What Hurricane Helene taught me about collaboration.

Anyone in the path or a hurricane — it’s no joke. The First Rule of Hurricane Survival: Actually prepare. Prepare as if you will lose power for two weeks, that you will run out of fuel, that you will need extra doses of medicine or oxygen tanks for loved ones. That you will not be able to cook. Surviving the storm is the easiest part. Living in the aftermath of the direct path of a hurricane path is very, very challenging.

I spent Hurricane Helene in the Greenville (SC) area with my parents. We’re in the upstate bit of South Carolina, south of Asheville, North Carolina. Anyone watching the predictive news in our area knew we were most likely going to get some very challenging weather.

As the hurricane blew through, our neighborhood mostly survived. The house mostly survived. We had filled up the vehicle the day before to “full”, and parked it in the garage. So we had fuel to get around in the immediate hours after the storm, if needed.

But when Hurricane Helene knocked out power for over 1.1 million friendly southerners in the Greenville area, let me tell you, the grand southern manners briefly fled the area. In a moment of crisis, there are 2 types of people — those who are able to collaborate, and those who treat the situation as if the only decision and outcome that matters is theirs.

First, the roads. Not only was their debris and downed trees that made driving a true danger, the fact that 1000’s of the areas traffic lights were out was in itself the greatest safety risk. Why? Apparently many folks in South Carolina either slept through drivers training, or never took it. Intersections with out-of-service traffic lights should be treated as if there were 4-way stop signs. But the number of accidents at crossroads in the first days were unbelievable. People ran through intersections like it was Grand Theft Auto. Someone hit a phone utility truck so hard, it actually tipped over. This is the truck with the bucket on it — it weights A LOT.

The art of collaboration in unsafe situations only works if everyone is willing to participate and the rules are known and clear. After a few days, drivers seemed to catch on . . . but not without an alarming number of accidents in cross-roads.

In a moment of crisis, collaboration only works if everyone works as a team, and treats everyone with the same level of care and respect. Where no single person’s choice is permitted to put the entire collaboration in danger, and more importantly, when no single person behaves as if their position is the only one that matters. Had we been able to lock out the drivers who didn’t know the rules of the road in this situation, Greenville would have been a much safer place for the first responders, utility workers, and general public in the 72-hours following the hurricane experience.

HURRICANE COLLABORATION RULE ONE: If your company or your community finds itself in a moment of crisis, lock out those who can’t keep the team mission and survival at the forefront. If you can’t lock them out, tell them the rules of collaboration and insist on their commitment.

Once we all started emerging from the houses and seeing what was what, there were pretty clear groups we all sorted in to: With power, No power; Had running water, didn’t have running water; House ok, House not ok; No personal injuries, With personal injuries. Our family survived, and our immediate neighbors survived. Up our neighborhood road, there were 2 big trees down — one fell safely in an empty lot; the other unfortunately crushed the roof of a home. Collaborative focus first went on to the most badly damaged house. Everything else could wait. There were available chain saws and buckets to remove debris and general combined resourcing. And hands to help.

HURRICANE COLLABORATION RULE TWO: Start with the issue mostly at crisis. If it’s not your team in crisis, ask if there’s something you can contribute. Ideas, time, sounding board, perspective. Offer to go on a coffee run. You don’t have to be on the team to support the team. A great collaborator will show up anyway and offer to participate. (BTW — being told either “yes” or “no” is equally acceptable.”)

By day 4 people sort of stopped hoarding groceries and fuel. But as communications came back online, that’s when we all heard and saw footage from the North Carolina/Tennessee border.

It is a masterful thing to positively participate to a moment of extreme follow-on crisis, even in a small way. Case in point — individuals who were stranded past washed-out roads started receiving supplies via pack-teams of donkeys, led by horse riders. Donkeys are an ideal supply animal — they can pick there way along uneven terrain, over mudslides and uneven footing, and they have excellent stamina and patience. Aside from donkeys, I also watched as private pilots started landing in the local private Greenville airport to fly supplies to Asheville. Volunteers had found a way to organize, and to get the word out. Vehicles started arriving at the airport with supplies to donate. First created by word of mouth, then by social media announcements once cellular data was restored, they worked and loaded almost non-stop for 3 days. Once the lineman started getting to work to restore power, women who were living in areas that still had running water and electricity began lining up to take clothes and wash them. We can all find ways to help, and to participate, even in the smallest of ways.

HURRICANE COLLABORATION RULE THREE:

Tell people you need help. People will show up.

Collaboration is not just an artistic skill and a business skill, it is a life skill. How wonderful it was to see individuals rise to the occasion of collaboration in our moment of crisis.

If you’re leading a team in crisis, consider the rules of the hurricane: lock out those who value their individual self over the group collaboration; look around and reach out to people outside of your immediate team who might be able to help you; consider all those who come quietly to you with possible solutions — I never thought in 2024 we’d be relying on the steps of donkey’s to help feed people. Don’t count out any idea.