COMPANY
Coxless Crew Team
WEBSITE
www.laurenpenhaul.com
INDUSTRY SECTOR
Expeditions
NLR PROGRAMMES
Team Coaching – Expedition
“I’m forever grateful that we came across New Level Results to help us, go shoulder to shoulder with us and coach us through each of the stages. It really did help us to align, to have autonomy as well as ownership, to break things down at each phase and have full accountability.”
Laura Penhaul – Lead Row
Four women conquer the Pacific Ocean and set TWO new World Records
Four amazing women were preparing to achieve one of the most challenging feats ever undertaken. Something that had never been done before. Something many people said was impossible. In fact, it was proving impossible and after three failed attempts to get started, they engaged New Level Results.
The objective was raising money for their chosen charities, by rowing across The Pacific Ocean – rowing 2 hours on and 2 hours off, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for 9 months. The Pacific Ocean is the largest ocean, bounded by Australia in the west and America in the east. It covers one third of the Earth’s total surface area. At its deepest point it’s deeper than the height of Mount Everest.
The row across the Pacific was an unsupported three-stage row starting in San Francisco and finishing in Cairns, Australia. Stops were made in Hawaii and Samoa and the entire journey covered 8,446 miles. Under the ‘World record rules’ they were allowed to stop for approximately 7 days at a time to restock the boat, repair and replenish supplies and for the team to share their story with the local, national and international media. The route has never been done by a team of four and never has it been done as a continuous 3 stage row.
The boat; She is 29 ft long and 7 ft wide, made mainly of Carbon Fibre and is pink! Her name is Doris.
The expedition preparation was going well and lots of activity was happening. The girls had to train hard, equip the boat, raise sponsorship funds, learn how to work together and many more disciplines, while all having full time jobs. With this background it is little wonder that the whole project was becoming somewhat overwhelming.
It was becoming apparent that the biggest challenge of all was getting Doris to the start line, with all the safety equipment, food supplies, sponsorship in place and all the girls trained fit and ready for the journey.
Our coach gave us the focus when we had so many things for planning and preparation, as well as how we created the mental space when we didn’t have the physical space. Without a doubt, how we worked with each other and be open and honest with each other was crucial.
Laura Penhaul – Lead Row
Having enlisted the support of a New Level Results coach they created a One Page Plan that would help to support the epic task of getting the journey started in San Francisco.
Their Plan looked at both the mindset they would need and the actions they should take to achieve ‘the impossible’. The plan included a set of very strong team values, which they later described as the glue that held them together throughout the many challenges that lay ahead. They also created guidelines, a powerful belief statement and united behind their top ten goals. This process brought structure to their plans and created alignment and focus. Each of the girls championed several of the top goals and made sure they were landed. This included raising enough funds to acquire the highly specialised boat and equipment and then to raise substantial money for their chosen charities’ cancer care and walking wounded; together with gaining the support of people like Kylie Minogue as their patron to help raise awareness of their ‘mission’.
New Level Results continued to support the team by supplying our online tracking system breaking their activity into byte sized pieces and carrying out monthly reviews to hold the girls accountable and build their confidence.
Creating and sticking to our values is what accelerated us as a team and meant we were able to overcome the dark times and disagreements because we had that openness. Team cohesion was our absolute number one, which gave us clarity on controlling the controllables, making sure that we achieve that purpose of conquering the Pacific is what kept us together.
Laura Penhaul – Lead Row
The girls arrived in San Francisco in good shape to set off on their epic journey. Due to the impact their first Curve® Plan had on the team the girls got together with their coach prior to setting off and created a new One Page Plan for the row itself. This plan was placed securely on the ceiling of the aft cabin to remind them daily of what they had agreed to do to make this a safe and successful row.
However, it wasn’t all plain sailing! Prior to setting off one of the team members had to bow out of leg two and leg three which meant that two new crew members had to be found at short notice. This represented new challenges for the success of the journey. Changing team members (and thus the team dynamics) twice can be very challenging in any team, however both the new girls fitted in as much training as they could.
The new plan was invaluable here as the new team members were introduced to the culture, values and goals that the original four signed up to. They committed to live out the plan and focus on the key elements that made the expedition a success.
The adventure began when the girls set off under the Golden Gate Bridge, leaving San Francisco, however, for the first two weeks they encountered rough seas (up to 40 foot waves) which damaged the electrics on Doris and they made the devastating decision to turn back. Was the journey doomed? Heads down with disappointment the girls rowed into Santa Monica for repairs. This could be seen as a failure or a great opportunity to bring their plan alive. This is where everyone had to dig deep. Five days later the girls set off again, this time with an even stronger mindset and determination to overcome the challenges that lay ahead of them.
Challenges were a feature of the journey, so much so that instead of taking six months as originally planned, it actually took nine months, but they made it. Thanks to their detailed plan, their strong values and determination. 257 days at sea, 8,446 miles, two world records and over £100,000 raised for Charity. The Pacific Ocean was conquered!
The girl’s story is a powerful example of the power of coaching and how it can create such strong alignment in a team, that they become unstoppable and go on to achieve anything they set out to achieve – the true measure of a highly functional team.
The takeaways for me that I took from the row and I continue to live and breathe to this day, was how important it is to have a really strong sense of purpose.
Laura Penhaul – Lead Row
