"A good captain wakes as soon as the wind veers or the rhythm of the wave slapping at the hull increases. Waking in response to change..."is a sign of a good captain, a responsible captain, a leader with whom those on board can be safe.
Curently in our workplaces, we may feel so pressed to seal the deal, rake in extra bucks, raise kids' test scores that we easily (in streams of exhausting stress) lose sight of the forest for all the trees bombarding us. Distress obscures our capacity to "differentiate" - to detect features that distinguish a from b.
Under perceived duress, we veer towards less resourceful responses. We tend to react from our limited store of overlearned, overpracticed beliefs and behaviors. Pressure and distress compromise our capacity to detect crucially different features of a situation, telltale shifts within our environment. We just do more of whatever we most commonly did in the past. Intended changes become short-changed.
Succumbing to pressures from within or without, jeopardizes our ability to see the whole picture. It throws a wrench in normally mindful ways of assessing the extent to which "parts" or incidents are balanced within the whole. Trends are obscured. We more readily stay stuck in the "same old, same old"cycles. Extended cylces of unhealthy stress obscure detection and selection of optimal responses.
Consider how the captains in our workplace may be guiding, leading from this disadvantaged station. How is morale affected? How do we effectively address a ship going under? How do we best help those around us wake up before the Titanic incurrs its fatal scrape against undetected icegbergs?
David Whyte shares his own story of allowing a non-responsive, sleepng captain to call the shots, even when he and his mates detected changes that signalled danger ahead. The ship was almost lost because each mate on that ship did not activate his/her own internal captaincy. This incident was David's wake-up call!
How do we activate responsible captaincy -even when we do not formally have the role of Captain?
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