
It could be that they're allsailing really fast, lots of
wind in the sail, but they arenot heading in the same
(08:20):
direction.
So it could be a lack ofstrategy that has been
communicated and understood.
So that's how you canunderstand the individual
sailboat and then how you canunderstand how the sailboats fit
together.
And there can be great visualsdone with this as well.
Often, when I facilitate it, Iwill create on the whiteboard
pictures of what people aresaying and just staying curious,
(08:42):
because it's what's happeningfor them.
So once we've understood theindividual's opportunities,
challenges and the teamsopportunities and challenges we
then look at building actions.
What's similar, what'sdifferent, and what is it as a
company or a leadership team dowe need to focus on?
If the conversation is comingup that people are sailing their
(09:04):
boats and not clear on thedirection, then the actions that
can come from this could beabout how to make a clear
strategy and how to communicateit.
It could be that they talkabout that all their boats are
heading in the one direction,but the rest of the regatta is
so far behind.
Well, okay, how did we buildthe bridge between the
leadership team and the rest ofthe company?
It could be, as I spoke aboutbefore, that boats are running
(09:27):
into each other.
Well, what are the actionsCould be?
How can we get some clarity onwho has responsibilities for
what?
So the third section of this islooking at the organization and
the team.
My workshops always finish withactions, so it's wonderful to
have a discussion and open uptopics and greater understanding
of yourself and your team.
(09:48):
I'm always really keen on theso what Now that we've learned
this.
So what?
How can we apply it to ourbusiness?
How can we apply it toourselves?
And we finish the session withour actions, and not just
actions that are what you thinkpeople would like to hear or
what you think is supposed to besaid.
These actions are specific.
(10:09):
They are measurable.
If anyone knows what smartgoals are, that's probably
what's coming next.
They are achievable.
They're realistic in theirtimely.
We look at what are theseactions and who is responsible
and by when.
If you've listened to my podcastbefore, you'll know that I am
really big on 1%ers, and thereason for that is if we try and
(10:30):
move the needle and do so muchchange all the time, people get
changed, fatigue and they don'tkeep up.
If we look at 1% changes butyou continually implement 1%
change, it is compoundinginterest and that is the
wonderful thing about growingyour leadership skill.
So, if you'd like to usesomething like the sailboat as
(10:51):
an analogy, some great questionsyou can ask are what is your
direction?
How can you be a team of boatseven though you're in a separate
part of the business?
What are the challenges thatare coming up as a business?
Is it rough seas?
Is it calm seas?
Is it weather events that areon the horizon?
Is it uncontrollableenvironments?
Another question is are youclear on your compass?
(11:14):
What is your direction?
And one of my other favoritesis whose boat is there to help
you?
And these are great questionsto really understand how we can
use this analogy to help aleadership team work well
together.
If, on hearing today's episode,you think you could do with some
injection of strategy and teamcohesiveness and challenging and
(11:37):
actions, please reach out to meto discuss different workshop
options, whether it's a one-offor a leadership program.
A sailboat is one example of aworkshop that I run, and what
you get when you have aprofessional come and facilitate
a workshop for you is reallyfinding the nuance in your team
and working out what workshop isgoing to be best.
(12:00):
Yes, I have a set of workshops,but I will always work with a
client and decide what is goingto be the best way to help move
this client forward in thedirection that they want to go.
So for this particular workshop.
I looked into my bag of tricksof workshops and pulled out the
sailboat and then tailored itfor their particular team to
make sure that they get whatthey wanted out of the workshop.
(12:23):
The other thing with having anexternal facilitator is, as a
leader, it's really hard tofacilitate your team development
and growth as well as being inthe team, and one of the things
your team wants is to see thatyou're human and part of it, not
just sitting to the side andpointing so wherever possible.
Being part of development withyour team is really, really key
and getting an externalfacilitator is worth their
(12:45):
weight in gold.
I hope you enjoyed today'sepisode.
If you're looking on moreinformation for the sailboat,
have a look in the show notes oryou can Google positive
psychology and look for thesailboat.
Thanks for listening.
Popular Podcasts
Bookmarked by Reese's Book Club
Welcome to Bookmarked by Reese’s Book Club — the podcast where great stories, bold women, and irresistible conversations collide! Hosted by award-winning journalist Danielle Robay, each week new episodes balance thoughtful literary insight with the fervor of buzzy book trends, pop culture and more. Bookmarked brings together celebrities, tastemakers, influencers and authors from Reese's Book Club and beyond to share stories that transcend the page. Pull up a chair. You’re not just listening — you’re part of the conversation.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com