weather, snow, sun, and changeable conditions Part 4

Part four of my leadership evaluation.

This is the final part to my four part analysis of my leadership style. This section of my blog will look at motivation and arousal and how it can affect a group in a situation.  The situations are: a snowy, cold, and windy day walking up An Garbanach , in comparison to a sunny warm day leading a group up mount Snowdon in wales.

When the weather turns you can find it very hard to concentrate on taking bearings and general map work, a map can be hard to use in very wet and windy conditions. The group possibly feel like it is a battle for every step, so their motivation drops. Due to the environment and the conditions there are lots of external stimuli such as high wind and driving rain, their arousal levels are quite high if they are not able to focus on the task. To keep motivation high and arousal at a level where catastrophe is avoided, you as a leader you need several methods to keep the group in motion. These methods are as follows (depending on the group) you can play a game as you go along, you could sing a song, you can do short sharp legs/points to keep people on their toes so they are thinking of the task at hand and lastly just to make the time fun and enjoyable by any means necessary.

As a leader you need to be able to cope in any situation your group can throw at you, whether it is a bout of low motivation, or somebody stressing out because they are lost. To do this you need to be able to have a basic understanding of psychology and have the ability to relate it to the situation. Or you could rely on your previous experience if you have some. 

The scenarios i have selected are two events that have had an impact on my leading and when i have been led and seen how others lead. The time when my group conquered mount snowdon was inspirational as all the members had a drive to get to the top  to see the view which was incredible. It was an awesome experience to see the group so happy and have that fire which fulled them to succeed.

The other scenario is when we went up an garbanach in scotland, the conditions were not the best to walk in as the weather turned very quickly as we went up. but despite of that the myself and the group had a very enjoyable experience this is all down to the leadership that was put into place to counteract these factors. This is an event that I can draw knowledge from and improve my own leadership, and implement new tactics when I need too.

Through this reflective process i have learnt a lot about my leading style and how i can improve and what i can leave out. This has been the final part in my four part leadership exploration, so sadly i press post for the last time. But watch this space for a new blog topic soon.