Lessons from the River : from a self confessed Bi-sweptual rower
Eight strong women rowing on the Tideway in London
Some people know that I am a rower, and after a significant break, I am back in a boat on the beautiful River Avon and every time I go out, I learn something myself, my rowing, being part of a team and leadership.
At the weekend I discovered I am Bi-sweptual!
Sometimes this condition is also called Ambi-sweptua
Yes you read correctly. Bi-sweptual means that I can row on either stroke side (the right) or bow side (left).
If you are not familiar with rowing, imaging the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race, and that 20 metre long boat with eight rowers and Cox, four rowing with 4 meter oars on one side and four with oars of the other side, perfectly balanced and steered by a cox. This is Sweep rowing. If you have an oar in each hand it is sculling.
So why is this so important a discovery? Well, I have ALWAYS rowed on Stroke side, from the very first time I was in a boat learning to row, through training, races and returning to row.
My brain and body is programmes to all the sequences and movements that you need to make a s stroke-side rower. I have generally been in the stroke seat setting the pace and rhythm, but we will come to that later.
When we organise crews, I have stood on stroke side and confidently stated I can ONLY row stroke side, and everyone else has had to work around me.
So why was this weekend so different? Well, we had a crew but we had 3 stroke-siders. I realised that I would need to change to create a balanced crew. I had an ‘out of body experience’ on our WhatsApp chat where I saw myself volunteering to row not only on bowside but also at Bow, the seat the back (or really front) of the boat!
But that was only the beginning, when I was getting ready and getting into my seat it felt ALL WRONG, the wrong way round, with my oar sticking out to the left. As we started rowing all my muscles that automatically go into ‘rowing’ were ALL WRONG, I was having to turn the oar handle with my right hand and pull round with my left. Fortunately pushing with my legs should always ben even and balanced – so this at least was the same. From my seat at the back of the boat, I had to watch the oar of the stroke to follow their rhythm, and fit my stroke length and drive through the water to match theirs. To balance the boat, so it was steady and a strong platform, I had to make fine adjustments with my hand heights, but the OTHER WAY ROUND!!
Most of all it completely messed with my head!
And then after we had turned the boat (Spinning – again all wrong - rowing on, not backing down – like my usual stroke-side hand-break turn) I began to relax and notice what I was thinking, doing and feeling.
As we passed sleep swans and autumn colours reflecting in the still water
· I realised that I needed to exercise behavioural flexibility more often in the interest of the shared endeavour or mission
· I noticed the whole learning cycle of unconscious incompetence, conscious incompetence, conscious competence, unconscious competence
· In this consciousness, I noticed how connected brain and body are - or are not! And how exhausting learning can be!
· Sitting is a different position also helped me to not only ‘see the world from a different place’ but feel the world of follower
· When I relaxed and was kinder to myself, as I inevitable made mistakes, I gave myself grace and compassion, and reframes to learning and improvement
· I noticed I actually quite enjoyed learning and intentionally thinking about reprogramming (of course I would never say this outloud)
· I noticed how many of the lessons from my time on the river translate into leadership development
· Of course, it’s not as natural and easy as my preference (as different muscles ached) AND it is possible
So, yes I am proud to be Bi-sweptual, adaptive, consciously learning and learning to follow as well as lead
#lessonsfromtheriver #bisweptual #ambisweptual #leadershipmatters #adaptiveleadership #compassionateleadership #growthmindset
