I had a fantastic week with my family camping in southwest Michigan and I was surprised how much working together on the campsite has lessons throughout not just for better family dynamics, but also for leadership.

We have a big water container - it’s easy to carry water from a common pump and bring it back to camp. It’s designed to sit on the picnic table and pour water out. But it’s a jug of water and the walls of the jug aren’t rigid; so it slowly rolls off the table and falls to the ground. For three days we used the water jug and it fell a half dozen times.

I knew it was possible to hang the jug and it would be stable and easy to use. I didn’t take the time to hang it. I also found myself trying to encourage my son to do various camp chores like preparing meals, building the fire, cleaning the dishes.

So, I asked my son to find a way to hang the jug of water. I gave him rope and said “let me know if you need help - with the knots or anything - but I believe you can figure out how to hang it so that it doesn’t fall and we can use it to get water."

He started right away. Looking for how to hang it. He used a stick that was his “staff” for walking. He made a stand against a tree. He asked for help with the knots. We hung up the jug. In fact, my wife also helped by suggesting some ways to hang the jug. In the end, the jug of water was hung and it was much easier to use. My son didn’t do it the way I would have, and that’s ok. We worked together on the bits that he needed help on. I let him take charge of solving the problem.

I wasn’t always successful. We also learned to sail a sailboat. I wasn’t as successful as I tried to delegate during our first few attempts at sailing. I asked my son to take charge of mooring (one of our new skills that we hadn’t quite mastered). I needed to steer the boat accurately and slowly to the buoy while he latched us on. I came in to fast twice, and on the third try I impatiently ran up to the bow to take over and try and “help” my son latch to the buoy.

We both ended up in the water as I “helped” him. I ended up having to latch us onto the buoy while swimming. No patience to allow him to try enough times to get it right, so we both ended up wet.

Delegation is important for a leader. It can be hard to let go. Allow for failure. Have patience. Collaborate don’t control. And don’t end up all wet.