NOLS Leadership Skills: Communication

Neil on course with instructor Audra looking on. 

One of NOLS' seven leadership skills is communication.  We'll review the skill as we go, and when I think of effective communication, I think of Neil: first for his memorable presentation on the Wilderness Bidet System, or how to poo in the woods.  And also for Neil's well timed pearls of wisdom that he sprinkled like pixie dust during discussions throughout the course.  If our expedition was Star Wars, Neil was Yoda.  Karate Kid?  Miyagi.  Lord of the Rings?  Neil was Gandalf.  Seriously.  Gandalf.  

Pearls of Wisdom 

Neil had an uncanny ability to provide well timed, helpful, encouraging quips and quotes that were neither trite nor tiresome.  Pearls of wisdom!  When I asked Neil about this, he quoted Shakespeare!  Hamlet to be exact.  

Brevity is the soul of wit. 

 ~ Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2

Yoda he is.

From childhood, Neil's been a student of communication.  Whether from his dad or church to stand-up comedians, Neil knows wisdom is better than knowledge, and timing is everything.  

Here are a few of the NOLS Leadership Communication competencies and how Neil represents them well:

• Speak up when appropriate, be silent when appropriate.  Pearls of wisdom.  Less is more.  
• Help create a positive learning environment 
• Be timely -- timing is everything 

We've seen each of these so far with Neil's supportive sayings alone.

The NOLS Wilderness Bidet System 

The Wilderness Bidet System 

Does a bear poo in the woods?  Well, so, apparently does an outdoor educator.  Enter Neil.  On our first night in the North Cascades in Washington State, USA, outdoor leader Neil stepped up to the plate and right into the deep end with a timely presentation on leave-no-trace pooing.  

NOLS is an outdoor leader on Leave No Trace (LNT) principles, and I interviewed Neil recently because his presentation was practical, engaging, and effective.  If you are looking for details on LNT Pooing or the Wilderness Bidet System, you'll have to wait a little longer.  Maybe a forthcoming blog post.  This is about communication.

Neil puts intention into his communication, and much natural background, having performed in plays, musicals and with public speaking.  He knows you need to be enthusiastic.  Enthusiasm helps you prepare so that you're creative instead of stressed.  It connects you to your audience.  Even the term Wilderness Bidet System links primitive with posh.  He engaged the senses (well, except for the sense of smell).  He noted how the group was reacting, so he continued to engage us meaningfully.

That's what made Neil so effective a communicator.  We were on the trail the first night and Neil volunteered to give an immensely practical talk of immediate awkward interest to everyone -- poo!

Neil noted that the topic of pooing itself provides a bonding experience.  We all do it.  It's a shared experience.  We're all pretty private about it (unless we let one rip unexpectedly).  It gets us laughing.  Neil kept it lighthearted without devolving into junior high immaturity.   He was matter-of-fact in what he said, while not taking himself too seriously in what he did, with his real-world demonstration of how actually to perform the whole process, from site selection to hand sanitation. Great expedition behaviour!

Additional NOLS Leadership Communication competencies include:

• Let your group know what you expect of them and what they can expect from you 
• Keep people informed as the situation changes 
• Listen actively; paraphrase and ask questions to clarify 
• Have the courage to state what you think, feel and want 
• Speak for yourself; use "I" language 
• Be empathetic during conflicts 
• In feedback be timely, be growth oriented, be specific about your observations, acknowledge your share of any problem, be clear about what you will do next, be as open to receiving feedback as to giving it 

By the way, the Wilderness Bidet System makes a great gift.  Thank you Neil for your time!  It was heartwarming to reconnect with you!

Note: This is the sixth in an occasional series on leadership, drawing from the NOLS Leadership Education Notebook. The National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) is a non-profit outdoor education school based in the United States dedicated to teaching environmental ethics, technical outdoors skills, wilderness medicine, risk management and judgment, and leadership on extended wilderness expeditions and in traditional classrooms.  

NOLS Leadership Skills: Competence

Rich being joyfully competent in the kitchen. 

Rich can cook up a storm.  He's not even a professional chef.  He doesn't even have to be at his Minnesota home in the kitchen.  Take him outside, throw some wholesome ingredients at him, and, "Voila!"  We're chowing down in style.  We're talking about competence as a leadership skill and competence comes in many bits and pieces.

Just as Sir Earnest Shackleton knew the importance of having the right cook on the Endurance, setting your team up to eat healthy -- and hearty -- is good leadership, great group management, and the greatest camp food you'll ever munch on.  Everything tastes better outside, ya?

Okay, let's get our bearings with a quick review of the NOLS 4/7/1 Leadership Model.  Leadership, you will recall, is "situationally appropriate action that directs or guides your group to set and achieve goals."  To teach leadership to its students, NOLS uses a framework of four leadership roles, seven leadership skills, and one (your own) signature style.  When it comes to cooking in camp, Rich has style.  In the graphic below, where the three spheres of skills, roles and style overlap is where you are meeting your leadership opportunities.  The roles are four functions, or "hats" you can wear to help your team reach its goals.  

The seven skills are an integrated system of competencies -- like cooking! -- you can continually develop and improve.  Your signature style is how these fit together for you.  Rich walks the walk. 

Competence includes action to:

• take care of your personal maintenance needs to remain a highly functioning team member.  Take care of yourself.  Set yourself up for success.  

• display basic proficiency and actively improve your knowledge, organization and management skills, technical skills, and physical abilities, to name a few.  Growth mindset!   You can always improve your competence.  Outdoor ed is a killer classroom because the consequences are real, immediate, and impossible to ignore.  Skill mastery, or craftsmanship -- excuse me, craft (to be gender neutral, and with a nod to Outward Bound) is key to competency.  Attention to detail, healthy pride in your work, and satisfaction in a job well done: all of these inform competence.  

• set goals, make action plans, and follow through.  We'll talk more about goal setting later.  It can be as simple as grabbing the superior NOLS Cookery cook book and creating your own NOLS Gold (ultimately).  

Note: This is the fifth in an occasional series on leadership, drawing from the NOLS Leadership Education Notebook. The National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) is a non-profit outdoor education school based in the United States dedicated to teaching environmental ethics, technical outdoors skills, wilderness medicine, risk management and judgment, and leadership on extended wilderness expeditions and in traditional classrooms.