Mark Denton Award-Winning Speaker & Creator of Navigate The Storm

Mark talks on the combination of three main topic areas when sharing ‘Navigate the storm’, which were the Teams’ chosen values: Safe, Happy and Fast. These key ‘overarching behaviours’ and ‘principles for decision making’, proved their worth and stood the test of time throughout the race.

Safe, Happy Fast. Easy to say individually, hard to achieve collectively, primarily as they can seem at odds with one another. But striving to achieve all three all of the time, was the secret to the team’s success and became their Mantra.

And whenever any one of them was missing, performance suffered, further validating their unique combined power. So ‘Start with Safety’, ‘Hoist Happiness’ and ‘Focus on Fast’ is Mark’s rallying cry that’s been applauded and adopted by audiences worldwide.

SAFE

Feeling safe is an innate human pre-requisite which has literally allowed us to evolve as a species. And our whole bodies are designed to seek this on three fronts; physically, emotionally and psychologically. And only when we feel safe within these can we thrive.

If anyone is threatened, then our focus is on protecting ourselves rather than taking the calculated risks necessary to advance ourselves and our cause.

So creating a culture where people feel safe to perform is crucial, especially if the environment we are in is a challenging one.

HAPPY

Next up is the importance of doing all we can to help people be happy. Because happy people and teams are more productive, have more staying power, are more compassionate, and easier to work with and within.

There are some key things we need in order to be happy at work. Feeling included and valued for instance. Being motivated by our work, its purpose and its rewards. Having the opportunity to be stretched, give our all, realise our dreams and be the best that we can be.

So creating a culture where these factors are ever present is also crucial.

FAST

And lastly the undeniable factor of the need to be Fast.

Fast in terms of a clear focus on the destination to ensure the straightest course. Fast in terms of efficiency of the operation, in order to optimise the result. Fast in terms of agility, to rapidly innovate and change, when challenges demand the need.

Why is it the last word? Because slow boats never win, not on the ocean and never in business, a fact that has been further magnified by the highly competitive, constantly changing, volatile world of today where speed and agility is everything.

‘Masterclasses’ are the ultimate way to immerse your audience in the learning from this incredible case study. They are 1/2, 3/4 or 1 day interactive seminars, that explore the topics covered in far greater depth by challenging the audience in groups with some of the dilemmas Mark and his team faced as they traversed the world. There are 9 to pick from and cover the following topics:

• Building the foundations for a high performing team 
• Dealing with team underperformance
• Decision making under pressure
• The importance of self awareness and showing humility
• Crisis management and bouncing back after setbacks
• Setting bold goals and innovating to achieve them 
• Inspiring your team to take on the impossible 
• Courageous conversations
• Staying focussed on the goal to deliver the result

Each dilemma, a mini case study in it’s own right, has specific briefing materials and also a model answer that can be used to just explore the topic after or scored by judges to pit team against team in a fun (and competitive!) virtual race around the world! So not only are they learning about Leadership and Teamwork but they are also experiencing the challenges (and glory) of both for themselves, in this groundbreaking interactive format.