Porridge-gate Today was a whole crew meeting on deck to discuss porridge. It was more than just porridge, it was crew clashing around accusations of laziness vs. rudeness. Tempers flared and none of those involved reached a resolution. It was a sad meeting, I stared passively at my feet disappointed that I had nothing to add, and praying I wasn't going to get sucked into it. One of the business frameworks that always offers me comfort when teams have friction is the 4 step process of forming, storming, norming and performing. With crew changing every leg Qingdao have struggled to get past the forming and storming phases. Teams in the race that appear happier and more cohesive have successfully transitioned into norming and performing, and when you talk to them about what makes it work they say tolerance is the key. We have yet to consistently manage tolerance and until we have, we will struggle to show kindness and to building a happy team going forwards. I had always believed that trust is required for teams, but in the absence of a clever HR hiring policy, our rag tag group of crew selected on age and sailing experience need to find tolerance first. #sailing #racing #lifeatsea #porridge #southChinaSea #flatcalm #oceansailing #clipperrace #arguments