We Missed The Ferry, But Not The Point

Over five weeks, our family travelled through eight countries. We had a clear plan. Good bookings. Great intentions. But the logistics had other ideas. The ferry was cancelled.  The roads were closed. The cars broke down. Twice. The third had the engine light blinking within hours. We made a flight by thirty seconds. We missed a flight by thirty seconds. Bought a flight. Got on the wrong train.  Got fined €500 on a local bus in Italy for having the wrong ticket. Found the one novice Uber driver who moved to the city days before! Got routed to the wrong hotel in Glasgow, later discovered it was also a halfway house for men just released from prison, and we walked in on a recent guest in bed after being given the wrong key. He let me know he was ‘coming for me’ (we left, and found a hotel focused on being a hotel).

It became clear, country after country: the plan wasn’t going to hold. It all worked out eventually and created some great laughs and stories.

The problems weren’t what mattered most. It was how we moved through them. The temptation is to get stuck in "why us?", to cling to the original schedule, to spend energy comparing the reality to the plan.  We did a bit of that too! But hanging there too long would have stalled us.

Instead, we seemed encouraged to shift together. Not perfectly, and not always smoothly, but responding to what is ahead, not what was behind us. We stopped asking, What went wrong?”, and started asking, "What’s the next best move forward?”

We seemed to pay attention to what mattered when it mattered most!

• Are we all together?  (My daughter got separated at security, and we all ran to the gate, but she heard a different gate number and almost headed to Germany instead of Italy!)

• What’s the next step? (Reducing cognitive load in light times (like this story) or heavy circumstances is best achieved by dropping judgment and ‘should haves’ and facing forward to the immediate next step.

• Is there a humorous side to lighten the load? We always seemed to find that.  Like being stuck in Sardinia after missing our flight, and Gracie checks our situation with ChatGPT, which suggested the perfect solution: "looks like you are stuck with no flights out tonight, it is best you charter a jet!!"

We didn’t need to analyse every breakdown; it was happening every day in every country. We just needed enough clarity to make the next decision. We were on a lot of flights, and it reminded me of the voice of every airline captain in the final descent: “Ahhh this is your captain, we are approaching our destination now and we’re approaching from the southwest, passing through 15,000 feet, circling over the city before lining up to the east to runway number 5.”

I always look around at other fellow passengers thinking that some may find it mildly interesting, but who would find that useful? All we really want to know is: “When do we land and are we on time? ”

That’s what most teams want too. Not noise. Not any unnecessary detail. Not a full examination of the past. Just the right information to move forward.

In Simplify, I write:

“Know what matters.”

In Amplify, I build on that:

“Lead what matters.”

Whether in a sports team, a leadership group, or a family trip, that’s the work. Not reacting to every variable, but knowing what to protect and where to stay flexible. That’s how we lead when the system breaks, and inspire those around us to do the same. It’s how you build teams that don’t stall when things don’t go to plan.

Want to try this?

Next time things go sideways:

• Ask: What really matters here?

• Strip it back to the next best move, not the full re-plan.

• Let go of the original schedule…quickly.

• Look around and realign together. Keep your people, not just your plan.

I  have Simplify and Amplify workshops and masterclasses opening soon that help teams:

• Cut through noise

• Make better decisions under uncertainty

• And align roles, rhythm and relationships

No matter your title, if you’re part of a team, you’re part of its performance. Let me know if you'd like to explore this for your group. We’ll land well together, and on time.

Europe was a fantastic connection with family, friends, former international students we hosted over the years and great people I work with.  Like Daragh Sheridan, a leader of leaders from Irish Rugby.  Our wonderful families connected for the day for a fantastic exploration of Dublin, the High Performance Centre and then to the world-famous Riverdance Show and dinner. A high-performance day full of great conversation and laughs!  What a team!