Being a Team Player

   In my Outdoor Leadership course in Norway, my classmates and I were taken on a four day backpacking trip from Hodlekve to Leikanger. Throughout this trip we walked through valleys and crossed over a ridge line. In four days we walked a little over 25 kilometers, meaning we could go at a pace that everyone could be comfortable with. Below is a map of the trail we walked during our trip; starting at the star then heading west before south to Leikanger.

   What challenged us was ourselves. Being in a large group, ours being 12 people for most of the trip, means that there is great variety of skill level and personalities. For me, I am a very active person which made this trip easy when talking about physical activity. What challenged me, was my lack in leadership skills. Because of my skill level, I would get ahead of the group when we were supposed to stick together. Many times when I would be the leader, the teacher would have to remind me to look behind my should to check to make sure the group is together. It never irritated me to have to stop a wait, it just really surprised me how drastic attitudes can change based on the weather.
   For example, the first day when we headed out, it started to rain and even the wind picked up. Conversations between people started to die down as people started to focus their energy more on dealing with the rain. The vibe changed from lighthearted and exciting to challenging and distressful. Me, on the other hand, was speaking with a classmate who has lived in Norway her whole life and she was saying she grew up with the saying "there is no bad weather," because rain and wind is normal weather for Norway. Also, growing up in a rainy area, the rain did not come close to dampening my spirits, instead it was the negative vibes that tried to bring me down.
   After walking for a few hours, we stopped for a lunch break with no time limit. To keep everyone dry and happy, we set up a rain guard from one of the tents to get out of the rain while we eat. Below is a picture I took of the rain cover we set up while having out lunch break and of the beautiful landscape we are hiking in.

When we all got settled under the rain cover, complaints about the weather and how people were not having fun started to arise. I wanted to say that the rain is part of the experience and not to mention we all had rain gear on; meaning the rain was only effecting attitudes, not actually making us wet. But I bit my tongue because I know some people need time to let out their feelings before being shown another point of view. After some time, I got tired of sitting and went out to explore my surroundings. I was the only one that left the shelter and being alone gave me time to think.  I began to think about a quick teaching on risk assessment our professor and a well known epidemiologist in Norway, Eivind Aadland, talked to us about. Aadland had a paper handout that was a quick check-list for risk assessment on trip planning. What stuck in my mind besides the logistics, was a bolded sentence at the bottom of the paper which summed up can be read as, although main risks are weather patterns, type of excursion, and skill level of group, one cannot plan for the change in attitudes of the members of the group because each person is affected and reacts differently to each situation. We were on a kayaking trio in Aadland but his risk assessment could be transferred from both land and water trip plans. This side note spoke loudly to how the rain affected people in the group differently. Reminding of myself of this allowed me to understand that I cannot forced people to love the rain for what it is, instead be okay that we all can feel differently.
   So instead of being bored by people wanting sit under cover, I had a lot of fun exploring the surroundings. Below is a waterfall I hiked to while people had lunch.

Another great teacher of how to make the best of each situation and be a team player was our professor that took us out on the backpacking trip, Marit Svarstad Andresen, a mountain guide and professor. Andresen's attitude through every situation was nothing but positivity and encouragement. When positive attitudes started to fade, Andresen would have us take a short break and eat some chocolate. This type of attitude is how a guide should act in my view. Shit happens and to keep people from overreacting its good to stay positive. In an scientific journal on Fostering Trust in Outdoor Leaders, a point I have always agreed with is written, "Optimism surfaced as a reasonable alternative to the propensity to trust variable because it fit well within the theoretical explanation of trust as an expectation about a future event" (Shooter, Paisley, & Sibthorp, 2012). In other words, staying optimistic can help develop trust that can be stretched even for further events, instead of staying of situational trust. 
   Being and outdoor leader forces people to leave behind judgement and assumptions. One cannot expect everyone to be on their best behavior and have fun throughout their experience. I learned that in a team setting, one must always be a team player. We all react differently to situations and have different ideas on what fun means to us. I could not be upset that people were grumpy because of the rain. Instead I could only be happy to be in a setting to learn about how people react to different factors and how I can in turn react to improve my skills on being an outdoor leader. 

References

Aadland, E., Noer, G., Vikene, O. L. (2015). Sea Kayaking Incidents in Norway 2000-2014: an issue of bad weather or bad judgement? Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning. 

Shooter, W., Paisley, K., & Sibthorp, J. (2012). Fostering trust in outdoor leaders: The role of personal attributes. Journal of Experiential Education, 35(1), 222-237.