Communication lessons from Iceland, life in an igloo and chatty horses.

Good communication skills are about being able to go up and down the gears smoothly.

To know the bonding effects of words, and to know when too many words can be dangerous. 

ICESAR is Iceland’s search and rescue service.

It’s a voluntary organisation with little financial state support.

Their training is rigorous, with 100 hours stretched over 18 months. 

And this training is done in real life situations.

Like this one…

Sigurdur Sigurdsson and his colleagues were caught by a storm in the middle of a training exercise on Vatnajökull glacier. 

They built their own snow cave, the dimensions  - 2.5 metres by 2.5 metres by 0.5 metres.

So, pretty teeny tiny.

And there were 8 of them in this little igloo.

For 60 hours.

He said “If somebody wanted to move, we all had to move.”

Add to this, that one of the eight people was also Sigurdsson’s wife, and you have the making for a movie.

“How to get to know your spouse in 60 hours stuck on the side of a glacier” is quite the snappy title, don’t you think?

How did they all manage? 

By using their words and telling stories and jokes. 

Words can sooth, support and strengthen us.

Contrastingly, too many words can be bad news.

ICESAR also uses horses in search and rescues.

They are surefooted, can cross difficult terrain and have a far more acute sense of hearing, sight and smell than humans.

But, it’s important to select the horses well.

Having two ‘chatty’ horses means they call out to each other a lot.

And this can get in the way of radio communications when out in the middle of nowhere.

Chatty horses.

Who knew?

How do you manage communication in the teams you’re part of?

When do you need to tell stories to stay motivated?

And when do you need to dial it down and not get in the way of critical information?