Cut me some slack
Another blog with climbing references. This one about The Great Western in Yorkshire and about the need for slack.
The capping overhang blocks upwards progress and the unworthy scuttle back.
The only escape is left across the empty space.
Hand after hand only the foolhardy stop, on this mighty face..." [1]
The Great Western is 15m of Yorkshire Gritstone classic rock. Despite being only 15m it is an intimdating and brute of a route. It's a Hard Very Severe (yes they should have started grades lower)
Off a dodgy boulder you start up a verticle crack, placing gear where you can. If you have cams you are in luck...if not the fumbling around can cost you. From the top of this crack a great traverse moves west, or left at least. Decent holds, but the overhang makes it tough. You have a choice on this traverse, set good protection or press on. As you reach the end, there is a big reach round to a lovely hold on top. But the forearms are pumped. Your fingers start to open.
"take"
And then the drop. It feels like forever.
And then the swing. You come to a stop, hopefully before the side wall.
Rest. And then go again.
It's a lovely climb, and yes I fell at the last hold the first time I did it. No cams. Too pumped. But I got there second time round. And i learned my lesson.
But my lesson wasn't so much about cams. It was about slack.
You see in climbing slack is a necessary part of leading a route. As you climb, the belayer feeds out rope. A tight rope feels safe. You won't fall far. But it's a hindrance really. It pulls on you, drags you back, makes every move harder. Conversely, the harder the climb, the more slack you often need. On my first go, I didn't have enough slack, it was pulling me sideways across the climb. I felt safe. It was a mistake.
I've been thinking about slack a lot recently. How little slack there is around, in work, in life. So many people and organisations with so little slack. Tight ropes, stretched to breaking. And I think about the pioneers, those pushing hardest at the frontiers of change, those who need the most slack, often have the least. Too risky they are told. Keep them on a tight rope.
I've had many conversations recently with people in a range of organisations, about how the ability to move faster doesn't mean more slack, it means they are expected to move faster. What took them a day, now takes them 2 hours. But people only want to pay for the 2 hours. Tenders want more for less, funders want more impact, but lower costs. We are promised efficiency, but it's never realised.
A tight rope, is a safe rope. But only if it doesn't break.
If we want better, we need to cut some slack. For social purpose organisations yeah, that could be interpreted as unrestricted funding. But it's more than that. It's the intentionality of investing in slack. Of helping organisations protect it. You are investing in resilience, in imagination, in the ability to push further and better. And for those pioneers, leading up the hardest routes, they need it the most.