I’ve always been fascinated by the Iditarod dog sled races. For a man or woman and a few dogs to trek hundreds of miles over the frozen arctic tundra of North America is truly remarkable. I admire anyone who has the guts to do it. There are truly some formidable obstacles to overcome. There’s the cold temperatures, the snowy and icy terrain, the gloomy skies, the limited rations, the threat of becoming lost, the danger of possible injury, and the list goes on and on. Only men and women of great personal courage and fortitude would even attempt such a venture.

The dog sled team is just that – a team. As with all teams, it has a leader, and that leader is the dog sled driver. But how does a leader actually lead a team that consists solely of member that are not even the same species as the driver?

We find this same problem in the corporate world. There are thousands of managers and supervisors out there that don’t have much in common with the technical employees that work for them. They are not the same species. What can the successes of dog sled racing teach us about how to manage employees that have far different functions than us?

1. The leader needs to address the needs of the led.
Dogs know that they need things. They know that they need to stay warm, they need food and water, they need companionship, and they need care. They are not interested in how these things come to them, only that they do. If left to their own wit, they may find ways to provide for their needs in ways that do not meet the approval of the sled driver. So, the sled driver becomes the one responsible for ensuring that the dogs have all their needs met.

A manager needs to ensure that if he or she tasks his or her employees to do something that he or she provides the proper resources to accomplish the task. Most workers don’t care about the process of acquiring the resource. That’s not their job. They only care about putting the resource to good use. When faced with a project or task deadline, an employee with a resource request that is unfulfilled by the manager may resort to ways of acquiring it that are against company policy, unethical, or even worse, illegal. If you’re in charge, gathering resources is your responsibility. You can delegate the authority to do it, but not the responsibility for it.

2. Everyone must know their responsibilities. If they don’t, the leader must train them.
Dogs simply don’t start the race when they don’t know what to do. It takes months and years to train good sled dogs. Sometimes they learn directly from one-on-one with the driver.

Other times, they learn by doing what the rest of the pack is doing. With a lot of positive encouragement and engagement from the team and the driver, dogs become valuable members of the team.

A new hire may know why he or she was hired, but may not be completely knowledgeable about duties, the industry, the company way, or any number of things. It takes some face time with the leader and a lot of peer following to really get the hang of things. In a positive and mutually encouraging work environment, employees develop rapidly into valuable, happy and energetic members of the team.

3. Know your team members and position them for success.
Some dogs perform well together. Some dogs don’t. There can be personal conflicts that cause dogs to not keep their focus. Other dogs would rather play with each other than do their work. Still, other pairs of dogs want nothing more than to win the race when paired. Stronger dogs work better in the front. It’s up to the sled driver to know where his dogs will work best when they are all harnessed up and ready to race.

Managers need to be aware of who their employees are. They must place their team members in the best position to succeed by resolving conflicts, avoiding placing lower-producing workers together, and allowing the leaders within the team itself to emerge and handle minor issues. The great thing about human employees is that they will probably tell you where they think they can work best, if you just ask them.

4. When the team is performing its function, get out of the way.
There’s a reason dogs are in front of the sled and not behind it. They are doing all the work to get the sled where it needs to be. They have been trained to run, and to work together.

They don’t need any help from the driver with this. The driver can do little to make them run faster or work better together when they are in the midst of the race. It’s best at this time for the driver to stand back and watch for obstacles.

The employees on a manager’s team were put there because they are highly skilled at what they do. Once a project has started, they only need to know what the tasks are. Once the task is identified, the team will know how to accomplish it. The manager only needs to ensure that he or she prevents or resolves any non-technical problems while the team is completing the tasks. This is where the leader begins to lead by following.

5. The leader must provide direction.
Dogs love to run. And many dogs love to please their masters. They light up when a satisfied owner pats them on the belly, offers them a treat or spends time playing with them as a result. They also have a sense of accomplishment. Any dog owner can tell you how their pets react when they have done something that they feel is a tremendous accomplishment. So when the dogs are running the race, they only need to know where to go. At one command, they will steer left, and at another, right. They will halt, they will bark, they will follow any command of the driver, because they trust that where the driver wants to go is where the dogs want to be.

Hopefully, employees are doing the job that they are doing because they love it. When they do, they only need the manager to tell them what the task to be accomplished is. When they do a good job, their pride in their work shows, and they feel appreciated when they are rewarded for it. A manager that shows appreciation for his employees and rewards their good work will have no problem ensuring that employees follow his or her directions throughout projects. What’s more is that they will expect to be given good direction, and they will trust that the manager is pointing them the right way. A good leader recognizes that he or she can only make a good course correction by standing behind the worker (as in, being knowledgeable about where they are in a task, not literally standing behind them) and seeing which direction they were first headed.

6. The leader can only take credit for leading.
Sure, the driver of the sled is given the trophy. No doubt, the driver rewards their dogs handsomely for their effort. He talks about how well his dogs held up through the cold, and how they pushed themselves. He also remembers to thank others that helped him prepare for the race. At the end of the day, all he can really take credit for is guiding the superb efforts of the team.

While managers help to organize the tasks of their employees, they can’t really take credit for the technical accomplishment of the team members. Managers need to remember to heap praise on the employees for their accomplishments, especially when noted by others outside the team. After every project, awards and rewards need to be presented, whether formal or informal, to thank the team for the effort. This is also NOT a zero-sum game.

Everyone on the team who contributed gets some kind of reward. The manager will no doubt be rewarded, but needs to share and spread the acknowledgements.

One thing I always noticed about the race is that the driver is never in front of the dogs. He simply follows them on his sled, even across the finish line. He is the last member of the team to cross it. This is because he knows that his responsibility is to make sure that every member of the team crosses the finish line together first. You really can follow your team members to lead them. They know what they are doing.