imapMyTeam Blog

Corporate Coxswain

The etymology of the word coxswain is interesting. The literal meaning is "boat servant." 

Yet many people first think of the coxswain as the person in charge of the boat, barking out instructions to the crew, not as a ‘servant.’

Sure the coxswain controls the boat’s steering, speed and timing during practice and races and makes sure the boat is tracking an efficient course to minimize the distance rowed. However they are also responsible to train, encourage and motivate the crew and they are held responsible for the safety of the crew.  A coxswain is there to serve the rowers of the boat.

Being in the boat, the coxswain has a feel for what the crew needs and a good view of technical errors. The coxswain needs to diagnose problems into appropriate corrective action. Quickly and efficiently.

As a leader, manager or coach, just like the coxswain, you need to have all of the people in the same boat rowing in the same direction. You need to steer a course that leads to success. You need to encourage, motivate and correct. Quickly and efficiently.

Hopefully everyone in your boat is rowing in the same direction. In business it doesn’t always feel that way. Rowing boats are designed for speed, not maneuverability, so steering requires effort. Businesses prefer speed too; maneuvering quickly to adjust to competition takes effort and its toll on the crew.

As one of your company’s corporate coxswains, you have a great tool to help maneuver the crew and keep them encouraged and motivated. You can even make sure they are “safe” by meeting their varied motivational needs.  This will keep your crew out of their stress reactions that will get them off course and swamp the team boat.

That tool is imapMyTeam®.

The reward for their effort? The winning crew at a regatta often throws their Coxswain into the water. For most coxswains, being thrown in is the perfect end to a perfect day.

Corporate coxswains and imapMyTeam® users will never get thrown in the water. You can decide if that is a good or bad thing.