Leadership
is something that is so extraordinary in the way that it can get people to do
great things. Just as the blog question states,
people do not come into a position of leadership by happenstance – it is often
the culmination of years of hard work in both a technical and personnel sense. This very reason is why leadership is such an
amazing trait. Many people have
interpersonal skills but have the technical skills of the pencil sitting in
front of me. Likewise, there are many an
engineer that is brilliant in the technical sense yet have the personality of
the afore mentioned pencil. Leadership
requires such an interesting skill set in order to be effective at it and
sometimes, the traits exhibited to get into a position of leadership might not
be compatible with effective leadership traits.
I
think one of the big reasons the armed services in general and the Navy in
particular is having such a hard time with leadership right now is related to
this problem. As a naval officer
progresses, the responsibility he has increases. This trend continues until he commands a ship
however there is a significant difference between the management and leadership
skills required of a CO versus a Department Head. A department head can get results by
displaying marginal management skills only.
Navy
FITREPS (your effectiveness) are mostly an objective form that shows your
accomplishments (in rather frilly language at times) so that you can be ranked
against your peers. What this form fails
to capture is your personality/the intangibles associated with leadership. A slave driver (substituted here for a
marginal department head) can accomplish similar feats that a leader can,
however the morale, wellbeing, and general effectiveness of the command is
going to be completely different. Due to
the inability of the FITREP to accurately capture this, people that produce
results but are poor leaders are promoted to positions where the skill set
changes. The CO of the ship isn’t just a
producer of results; he is the main individual that is responsible for the
general wellbeing of the ship. They fail
to grasp that yelling, abuse, and micromanaging are ineffective ways to manage
groups of people and as a result, the ship suffers. Low retention rates, poor morale, and lacksidasical
attitudes throughout the ship are key indicators that the CO is in over their
head. In my short time in the Navy, I
have one specific example of this.
During my qualifications, I rode another ship that had just been cleared
of a CO that produced explicit results (i.e. he got the ship out of the yard on
time and through sea trials) however every officer on the ship was leaving the
Navy due to his personality (or lack thereof).
Included in these officers was a 14 year nuclear engineer and the
highest rated Navigator in the squadron.
This CO had left the ship about 3 weeks before I showed up, and he had
been replaced by an outstanding officer.
The new CO was firm but personable.
He had patience with the crew, punished them when appropriate, and
rewarded them likewise. Everything we
did on that underway had a purpose that was explained. In the 4 months I was on board, the aura of
the ship went from dark and gloomy to bright and cheery, all because the cancer
had left.
So what do I think is
required of a successful leader? First
off, I think they must unequivocally stand by their morals – they should be a
beacon for you to live up to. Secondly,
they must have technical skills – nothing shakes confidence in a leader like
watching one flop and twitch in a situation they should know about. Thirdly(and probably most importantly), they
must genuinely care about the people below them – I was fortunate to be part of
a command that made you truly feel like you were part of a team and a team that
looked out for one another. Fourthly,
they must have a vision for where they want the team to go. Fifthly, they must be an excellent
communicator – you can’t accomplish the vision unless you can effectively tell
people what the vision is. Sixthly, a
leader must have patience – things will not go according to plan, yelling about
it will not accomplish a thing other than driving solutions away. Finally, the must be open to criticism and
feedback – there is nothing more frustrating than being asked for your input,
you put time and effort into providing it, only to find out that it was
completely blown off.
No comments:
Post a Comment