By Adam Kreek

‘Athletes like Sidney Crosby, Kobe Bryant or David Beckham would never stand out in a Gold Medal rowing eight. Akin to most organizations, high performance rowing is a venue where no one superstar single handedly generates success. Shared responsibility and contribution are necessary to create sustained accomplishment.’

At the 2004 Olympic Games, my eight-man rowing team failed beyond anyone’s wildest expectation. In 2008, my team finished a second faster than the silver medal boat – an absolute eternity in Olympic Eights racing.

I’m frequently asked, “What changed in your team between 2004 and 2008? How did you morph in four years, from a team that crumbled at the Athens Games of 2004, to a successful and resilient team,– Gold Medalists in Beijing, 2008?”

Defining Shared Leadership

The answer is complicated, but one factor stands out that strongly differentiated our team in Beijing from Athens four years prior. We had grown from a team able and willing to be led by a great leader, to a team of leaders, guided by openhanded leadership. We adopted a new and powerful team dynamic, what I now recognize as Shared Leadership.

‘Shared leadership… is less like a an orchestra, where the conductor is always in charge, and more like a jazz band, where leadership is passed around … depending on what the music demands at the moment and who feels most moved by the spirit to express the music.’ Phillip Schlechty

Our transition from a more hierarchical model of management occurred without significant changes in administration or team members. We maintained the same coach and five of our nine team members stayed constant.

What changed then?  For starters, our team reframed the way we received leadership from above. Our coach’s role shifted from a supreme leader to a guide; we embraced his advice and support, while building confidence in our abilities as individuals and focusing on self-direction. Secondly, our team established a meaningful team identity that represented the collective and individual goals of all team members. Finally, all team members agreed to assume individual responsibility for our team’s successes and failures.

Tapping the Coach Within

Our coach Mike Spracklen often said, “Success in high performance sport is 90% athlete and 10% coach.”  It wasn’t until our team’s massive failure at the Athens Olympic Games that I truly began to understand the meaning of Mike’s statement. Our team had trained as hard as humanly possible, six days per week, three times per day, 50 weeks per year. We had followed and believed deeply in Mike’s coaching abilities and philosophy. We had a truly great leader and a team eager to be led. Yet we crossed the finish line of our Olympic final in Athens in fifth place and devastated.

Something was missing. In times of hardship, our model had failed. As a team, we came to recognize that in the field of high performance, one leader could not sustain and pull a team through adversity single-handedly. What we needed to do was not simply heed our coach’s words, but to embody them.

Slowly and steadily over four years, our team adopted and perfected this ethic: Shared Leadership (SL). We transitioned from a team led by one strong and supreme leader, to a boat full of leaders. Our coach became a vital guide, someone eager and able to enhance the skills and knowledge of our team, challenge us regularly, and develop unique leadership traits in each of our members.

Arguably the world’s greatest rowing coach, Mike offered a vision of excellence and shared it through tough and honest empathy.  He understood when our team members needed emotional support and when we needed to be pushed. If someone pushes you all of the time, you learn to ignore them; if you are coddled, you never grow. Instead, Mike used his intuition, gut feeling and experience to gage whether you were truly struggling and needed support, or if you merely needed a firm hand of encouragement.

His ability to motivate and move us towards our own leadership self-development was paramount to our success.  Seeing all that he put into his 10%, provided ample illustration of how much our team could accomplish with the remaining 90% through a more distributed onus of leadership. 

Forming a Team Identity

I once asked my teammate, Jeff, why he rowed. Without hesitation, he said: “I just want to be the best!” This drive is present in most successful Olympians. It appeals at a base and habitual level, rooted in personal ethic.

At the National Training Center, we built our identity around this shared goal: to be the fastest in the world. A high level goal was specifically chosen so that all aspects of our lives could align beneath it. In addition, each member of our team had the individual drive to maximize his own potential. This is what I call finding the Sweet Spot, the place where an individual’s goal overlaps with a team goal or a value held by broader society.

Our job descriptions were not merely to dutifully listen, memorize and execute scripted orders and directions from our coach and CEO. Our team had formulated our own collective pact by sharing and bargaining, by negotiating and agreeing that success and goal achievement had everything to do with the power of an inclusive group. We shared common values, principles and ethics, and egos were checked at the door. Ours was a flat hierarchy, much like a rowing shell! 

A strong team identity helped our team see beyond daily hurdles and kept us focused on our long-term objective. We had become a team of selfless individuals who embraced a common and unwavering goal, and whose actions were collaborative, enabling, and respectful of the trust that became the glue of our collective bond.

From Shared Leadership to Shared Victory

When we crossed the finish line at Beijing Olympics as a Gold Medalist, our Shared Leadership philosophy blossomed into the quintessential Shared Victory. 

We can all be active participants in the process of leadership.  The task in our organizations is to become knowledgeable, capable and willing to transform and share the power of leadership with others in the pursuit of shared ideals.

We each have the ability to mentor or seek guidance from our peers to enhance our skills. We can each consider the multitude of goals that drive us and focus on those that unify us within our respective organizations. And finally, we each have the power of choice to control our individual drive and potential.

You may have to experience it to truly understand it. But believe me, the value of Shared Leadership is Olympic in its proportions.

Adam Kreek is speaking at BC HRMA’s annual conference on April 15. For more information on his session or Conference 2011, please visit www.bchrma.org/conf2011.

Adam Kreek is a five-time Olympic and World Champion, entrepreneur, adventurer and High Performance Advisor.  He gives Keynotes and Training Sessions across North America touching on topics of leadership, teamwork, achievement, and wellness.  He can be reached at www.kreekspeak.ca.

(PeopleTalk: Winter 2010)