Mission Support Commonwealth Ladies Exped to South Pole
Mission offered to support the commonwealth ladies expedition set to walk unsupported to the South Pole this Christmas. Mission trained the Pink Lady Pole cats in 2005 for the second Polar challenge and Felicity Aston was part of that team. She is the leader of this expedition to the South Pole.
The commonwealth ladies expedition (as detailed on the web site) aims to be the first all female team from the commonwealth to haul themselves unsupported to the pole.
The team of 16 have been flown to Norway for their first training programme. They have come from Jamaica, Ghana, Singapore, India, New Zealand and the UK. Some have never seen snow before. Their first week in Norway was the selection week. 16 would soon become 8.
Mission offered to support the development of the team in this second week. Sponsored by Personal Strengths who supplied the SDI instrument, I would start the ball rolling with an 8 hour session on how to become more effective as one team. Developing anawareness of motivational diversity within the team will help them prevent conflict and to become better communicators.One of the main reasons why teams fail is their of lack of confidence to challenge and to be authentic with their colleagues. To genuinely operate in an interdependent fashion demands that its individuals put their needs behind those of the team. For individuals to act in a selfless way takes time to achieve. The sooner a team can get to this stage the quicker teams perform to their potential.That was to form the focus for my session. What follows is an account of my journey to help the team get there.
Monday 02 March: Managed to get away and board the flight in time arriving in Oslo for 2100 hrs. Thereafter I was stung for a £10 bus fare. Yes its true what they say, it is expensive in Norway and I hadn’t drunk anything yet. Arriving at the plush Thon hotel in a retail park next to a garden centre 10 miles outside of Oslo I checked in and went in search of that beer. Directed to walk 400 metres through 8 foot snow drifts to a very nice restaurant. I arrived and it was very nice with very nice prices too.
I walked on by and found the chicken premiere with fries to be a worthy alternative.I got my head down soon after.Tuesday 03 March. Awoke to a hearty breakfast of boiled eggs and roll mop herrings, uhmm nice. Boarded that expensive bus again and made my way to the train station. Wearing a flat cap and sporting 3 days growth (given up shaving for lent) I boarded the train and headed for Haugostol some 5 hours north.Trains are nicer in Norway. They are clean and serve hot dogs that look appetising and decent coffee. I was in heaven as the snow covered banks flicked past me. 300 Kroner later I got off and met Pete, Felicity’s other half and loyal supporter. We drove 45 mins along the E7 to Bergen to arrive at an isolated settlement of 3 huts. Glorious sunshine, the first in days (was this a good omen?) and I borrowed some skis for a quick tour of valley. I saw the team ski in from their 3 day mini expedition, looking very tired and moving at a snails pace. Some engineered PR shots later and they convened for shepherd’s pie later that evening. A lively group they relived their previous 3 days and went to bed content. Meanwhile I chatted through Felcity’s expectation for my session before turning in.