Like many in the world, I’ve been watching the athletes competing in the Winter Olympics the past two weeks. The team pursuit competition in speed skating fascinates me because it is such a powerful competition that combines sheer physical prowess with mental strategy. The team members take turns as the leader of the line of team skaters. The leader works the hardest as he is breaking through the air resistance in front of him. The following team members enjoy the leader’s wind draft to rest before they move to the front of the line to take their turns out front. The strategy includes knowing when to drop back in line and rest while someone else assumes the leadership position.

Drafting is important in other sports, too. Cyclists work together to switch back and forth in the lead position during the race to save energy and take advantage of the fact that two very close competitors actually move faster by the drafting relationship. The speed advantage of drafting is a physics lesson for others to explain; trust me that it works.

NASCAR drivers also work together, at times, to take advantage of the drafting effect. Their cars move up to 5 MPH faster when they can capitalize on a tight drafting situation.

Naturally, I began to think about how this drafting principle applies to business. Being the lead person, the team leader or the company leader is also similar to an energy draining race. It drains energy from you both mentally and physically. Falling back in the line represented by the committee, the department or the board to allow another team member to lead for a while, can make a tremendous difference to the overall success and rate of success for the company’s goals and mission.

A solitary leader in the team race benefits neither the followers (the drafters) or the race leader. Collectively, a management team that shares in taking responsibility for success, will solve problems quicker and with better outcomes.

Why not give some thought this week to your function on committees, teams, and management groups? If you have been drafting for too long, tap the leader on the shoulder, have him fall back and get refreshed. If you have been out in front of the line providing the vacuum for the followers to enjoy, fall back to the end of the line and get some rest.

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"There is no future in any job. The future lies in the man who holds the job." -- George Crane

"Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell 'em, 'Certainly, I can!'. Then get busy and find out how to do it." -- Theodore Roosevelt

"The crowd gives the leader new strength." -- Evenius

I had to do some drafting to get this newsletter completed. I’d hit a wall on developing the drafting concept to something that made sense to people in business. I called my friend Pete, laid out the idea and then fell in behind his lead in the conversation. He recalled a team building program exercise in which the participants had a problem to solve collectively. By encouraging the group members to share their ideas for speeding up the problem resolution, the task was completed quickly due to sharing of the leadership responsibility.

Getting a break to coast a bit renews energy, improves attitude and offers more possibilities for improvement.

I first understood the benefits of drafting when my friends Jim and Dave and I rode across Massachusetts on a 400 mile bike trek. Being 18 years old and full of energy was not enough to offset the exhaustion of headwinds and steep inclines. We quickly accomplished the skill to maintain constant pace and draft off the leader, keeping our front bike tire within inches of the leader’s rear tire. I remember one long, slow incline the three of us were laboring to ride up. The draft effect wasn’t working so well when Jim, who was leading and puffing complained, “How come this bike doesn’t have a lower gear than first?”

We let him drop back in the line for a while.

Doug

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