The Longship
The Viking longship surged through rough seas. Sail straining. Oars digging hard into dark water. Pull. Pull again. Sea spray hitting faces. Wind roaring. The boat rising and crashing through the waves.
The crew sat shoulder to shoulder in cramped conditions. No shelter from the rain. No protection from the cold. No escape from each other. At the bow stood the leader urging them forward whilst scanning the horizon for danger, opportunity or land.
Modern organisations talk endlessly about teamwork. Usually from the comfort of a heated conference centre with pastries and PowerPoint presentations.
The Vikings understood something many organisations still struggle with. When conditions are harsh and uncertainty is high, teamwork stops being a slogan and becomes a matter of survival.
A Viking longship had no room for passengers. Everybody contributed. Everybody rowed. If people failed to work together the consequences were immediate and dramatic. Storms are brutally honest about organisational culture.
Modern workplaces often claim to value collaboration whilst rewarding something very different. Departments compete for resources. Senior managers defend territory. Information is hoarded. Meetings about partnership working are followed by carefully worded emails designed to spread responsibility so thinly nobody can be blamed.
In my experience in the public sector, organisations frequently underestimate the importance of good people management. Technical expertise gets promoted. Professional brilliance gets rewarded. People management is treated as optional.
The Vikings did not have this luxury.
A longship crossing dangerous seas could not afford poor communication, toxic behaviour or leaders who avoided difficult conversations. Rough seas exposed weak leadership faster than any staff survey. There was no HR away day entitled “Building Resilience Through Change” after the boat had already sunk.
And despite their fearsome reputation, Viking crews understood something important about inclusion. On a longship weakness was everybody’s problem. Success depended on every individual playing their part. Different strengths mattered. Experience mattered. Trust mattered.
Modern organisations often recruit diverse talent then undermine it with cultures where people feel excluded, ignored or unable to challenge decisions. They talk about inclusion whilst rewarding conformity. Yet in difficult times organisations need different perspectives more than ever. Especially when facing uncertainty, pressure and rapid change.
The mythology surrounding the Vikings focuses on heroic leaders and fearless warriors. But Viking success depended just as much on discipline, coordination and collective resilience. Storms exposed weakness quickly.
So do organisational crises.
When budgets are under pressure, morale is low and staff are exhausted, people are not interested in leadership slogans or carefully crafted internal communications full of phrases like “challenging environment” and “difficult decisions.” They want honesty. Competence. Visibility. They want leaders who understand what life actually feels like on deck.
This is where leadership becomes real.
Not during conferences. Not in rehearsed presentations. Not in strategy documents full of colourful arrows and impossible optimism. Leadership matters when the sea is rough and people are looking for someone worth following.
Viking leaders stood at the front of the ship and faced the storm with everyone else. Modern leaders often send motivational emails from the shore.
Blair McPherson former Director author and blogger blairmcpherson.co.uk
