The Landmark Blog

Mountains, Trail Markers, and Feedback

A few years back my brothers and I climbed the Grand Teton, a mountain peak in the Grand Teton National Park.  The Grand Teton is one of the highest points in Wyoming and reaches a daunting 13,770 feet in elevation.  The approach to the peak and back is about a 14 mile roundtrip hike that spans two days.  The first day is spent hiking to the base of the Teton and resting for the second day's activities.  The second day is spent scaling the Grand, and hiking all the way back to your car.  Scaling the peak itself requires climbing gear and a 2,700 foot elevation gain.  

At one point along the climb, the trail requires you scale a cliff where you are suspended by climbing gear, butt facing out on about 12,000 feet of air.  For me, this entire trip was a grueling, but once in a lifetime experience with many adventures, excitement, and tense moments.

Among the many interesting experiences we had on this trip, there's one that I'll never forget.  As we reached the summit of the Grand, it began to rain...and lightening.  I'm not sure if you've ever stood on a peak that high in the air but you quickly realize how miniscule you are.  When lightening begins to drop, it becomes extremely scary and beautiful all at once.  You can feel the electricity in the air, the hair on your arms stand on end, but you are taken aback by the setting.  As the rain and lightening began to drop around us, it became quickly apparent that we were at significant risk of being hit.  As much as we wanted to stay and enjoy the scenery, it was imperative that get off the mountain very quickly.  

Cairns, as they relate to back-country hiking, are trail markers made from piled-together rocks that mark the trail when the trail itself isn't obvious, for instance through rock beds, rivers, etc.  They help hikers avoid getting lost, are extremely important for navigation, and are sometimes very difficult to find.  An Epic, in the climbing world, is a very dangerous experience...one that should happen infrequently...but that you live to tell about.  

Our start on the second day was a little later than we would have liked and we moved more slowly than we'd have expected.  As we sped down the Grand Teton, with rain and lightening falling all around us and the sky darkening, we realized that this Epic was nowhere close to being over.  When the series of long repels were completed and we were able to get to a safer area, we had a seven mile hike in the rain ahead of us...in the dark.  The Cairns that seemed so obvious in the daylight, were much more difficult to find with only a headlamp to guide the way.  The trail was eerily difficult to follow and we were exhausted by the days epic events.

I learned something about human nature...and myself...on that trip.  We, as humans, are capable of doing difficult things.  We're capable of overcoming obstacles that we'd never imagine in our way.  I believe these traits apply to not only our personal lives, but our businesses, employment, and work lives.

What are the Epics that you face in your business or your employment.  Is the recent recession one?  What about other events?  What are the Cairns that you use to help you guide the way to business success?  Here are some suggestions for guiding you through epic events...some business Cairns:

• Constantly collect feedback from your customers, your patients, your constituents, or your employees on what you are doing well and what you can improve on.  Feedback surveys are a good way of collecting information to ensure you have a trail to follow.
• Provide yourself with immediate access to this feedback information so that you are aware of issues quickly.  This access could be in a data or business intelligence dashboard format, or something as simple as dropping all feedback responses into your e-mail.  Your customers, patients, constituents, employees, etc. will appreciate you for gathering this information and they'll be more likely to stick with the trail as a result.  
• Make sure you act on the feedback information as quickly as you can.  There's no reason to gather feedback if you have no intention to do anything with it.  Waiting for months or years to address issues are as problematic as not knowing the issues to begin with.  If the trail doesn't have a clear path with constant improvements, it becomes much harder to follow.