Save a life – crack a joke!

How do you cope when the chips are down? I mean when it really hits the fan?

If you were to face a life or death situation right now, would you remain calm or panic?

People often associate panic with a colorful scene in their head of people running around screaming and generally making fools of themselves. In most cases people don’t panic like that. They tend to freeze, and perform no task of any use, whatsoever.  

I personally favor those kinds of people that perform the freeze panic, because the screamers, they are an unwelcome distraction to those of us that tend to remain relatively cool headed. Also, those that just stop doing anything are usually easier to get moving again, particularly if the cool headed person can give them a simple task to perform.

So which are you?

I recall spending a great deal of time working in and around helicopters during my time in the Commandos, and, as a means of transporting troops, they make great paperweights.

They don’t glide worth a damn when they stop working which can be very troublesome when you are 3000ft up in the air.

It was during such an occasion that the “cab” I was riding in decided to be a tad temperamental and not work in accordance with our plans for the day. I was a door gunner in the Lynx Attack Helicopter and we were practicing low level insertion for a section of 7 men. Prior to dropping down and beginning our low level approach we were flying at around 3000 ft when the, “heads-up” console (a panel of lights located where the heat & A/C vents are in the dashboard of a car) between the pilot and co-pilot, lit up like a Christmas tree.

Nothing is more alarming to anyone than the sound of alarms and flashings lights in an aircraft that’s already airborne. It just screams problems…

I heard the pilot and co-pilot chatting amongst themselves and running through various drills to find the source of our predicament. At first I thought there really couldn’t have been that much wrong, as the conversation between the two of them, sounded much like they were ordering breakfast at some low key restaurant.

This of course served to sooth my nerves and I was about to go back to scanning the ground far below me for signs of the enemy patrols, when the “cab” dropped like a stone for a couple of hundred feet. If you happen to be kneeling in an open doorway of a helicopter when this happens, I can tell you from personal experience, you will float up into the air weightless… If you are not securely gripping the headrest handle on the back of the co-pilots chair, you will now involuntarily exit the aircraft.

I didn’t want to do this, so I remained holding on firmly to the small handle and began asking a few choice questions of the crew…

“Any chance you lads can keep this thing in the air long enough for us to make it back to base for lunch?”

Imagine my confidence souring to an all time high with the pilots reply,

“Unless they’ve changed chefs, it’s gonna be the same crap as yesterday, so I don’t think you’ll be missing much, mate…”  Nice.

At which point the “cab” did it again, this time dropping even lower than before, and seemingly faster.

I turned to face the boys behind me and they were all laughing. The pilot told me to tell them to “assume the position” which I relayed through various facial expressions and hand signals.

I received several varieties of hand signal in reply and none of them were very polite.

I repeated the instruction insisting that they put their heads down between their legs and grasp around their ears to help prevent whiplash upon impact. I can’t tell you how funny this is to do when you aren’t strapped to anything.

‘Cause if the helicopter hits the ground from that height, it won’t matter what you’re grasping, the last thing that will pass through your mind will be your ass….

They knew it, and so did I. But sometimes it’s still better to do something rather than nothing when facing your own impending death. It gives you a sense of facing things on your own terms – kind of.

The smiles faltered on their faces when the “cab” dropped for a third time and this time dropped so hard and fast several of them floated into the air too, even laden down with all of their kit…

I performed the universally accepted signal for death by drawing my hand across my throat. They were all looking at me wide eyed as it dawned on them the pilots weren’t actually messing around attempting to scare them, we really were in trouble.

Everyone quickly went through the unnecessary drill of double checking safety catches were applied to their weapons, followed by helmet straps pulled a little tighter, followed by shuffling a little lower towards the floor of the “cab”.

We dropped for a fourth time and one of the guys threw his hands up in the air and screamed…. At first I thought he was panicking; then he started laughing his ass off.

He looked like a kid on a roller-coaster, which was his intention.

It’s so loud in the back of these aircraft you can’t hear diddly unless you are hooked into the communications system. But that didn’t stop everyone from starting to roar with laughter. Now the entire section was poised ready to throw their own hands into the air should we drop for a fifth time.

We didn’t drop again and the pilots had already begun a controlled descent the moment the first trouble had begun. As the skids touched down on the grassy hillside in the middle of know where, I heard the pilot say to the co-pilot,

“That was interesting.” As if we had all just taken part in some mundane high school science experiment.

What stopped my panic? Well, it helped me to hear firsthand the complete lack of panic in the pilots’ voices. Later that day they told me my question about us making it back for lunch helped them remain calm – I know they were just saying it to be nice, but I liked it anyway. LOL.

The guys riding in the body of the aircraft were helped by the clown who threw his hands into the air and pretended he was riding a rollercoaster.

No one panicked. People looked a bit concerned for a minute. But no one panicked. Of course, what would they have done if they had of panicked? It wasn’t as if there was anywhere to go… Jumping wouldn’t have helped; you weren’t going to get there any faster than the helicopter.

In just about every case I can imagine, nothing good occurs with panicking: It solves nothing and typically only adds to the problem. These days most folks have had their fill of stress anyway – why would you want to add to it? Good leaders seek out ways to alleviate not only their own stress, but also that of their teammates, so that everyone can perform more effectively.

It’s not just in business where maintaining a sense of humor can help balance the status quo, either. It can also help maintain perspective on family issues, your friends’ problems, debilitating health issues; in fact, just about every facet of your life becomes easier to manage when approached with a sense perspective. - Follow the link.

The higher up the rankings you are in terms of influence within your peer groups or work, the more important this talent becomes. When others look to you the moment the proverbial, “merde” hits the fan, it’s time to step up and lighten the moment.  

Any asshole can add stress – your challenge is to think of a way to lessen it, and quickly!

The faster you can do this, the faster people will come to trust you to be their anchor whenever things go awry. Do you want to be a truly great leader? Make people laugh and relax in a crisis. Defuse the situation by risking a little of yourself in order to bring about some levity. Problem solving becomes a whole lot easier if someone has the ability to temporarily relieve the tension.

It has to be someone; it needs to be someone – so why not you?

Cheers, Terry.

P.S. “Experience: A comb life gives you after you lose your hair..” – Judith Stern.

www.highintensityteambuilding.com