Christmas is not just for Christmas

Who is your favourite member of the Royal family?  Well I can tell you who mine isn’t; Prince Albert of Sax-Coburg (Queen Victoria's husband).  History attributes him for the introduction of the Christmas tree to the UK.  This Pagan tradition was already known to the Royals in Germany and Victoria was already aware of this before she met Albert so she has some part in the blame!  The, sorry, my, Christmas tree is unlike many other modern ‘bolt ons’ to the original Christian celebrations;  a red robed red faced Santa introduced as a marketing campaign by Coca Cola in the 1930’s, stuffing socks full of gifts replicated from a Dutch philanthropist in 1200, Christmas cards first seen in 1843 after Sir Henry Cole created the idea to help young boys practice their writing skills.  Even the ancient Celts believed mistletoe to have magical healing powers and it is said that among Romans, enemies who met under mistletoe would lay down their weapons and embrace.  None of these symbols of our year end marker of personal meaning have the destructive influence of the tree!

Every year I engage my dexterity, influence, assertiveness, patience and emotional intelligence in a ritualistic contest against an artificial Christmas tree.  The tournament usually commences in mid-December with an eye to berry across the loft encounter followed by a flurry of activity down the step ladder chased by cardboard boxes, stems, branches, colour coded inserts, plastic decorations and exploding dust bombs of synthetic snow; this does not of course include the wondrous fairy lights which baffle the art of electric circuitry.  Hours later I emerge triumphant, tree intact, house empty; note from family explaining they will be back when I’m in a better mood.

This is however a pattern.  By the sheer consistency of my toil every year( for the past eight years), I have the forecast; let’s face facts, I can be be assured when Christmas is coming.  I know the data set, I know the logistics, I know the challenges, I can predict the problems and I can identify the root cause (no pun).  And if I am perfectly mapped and planned, in January I could adjust my projections and problem solve it.

We all run patterns in our lives, some helpful some not so; equally your business will run patterns with the same equality of balance and yes of course there are some chaotic theories and capricious intervals, but these will be matched by equivalent predictable events.  Ask yourself, what you know about your business in twelve months’ time that you already know now?  When is your busiest period? When is the lowest resource time?  When is the quietest?  Where are your critical calendar times?  Throw yourself twelve months into the future and tackle it from there.  Future solutions focused business coaching is here and available.

http://www.zestbusinesscoaching.co.uk/team_business_coaching.php

What is your business Christmas tree?

I mentioned earlier the test of my emotional intelligence.  Here at Zest we are deeply involved with many organisations in Emotional Quotient profiling for senior leaders and therefore increasing performance capability.

http://www.zestbusinesscoaching.co.uk/emotional_intelligence_profiling.php

The profiling asks you a series of questions based on your emotional reaction against certain circumstances.  Having completed one such EQi 2 profile myself, I am very proud to say that I have a higher than the norm score.  The reason for this, I now suspect, is that the new process has omitted a key question-  ‘How do you feel after construction of an artificial Christmas Tree?’

Tune in next year for ‘How to put a tree back in a box’.

Communicating (through my letter box)

Ever been shouted at, or shouted at someone; by e mail?  It’s remarkably easy YOU JUST DO, IT OK!

Or, ever seen something remarkably simple that stuck in your mind?  Yesterday I was driving home and took the usual route which ends with me stuck in traffic on a small down gradient hill expectantly waiting to transverse the final roundabout before home.  Here I saw it; a poster, a photograph of the saddest looking white cat with black face.  This feline had a small multi coloured tie around its slightly scrawny almost underfed neck and one of this moggy’s eyes was slightly offset down to the left as if indicating a sad outlook on life.  The poster strapline ‘Have you seen Blackie?’

I am writing this blog from a West London suburb traffic queue.  It has got my overactive activist brain pondering a matter which has perplexed me recently.  In fact such enigmas require audience participation through the medium of blogging.

Here it is…

Question 1: What do the following subjects have in common?- Pete and Maureen’s dog grooming, Akan Tandoori, Wooden Blinds Cars.  Yes, correct, they all have a major role in the destruction of South American rain forestry because they are a regular feature of my door mat.  And I wonder what the communication policy of these companies is; imagine a small dimly lit room, a consultant facilitator and the Directors of each organisation participating in a well versed model which reaches its mission statement and values crescendo with the earth shattering delivery plan - ‘to dump leaflets in every house, each Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday until submission of the householder is gained’.  Now I have to be careful here!  Understanding as I do that marketing is crucial, (see previous blogs) sales are essential and constant visibility is enduring; but what do we actually see, hear, feel, taste or even smell?  What makes us be drawn and what draws you to an organisation (or a cat?).

Question 2: Close your eyes and think of the first organisation that comes to mind, so which one came up what made you do that?  Who was it and why?  I certainly didn’t see Pete, Maureen a curry or Nat West’s valeting service or whatever it was.  Stephen Hawking said ‘communication is the key’ and adversely George Bernard Shaw famously quotes ‘The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place’.  Which spectrum is your communication product, a Stephen Hawking or a George Bernard Shaw?

I recently worked with an MD from an engineering company and asked him what their Unique Selling Point is; he thought and pondered and squirmed a bit and then said, ‘well we are no worse than the others’.  Outstanding!  Imagine the leaflet on your doormat ‘JJ Engineering, no worse than the others’.

Certainly in Zest we use simply this - ‘The meaning of communication is the response you get’ - measure the response and you grasp the success.  Part two of the communication seminar in the dimly lit room would be the response plan; how do we stop all our expensive graphically exclusive colourful leaflets ending up in the blue recycle bin?

I am in a West London Suburb because my business partner Elaine sent me an e mail strongly urging Zest Business Coaching to get into action, but because of a typo I am here in Acton.  I’m looking forward to seeing Blackie on the way home.

After the summer, to infinity and beyond

I think if the famous Pixar designers  of Toy Story had a pragmatic catch phrase for their iconic space hero Buzz Lightyear to be  more recognisable in the real world, they would have him leaping off the bedroom lamp stand and forcefully hollering, ‘To Autumn, Winter, Christmas, Spring and our financial target policy’.  

In fact, why not consider a more realistic maxim for all our role models or significant life champions, whoever you choose them to be.  Arnold Schwarzenegger robotically pronouncing ‘I will return at some point with a stable plan which complements a new business model;’ Winston Churchill, stoic, ‘We will engage in a pugilist rule based combat system potentially on or near a sand centred saline fluid area’; Pepsi’s authentic description, ‘It’s a vegetable based fizzy beverage which is quite good’; British Airways stimulating ‘The Biosphere’s preferred aeronautical conveyance systemic enterprising purveyor of human commodity’ and Carlsberg’s mouth-watering ‘Almost a strong chance that this is close to a reasonable product if compared to global influential competitors of similar merchandise’.

Well of course; “to infinity and beyond”, I’ll be back”, “We’ll fight them on the beaches”, “It’s the real thing”, “the world’s favourite airline” and “(probably) the best lager in the world”, are definitely more impactive and stimulating for which there is a very powerful reason.

The truth and undeniable certainty is that your people want to see, feel or hear a vision which will motivate them towards being their professional best, and of course, this is defined in an authentic mission statement based on values.  And why value?  If we don’t value, we don’t care too much; if we don’t care too much we don’t deliver; if we don’t deliver we don’t compete.  Compete! In business?

So please complete this simple and free questionnaire

Is your mission statement incredibly impactive?

·         Yes
·         No
·         What is a mission statement

Do your staff value your great business mission?

·         Yes
·         No
·         Erm

If yes to the above, how do you know?

What is built into your business world to completely understand what motivates your people?

This is a free text reply area.

 

Finally the end of summer for me is triggered by my annual negotiating cost with mechanics.  As I sit in the Saab garage waiting for the service cost to my reasonably modest estate car and having instructed them NOT to replace the cam belt, the sales guy leans over and says ‘You’ll be back’’, a great statement because I will be (probably).

Speeding in Business by Paul Cook

Yes, yes, yes, I know, this is highly embarrassing - look at my profile on the Zest web site and you will understand why! http://www.zestbusinesscoaching.co.uk/business_coaching_consultant_profiles.php

Yesterday I was sat in a classroom, TLR Crowthorne speed awareness course, with 25 other dejected individuals.  Until a couple of months ago I was the proud owner of a Ford Galaxy people carrier, affectionately or sometimes mockingly referred to by my friends as ‘the van’ or ‘the brick on wheels’.  In the year two thousand with the arrival of child number 4 I forlornly handed the keys to my BMW 3 series in (my ultimate symbol of free will) and swapped said liberty for this 7 seven seater, economic, low carbon, environmentally efficient, reliable, benign transport.  Jeremy Clarkson reviewed this model in top gear magazine and I quote ‘people carriers are for people who have given up all hope’.  Should I buy the carpet slippers now?   Not so, over the forthcoming decade this miraculous piece of machinery conveyed 4 children, plus equipment, several tonnage in garden waste, dump runs,  golfing trips with six overweight friends and their expensive clubs; on one occasion this miraculous engineering phenomenon emptied  two bedrooms including two double beds and conveyed the contents to Berkshire from Kent.  Oh, and sometimes I would have to remind my trusty steed that it may need to consider drinking some fuel now and again.  So synonymous was I with this car that greetings would align as ‘Hi Paul how’s your van?’  Then one day, two months ago, tired of a long cart horse life my Galaxy said ‘sorry about this Paul but I am going to have to blow up now’ and in true Galaxy style kept its word and did.

Moving on, children now at that age (subject of another blog), space not needed etc. I found myself hurtling along the road in my new acquisition and of course new car equals test drive equals showing off to friend in passenger seat.  And, suddenly, camera, 47 in a 40, letter, speed awareness course. Welcome to your new liberation.

Here is the correlation.  I had a very strong belief about my future life in the ‘Galaxy’ world which was manifestly untrue once I had experienced the reality benefits.  I had very strong beliefs about speed cameras as did the majority of the class, in fact I was fervently struck by the strength of emotion expressed by a large group about something so straightforward.  Expressions of ‘revenue generation’  ‘persecution’, ‘oppressive government’, ‘police should catch real criminals’ - this wasn’t Stalag Luft 49B but TLR Crowthorne! A group of middle class middle England professionals being spoken to by a gentle experienced driving expert who simply explained that 10% over the speed limit you are 80% more likely to kill that child, speeding is on average only likely to get you to your destination between 5 and 8 minutes earlier, but guarantees you will be in a considerably more anxious state.  

So ask yourself these questions

·         Where do you ‘speed’ in business?

·         Where does it really get you?

·         What effect does your anxious state have on you and others?

·         Which parts of your business do you kill when you rush?

·         Does anyone want to sell me a Ford Galaxy?

Go beyond multi-tasking, its much safer and you achieve much more.

http://www.zestbusinesscoaching.co.uk/business_coaching_workshop_multi-tasking.php

Being 50 by Paul Cook

I resolved recently, that after due consideration and comparison with many other factors; world events, climate change, youth unemployment and general global unrest, that I must contribute a bit more. I decided therefore that I would be 50.  This decision luckily coincided with my 50^th birthday and so I wouldn’t be in trouble with the data police at The National Statistics office.  ‘It’s just a number’ the kinder of my friends and colleagues declared, ‘so you are officially old now’ the less compassionate (most of them) utter.  So what is in it for me?  Being 50 that is, The comedian Ricky Gervais described it as a time when you can now be grumpy about absolutely everything and  everyone will understand because you are 50.  Is that all there is?  An equation that unravels as
50/ - = Change of self-perception ability and belief.  Well of course it absolutely does not.

Although, I do find it interesting that such an insignificant change (after all, one second you are 49 the next 50) can drive a whole belief shift and outside perception; is it because that is the way our culture works?  Is it because the stigma attached to this says that in your 40’s you are capable of world domination, in your 50’s carpet slippers.  In his thought provoking book The Inner Game of Tennis, Timothy Gallway describes how we have a self-1 and self-2 and how due to self 1’s ‘judgement’ of self-2 (You are too old, to slow, not good enough etc.) we alter our own belief system.  Gallway explains a circumstance that is unchanging; imagine a tennis player serving a ball to the opponent the ball is called out by the umpire, self-1 immediately judges ‘you have done that again, what is the matter with you, you are not good at this’.  Take exactly the same circumstances and the umpire calls the ball in, self-1 and self-2 are now in harmony ‘we are great , fantastic, invincible’.

49 or 50 one second to the next, carpet slippers or world domination it’s up to you.  Surely the real equation is experience + belief= behaviour.

• Mary Dixon became a pilot at the age of 50, fulfilling a lifelong dream.
• Terri Tapper became the oldest female certified kiteboard instructor in the USA (and possibly the world)
• Larry Silverman of Ballston Lake, NY, achieved his 3rd-degree black belt in karate.

Etc.

So one of my closest and most trusted friends reassured me ‘It is only a number….. but quite a big one’!

Tune in this time next year for ‘ Being 51’.

Paul's Working Holiday

Want to improve your NLP skills?  Simple, go to Morocco!

My 82 year old Mother in Law is really 26; she has 82 years on planet Earth but they have not stopped her traveling like a Michael Palin on acid.  As an executive coach and NLP practitioner I am well versed with ‘well-formed outcomes’.  These fundamentally refer to a positive intention, evidenced by knowing what it would be like when you do it put into context, a reality check and then a positive first step.  When my Mother in Law says to my wife ‘’I’m going to Marrakech, will you come with me?’’ I think she hits all the ingredients.  What I hadn’t recognised and a new NLP model (I suggest) is what I now refer to as the ‘Third party well-formed outcome effect’ i.e. my wife to me- ‘’Paul will you come with us?  We would feel a lot safer.’’

Walking, no, fighting your way through the old Medina in aforementioned city as chief security/health and safety officer for elderly lady and pretty blonde woman brings many challenges; cobbled streets with many holes designed to trip elderly lady, moped riders who are hell bent on running over elderly lady should pot holes not succeed, middle aged Arabic gentlemen assertively staring at or touching hair of pretty blonde lady, unidentified persons looking for opportunities to relieve me of my wallet/camera/hat! And if one dares to make the audacious judgement to stop and view a map then this clearly is a signal to young boys to surround us and demand money.  Yes of course, as in NLP classes I would suggest this is the situation based on my own perception; what I needed to do was change that and see it from the Moroccan perspective.  This led me to also think about other presuppositions (of NLP) and how we can apply them in more challenging situations, after all the world is a challenging place, think of today’s economy and how you may need to do things differently in business:  Einstein said ‘in order to affect the world’s problems we need to think and act differently: that we won’t change the issues with the thinking that generated those issues in the first place’.

So my changed perspective linked to NLP presupposition tactics took the following forms;

The map is not the territory.  I now see what you see; it is ok for everything to be in disrepair, old and young to beg in the streets and people to be second best to mechanical transport.  It’s the way it is.

The meaning of communication is the response you get. Telling you that I don’t want to buy that old tat for extortionate prices if it was my last day on Earth is not clear enough, I just need to be more precise.

The person with the most flexibility in thinking and behaviour has the most influence on any interaction. After stealing my camera and demanding 50 Dirham to get it back can be easily addressed by me offering you half that amount.

There is a problem to every solution. Next year we are going to Blackpool, I hear the weather is lovely in April.

NB Morocco is a beautiful place with charming history.  It is also boot camp for NLP training.  

Business is all about the warmth of the Club House

As the father of four very active children I found myself again this weekend stood on the touchlines of many a football and rugby pitch.  It was particularly challenging this time around because the British spring time is nearly here and of course this means sub-zero temperatures and rain that has the ability to circumnavigate my arctic warfare attire and channel its way through to my unprepared human skin.  What is starkly ironic amongst the parents are conversations about how their precious didn’t want to get out of bed, ‘it’s too cold’ ‘I want to lay in’ ‘I can’t find my kit’ and of course’ it wouldn’t hurt to miss one week’  One such Father and long suffering friend who has energetically turned out week on week to watch his eldest perform asked, ‘remind me why we do this again’?  It was a tricky question because first, in between syllables a large bucket of cold water was thrown over him and second, at our most challenging times it is easier to forget the reason.

Another long suffering Dad and good friend of mine is Andrew Hull.  Zest are proud sponsors of the team he tirelessly coaches, Bray FC. http://localgiving.com/charity/brayfc

Bray is a very small outfit, in a small village, with a small pool of players to choose from.  They are a club operating in a South East league which can boast big towns and big players.  A metaphor once used by local media was that of ‘a rowing boat in a channel of battleships’.  However, since they were founded as a club they won most things in their group last season; now compete a full year above their age and this summer will be competing in Holland against international competition.  It is quite simple; Andrew is a coach in the full sense of our business ethos.  He recognises the talent in the team, he is flexible to their needs, he stands alongside them, he lets them play in every position, he lets them develop, he listens to them, there is only ever learning from mistakes and the focus is always on the goal.

In his hilarious account of managing a boy’s football team, Jim White vividly explains ‘You’ll win nothing with kids, fathers, sons and football (ABACUS Publishing).  Actually what really happens throughout is he discusses something more valuable than any trophy; a means of connecting and communicating with people and nurturing the relationship between fathers sons and football.  In other words, Leadership, Team and Business.

There is a raft of research concerning positivity, people power, focus on the goal and not the barriers.  As a business development company we have the beauty of independence from our clients.  We stand with the CEO’s (The parents) on the touchline, we listen to the comments and we see the frustrations in the cold weather of the current economy.  There are the parents who feel the cold and wet, the parents who complain and indeed the parents who don’t even turn up!  There are of course the successful ones who respond to the question ‘remind me why we are here’?  ‘just wait until those kids are warm in the club house and talking about how well they played’.

Next weekend?  Same again, different opposition but we will all be better equipped after last week.

Post written by Paul Cook

Drowning In Policy

I was on safety duty at the sailing club on Sunday and found myself in a boat with a man whom, like many friends at the club, I know well enough to ask about his last race, the repairs he has done over the winter on his boat and his recent ski trip.  What I didn’t know, until we had 2 hours together in a 4 metre boat looking out for capsizes on a cold, windy February morning, was that he works for the local, government-funded Health and Safety laboratory.

 As we were chatting about the struggles he has at work to implement policies effectively he told me about a piece of research that fascinates him.  On arriving in my much warmer, drier office on Monday morning I looked up the research and was immediately struck by its relevance to so many of the work conversations I have had recently.  Hans Monderman was a Dutch Traffic Engineer whose radical approach to urban transportation planning won him several awards including a nomination for the prestigious World Technology Award for the Environment (see www.pps.org)

Monderman showed that only when city and village streets are stripped of their traffic controls do the roads become safer. Drivers begin to take their cues from looking at other road users instead of the signs.  Monderman’s concept is known as Shared Space and its results are the reverse of what many people would expect: without all the traffic controls the traffic moves more slowly and major accidents decline drastically.  Ben Hamilton-Baillie, an English urban designer, is quoted as saying ‘It’s a moving away from regulated, legislated traffic towards space which, by the way it’s designed and configured makes it clear what sort of behaviour is anticipated’.

AM (alpha male) in our house returns on a daily basis railing against the ever increasing raft of policy boxes he is required to tick before anything gets done in the engineering business with whom he is a director.  Zest have recently completed a piece of research in the Police Force which looks in some detail at the effect of policy and procedure on officers using their discretion in making decisions. The outcome of our work suggests that the more policies that are in place the less likely people are to apply common sense to situations which don’t exactly fit the policy.  And yet, it seems, that both public and private sector organisations are increasingly dedicating time to designing ever more complex policies so that every last possibility is covered.

An endless ream of policies and procedures in organisations which are designed to guide every behaviour in every situation is like an endless procession of road signs on a highway.  They take the eye of the driver away from the road and say to him ‘if you follow these and behave in this way, then nothing bad can happen to you’.  The message is wrong, organisations are taking responsibility away from individuals and suggesting to them that there is no need any longer, to think for themselves.

Where is the brave organisation willing to take Monderman’s approach to limit the policies to those which ‘design and configure the space’?  Where is the organisation who is willing to work hard to inspire responsibility, create awareness of self and others in all its staff and then to sit back and watch the amazing results?

Blog written by Elaine

Antarctic Record Breaker!

As of 7:00AM (GMT) Bryony Balen became the youngest Britain to ski to the Geographic South Pole from the Hercules Inlet! Overall Bryony and the team have skied 1134.9km (705miles) over a period of 56 days. The journey took her across the planets coldest continent, where temperatures reached as low as -45°C (-49°F) and facing the daily struggle of high winds, white-outs, sastrugi, and an almost permanent uphill climb!

In the last two days of the expedition the team trekked 67km, a huge push to get there just a little sooner! Bryony told me she would promptly sleep after the long days (and nights) skiing, followed by a visit to the centre and the pole marker before heading back to the Union Glacier Base (via aeroplane) at 4PM (GMT). Naturally, she is ecstatic! 

Congratulations Bryony!

Antarctic Update - The Final Push

Upon her arrival, Bryony will become the youngest Britain to Ski from the Hercules Inlet to the Geographic South Pole, skiing a total of 1135km (705miles) and ascending 2076m (8878ft); and taking a meagre 57 days to complete it! Of course, Bryony and the team haven’t made it yet, we all need to show our greatest support and wish the team all the best for this final push to the Pole!

Passing 89° yesterday was a big milestone for the team, as Bryony mentions in her audio update (at the Polar Explorers blog). When discussing the proximity to the Pole, Bob made the remark, “the thinnest veneer of civilisation awaits us”! Conditions are fair and the team see little obstruction on the final push (bar the usual troublesome sastrugi). As normal with an update you can find new maps on the tracking page!

Antarctic Update - then there were 3!

The team reached the resupply on the 7th, when it became clear that something was wrong. Dennis, the other British member of the team, had been suffering from chest problems, preventing him from sleeping, or carrying the entire pulks weight (which until this point had been decanted around to the others to help). The plan was to meet a doctor due to fly from the South Pole to help Dennis and see if there was treatment beyond the course of antibiotics he was already taking.  
After reaching the resupply, the team contacted ALE and were told that due to bad weather, the plane was unable to take off. This meant the team had to wait for a doctor at the resupply before continuing.  Unfortunately, Dennis was evacuated the next afternoon, and is currently awaiting diagnosis. With respect to Dennis and his family, this was not made public until the situation was fully known. Skiing over 700km even in the face of illness is a fantastic feat, and the humour and banter won’t be the same without him. A big thank you to Dennis from Bryony and the team for being a great team member, and we wish him all the best and a speedy recovery.

The team, now down to 4 members, no longer required both Lisa and Oskar as guides. Oskar was flown out by ALE to lead a shorter expedition for Polar Explorers, leaving the team down to a streamlined three! Bryony talked of a interesting meeting with the crew of the plane heading to the pole with Oskar.

“It was surreal, a few of German tourists! They took out cameras and had pictures with us. Rather strange after seeing so few faces out in the Antarctic!”

Everything was back on track by the 9th though; with the team’s eyes set on the pole. No more resupplies; just a straight run for the pole. This gave the team a few surprises.

During they’re route; the team has taken a southerly curve from the direct route to the pole from the Hercules Inlet. Now the team were back on the ‘straight and narrow’, they found that they were not alone out in the blue and white…

If you’ve never heard of the Antarctic Super Highway, you have now (not to be confused with the Penguin Super Highway)! The team found tracks for the first time! They’re southerly detour had landed them on the exact bearing to the pole as a number of other expeditions. As well as sled tracks however, there was also the tracks of a car! Bryony and the other speculate that this could be the World record attempt for the fastest overland journey to the pole (which they smashed managing the journey in under 2 days)!

The team now just had to follow the tracks to make it to the pole (though the tracks were faded in places and would soon be covered with snow). This was no comfort however, with yesterday being one of the longest, most difficult days yet; with heavy pulks, and Bryony carrying some of the extra weight of the 4 man tent. The difficultly came from the large ridges. After climbing to the top, it is demoralizing to ski down the other side. “Going downhill feels like a step in the wrong direction”.  Sharp Sistrugi didn’t help either!

Despite this, the weather was reasonable (though colder with the altitude), and the team managed a fantastic 25km. Bryony has now skied a whopping 945km!

Antarctic Update

With two weeks until the Centenary of the British Scott Expedition, Bryony still has a total of approximately 350km left to ski to get to the pole. This means the team need to average 25 km per day or more (assuming they want to arrive there in the ‘day time’). At this point, the team has managed an average of 23.592km per day (includes half days, but not rest days). This puts the team in good stead to make it on time!

Now all the team need to overcome is the final straight to the pole across the baron Antarctic Plateau (though there are a few days incline remaining). Those with a keen eye will have noticed the maps on the website show the team deviating from a direct path to the pole. This has been due to the navigation towards resupplies, around crevasses, and through mountain passes. The effect of this is an increased distance of skiing – The original calculated distance of the expedition is 1109.24km; though assuming the team now navigate directly to the pole, they will have skied a total of 1201km!

One of the big issues faced by the team is visibility in white-out conditions. The team have had very favourable conditions, though this doesn’t mean easy skiing. In a matter of minutes it can become difficult to see a few metres in front of you; so the team has to take precisions to stick together and not get lost! One of the bets tips mentioned was skiing with the tips of one person’s skis almost touching the sled of the person in front. In normal conditions the team can be much further apart (as much as 100m).

Don’t forget to check out the team’s position on the updated maps at www.southpoleadventure.com/tracking