I Have a Crew - Now What?

You have people willing to crew - now what??

Assuming they know what to do or that it’s obvious is a recipe for disaster.

Here are five basic steps to make your ‘now what’ a smooth success.

First - Accept that you’re a manager.

A race is a project and you’re the project manager.

Your crew (and pacer, if you have one) is your staff.

You define the plan, make the command decisions, and lead.

Because if you don’t, chaos will.

Second - Decide what you want from a crew.

This means making lots of decisions that are personal preference (no ‘right’ answer), but you only make them once and it’s worth the investment.

Break the decisions into three manageable chunks.

What role do you want them to take?

• Parents or CEOs directing you what to do?

• Advisors to you, the decision-maker?

• Cheerleaders there only moral support?

What do you want them to do (or not do)?

• Have food ready? Suggest aid station food? Wait for you to ask?

• Have your drop bag and gear at hand? Have gear out on the ground for easy access?

• Sympathize or kick you out of the aid station?

What decisions do you want them to make?

• What you should eat and drink?

• How to run the next section?

• Whether you should go on or drop?

This is a small sample of decisions. Take your time and think it all through.

Third - Tell them what you want and see if they’re willing to take it on.

They may never have seen an aid station or be an experienced crew.

Either way, they need to know what you want from them.

Have the conversation and make sure you both agree.

Fourth - Let them be imperfect at it.

There’s a field of study in the nuclear industry called Human Performance Improvement that examines why humans make errors and how we - ‘management’ - can set them up for success.

Using this lens, your crew will be operating in “Knowledge-Based” Mode - a low familiarity, high stress situation where they’re uncertain what to do. They’re going to be thinking on their feet, using whatever past experience and knowledge they have as a basis.

Whether they’re new to ultras or crewed you last year at this race, today is a new day with new conditions, and new you.

They’ll be in some level of unfamiliar territory. Plan for it.

Prevent errors and have a backup plan - use drop bags in case your crew doesn’t get to an aid station.

And last - Own your race, crew and all.

No matter what your crew does, you’re ultimately responsible.

Blaming them for a bad race shirks your responsibility, prevents you from improving, and squashes any chance people will want to crew you in the future.

And it’s poor form. They gave up their weekend to help you.

Make their time and yours worthwhile. Learn - no matter how good or bad it went - and make the next race better.

Taking these five steps gives you…

• Permission to define what you want.

• Clarity instead of confusion in the aid stations.

• Confidence of running a team.

• A team that works in harmony to get you to your goal.

• The race you make happen instead of the one that happens to you.

1000% worth it.