BEHAVIOURAL FLEXIBILITY

In the business world, there is no one, perfect formula for effective leadership. It is commonly agreed that successful leadership is built upon the importance of the following four practices:

Establishing a clear vision
Share that vision with others in a clear and compelling way
Providing others with the resources to realise that vision
Co-ordinating, the sometimes conflicting, interests of all stakeholders

There is also a fifth, often overlooked characteristic. That is the need for leaders to be able to flex their style, dependent on the situation. A business with its back against the wall, requires a different style to one which is enjoying a steady state.

If we think about channel swimming and how Covid-19 has impacted swimmers and DCT then you can start to see how behavioural flexibility is essential to success in this context as well.

As an organisation we did:

✅ Establish a clear vision and share it in a clear way so that all could understand what we were going to do and why.
✅ Support swimmers to train locally, whilst giving Dover contact time for those who need it
✅ Keep people connected through the virtual training, coffee & chat calls, and more recently the community call
✅ Run two weeks of ramp-up camps to help swimmers safely ramp up training from an extended break
✅ Offered subscription options to give additional training advice and support at the level of customisation required for each swimmer.

We continue to assess the situation including the prevaling Covid risk for volunteers and swimmers and how that impacts the training that we can safely offer.

Covid-19 is not static, and neither are we.

This weekend is the first weekend that we have trialled longer swims with feeds. Naturally, it’s nothing like ‘it used to be’. The numbers are limited so that we maintain social distancing at all times and our previous process of sharing cups would clearly not work, so we have numbered bottles to go with the numbered swimmers and each bottle is surface sanitised after each feed. We can offer kayak based or beach based feeding.

Last week we observed that the beach seems to get busy in the afternoon, and hence an early start to the session (I’d much prefer a later start!!).

We altered the structure of the Dover Dips too, to minimise different groups of swimmers meeting and so the beach wouldn’t become congested - all with the aim of ensuring that we can maintain appropriate social distancing.

Of course it does impact the ‘vibe’ on the beach, that comes with the banter and sharing time together. That said, it’s wonderful to still see friendships building along with the confidence.

I’m happy that everything went as planned today and as a result we will extend these longer training swims to Saturdays as well.

Thank you for being so very understanding as we navigate through these challenging times.

COMMUNITY CALLS

These calls are new this year, and I’ve really enjoyed them. If you would value some mid-week support, feel free to join us. They can be booked via the booking system. They are free to our subscribers and anyone who already paid for the full season. Get in touch if you need support in booking on a call.

DOVER SWIMS

Sunday:
Swimmers: 14
Water temperature: 16.5C
Air temperature: 18.0C
Conditions: Light cloud and sunny. Wind that changed direction from NW to SW to W, increasing from F3-4 to F4 gusting F6 by the end. It became increasingly choppy at the ferry wall end of the harbour.

We had:

8 swimmers joining the longer swims. Of those:
- 3 completed 6 hours (including one who seamlessly stretched a 5 hour swim into a 6 hour - well done Mel!!)
- 3 completed 4 hours, one for the very first time (well done Patrick) and also our very own Mandi (even if she thought she was only going to do 3 hours).
- And a couple of swimmers on a taper leading up to their big day (exciting!!).
6 swimmers enjoying the Dover dips with a combination of new and returning swimmers.

It was a beautifully sunny day, but a cheeky and changing wind made the ferry wall end of the harbour pretty choppy and the return swim harder than getting to the wall.

Good job everyone!!

Sometimes it’s the little things that amuse or distract you. One of the Covid-19 adaptations has been around the way we handle your beach shoes. These get put into a bucket of disinfectant while you swim. Who would have thought that aiming your shoes into the bucket would become the challenge of the day. Some are impressive aims, some need a little more practice!

MIXING CNP

I’ve had quite a few people ask me how to mix CNP recently. Now, a bit like soap operas, I must caveat that this was recorded before the Covid-19 pandemic (it was recorded last year)!!

The process is pretty basic.

Put a litre of water in a jug
Add 8 scoops of CNP
Whisk
Add flavouring
Use a funnel to pour it into your chosen container

Tip: the newer tubs of CNP don’t mix as readily as the old ones. To counter this is helps if the water is already moving at the time that you add the CNP.

This will make double strength CNP. You make it back to single strength by adding hot water at the time of the feed.

It’s simple to make on the go, so your crew can make more on the boat if necessary.

We give 250-300ml of feed on the beach made up of half feed and half hot water, and that’s also what I have on the big day. Sometimes, if swimmers feel nauseous on the swim, it can be because they have too much volume rather than any issue with the feed itself.

CNP is flavourless. You can add flavouring of your choice. I’d suggest avoiding anything citrus or straight blackcurrant. We have found that Vimto, summer fruits and peach are popular squash flavours. You can also flavour with tea or coffee (drink it black). So why not ring the changes?!

PHOTOS

A few photos from this weekend.

BOOKING SYSTEM

This year I have added a booking system to help you to take control of how you interact with us. You can book your weekend swims in advance (a necessity in this Covid-19 world), you can join a community call, book a one to one or sign-up for ur remote training support subscription packages.

There are some great bonuses from doing this. You can get a calendar event to remind you what you booked. You can reschedule or edit your sessions. We know who to expect which makes signing in pretty seamless. We can ensure we keep numbers down to a safe level.

If you want to use our booking system, it can be found below.

DCT Week 13 - Behavioural Flexibility