Rappelling, Teams, and Why Redundancy Is a High-Performer’s Secret
In April of this year I had the privilege of joining my brother for a canyoneering adventure through some of Moab, Utah’s National Parks. As someone who was born and raised in New England, the sprawling expanse of desert mixed with high-rise-sized rock formations spanning across open fields of view made me wonder if we were on a different planet.
In this beautiful part of the country, I experienced the thrill of rappelling down steep canyon faces. Yes – for those unfamiliar, canyoneering involves a combination of hiking, sometimes on hands and feet, up cliff sides and mountain formations to get to paths that lead you to steep canyon edges that you then rappel down off of. The three of us – my brother, his girlfriend, and me – were often starting down 100-foot descents, only to be supported by the attention required to ensure the safety of our descent.
During each rappel, I was both fascinated and struck by the level of intensity that was required by the 3rd and final climber as they began their rappelled descent. You see, the 3rd and final position was of utmost importance. Whereas the 1st and 2nd climber had the benefit of plenty of eyes on their “systems”, or the associated clips, hooks, and rope setups required for descent, the 3rd climber only had themselves to double, and triple check their system. Of utmost importance, beyond the safety of the climber, was the retrieval of the rappel “line” – the rope that would then need to be used for future descents. If knots were not properly tied, and ropes not properly distributed, the final climber would reach the bottom only to realize that they could not retrieve the rope for future descents.
It was all pretty nerve-wracking for me to witness. As we made it back home safely, one thing stood out to me that not only eased my stress throughout the excursion – but also appears in all high-performing environments – and is the topic of this week:
The power of redundancies.
In my work with high performers and business owners, the most successful seem to leave nothing to chance – they have built-in redundancies that if something doesn’t go exactly to plan, they can still execute at a high level.
Climbers have an acronym to ensure their safety is covered: SREN.
Solid – each component is trustworthy
Redundant – at least two independent points
Equalized – the load is shared
Non-extending – if one piece fails, the system doesn’t shock-load the rest
I’d venture to guess that this same acronym could apply to anyone in a position where end results are critical. Here’s what it might look like in high-performing teams you run or manage:
Solid – each component of your team is trusted
Redundant – at least two backup plans are in place to ensure successful execution
Equalized – the load is shared amongst the team
Non-extending – if one part of the team fails, the rest of the team isn’t overloaded
When we descended the canyon faces, we had a harness strapped to our waist, from which two locking carabiners hung. Each carabiner’s “gate” (the component that allowed the locking device to open and close) was attached so they were opposite facing, ensuring that even if one managed to open against the pressure of a rope, the other would not only stay locked, but it’s opposite-facing gate wouldn’t slide open if similar pressure to the carabiner occurred.
Professional and collegiate athletes that I work with often spend a ton of time on the road traveling to opposing teams. Their routines that work at home have to translate to away games, and sometimes it’s not always easy. But just like opposing carabiners, we look at small hinge points – the small decisions – that even if the routine doesn’t go exactly to plan, there’s something that can be applied that keeps them in check. A redundancy that allows the performer to continue to feel in control – to be safe – to feel ready even in the uncertainty.
Oftentimes this looks like a mental or visualization exercise that can get the performer primed for the performance and requires nothing but their mind. Other times it’s the performer's ability to stretch / warmup, listen to the same cues (ie: music), or engage in the same pregame plan that can set the intention regardless of circumstances. Want to know why so many performers seem so superstitious? Maybe it’s not superstition as much as it is controlling the controllables. If an athlete has a redundancy in place, they feel secure – much like I felt secure rappelling down a rock face with opposing carabiners locking me in.
There’s another interesting redundancy in canyoneering. On the descending line/rope, the rappeler has a cord attached to the line called the “prusik”. With one hand on the prusik, the descending climber loosens their grip on the cord and the rappel line moves more smoothly allowing the climber’s descent to speed up. Squeeze down on the prusik, and the descending climber's grip on the cord puts friction on the line, and slows and/or stops the descent entirely.
In my work with CEOs, I recommend that they have these built in stopping mechanisms – much like the prusik – that allow them to pause the whole system, align, and get back to a speed that is tolerable. So often business owners hear “move fast, and break things” when it comes to the iterative advantage that is proselytized. While I agree that speed is oftentimes the greatest advantage one has in business, when systems begin to break, the velocity that started as a strength can signal critical malfunctions that if gone unaddressed, could stall all progress.
Whether you’re a leader, small business owner, coach, or high performer, you’re going to want to be sure the teams you’re a part of are consistently on the same page. Do not just assume that you’ve communicated things clearly. Your prusik in this situation might be something like consistent “all hands” meetings with your team to ensure that everyone hears the same message. This also allows you to gauge the speed at which people are moving independently so that you can then adjust the speed to stay in rhythmic efficiency.
So many of my conversations with leaders and business owners about their teams go something like – “I know I’ve said this one thousand times, why don’t they just get it already?”
Applying the same logic that we did in Utah, it wouldn’t matter if we descended the same canyon one time or one thousand times. Having the redundancies in place gave us (and our fellow climbers – or in your case, team members) the peace of mind knowing that if things go wrong, get off track, or something unanticipated happens, we don’t just fall into reacting mode.
No, we stay poised, stay composed, and rely on the redundancies to catch us or slow us down.
As you head into this week, give some thought about the kinds of redundancies you’ve built into your management of teams. What are your consistent frustrations? What keeps jamming you up, or slowing you and your team down? Is there a way to create a fail-safe redundancy in the system to keep things moving smoothly?
If you want better ways to prevent you and your team from failing under pressure, or succumbing to adversity, reach out and we can work together to lower the pressure, increase your control, and ensure progress can be maintained.
Thanks for reading as always and if this resonates with you, forward this edition to a friend!
Time to win the week 🏆
See you next week :)
– J
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