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How to Build a Team of “Yes Men”

Listening to Michael Hyatt’s superb podcast on creating team unity, my first reaction was, “We’re good! The military has got this team alignment thing figured out. We’re focused on the mission, we have a clear command structure, and we follow orders.” But as Michael explained the steps to creating team alignment, he said that to get the most powerful results, leaders must:

Create an environment that is safe for dissent.

Ouch! Ok, that’s not the first phrase most military members would use to describe their work environment. In fact, I think it’s rare that I’ve seen a military leader who embraces dissent in the name of creating unity. I know I’ve never prioritized it.

The result?…we get a team full of Yes Men who not only fail to speak up when they disagree with mundane issues, but are also trained to remain quiet in the face of critical decisions. If you want a team of folks like that, then make sure you do these things.

U.S. Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Caroline Chavez, a senior drill instructor assigned to Platoon 4023, November Company, 4th Recruit Training Battalion, commands her platoon during their final drill evaluation, June 25, 2014, at Parris Island, S.C.
(DoD photo by Cpl. Octavia Davis, U.S. Marine Corps/Released)

If you as a leader allow people to halfway do their jobs and don’t demand excellence as a prerequisite to keeping their job, you will create a culture of mediocrity. If you allow people to misbehave, underachieve, have a bad attitude, gossip, and generally avoid excellence, please don’t expect to attract and keep good talent. Please don’t expect to have an incredible culture.

Dave Ramsey
EntreLeadership (New York: Howard Books, 2011), 159
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The Post-Active Duty Leadership Environment – Part 2 (Leadership)

This is the second of three posts by an Air Force Major discussing the organizational changes he experienced after leaving active-duty to fly for the Air National Guard and a civilian airline. Read the first post here.

In part one of this series, I described my transition from active duty flying in the US Air Force to my current job as a civilian airline and Air National Guard pilot. I addressed how I found my concepts of service and excellence to be more aligned with my post-separation life than my active duty experience.

I also asserted that many leaders I encountered focused more on serving their careers than serving their subordinates and that this mentality has become a cultural issue within the Air Force’s Air Mobility and Training Commands, if not the Air Force itself.

Today’s post compares the active duty and civilian/National Guard leadership environments that I experienced.

Here’s a section from a very insightful book, which relates directly to the risk military leaders carry in being too busy to share information across echelons or worse, up and down the chain of command:

“…that’s a big reason why so many of us withhold information. It’s not that we want to keep people in the dark. It’s simply that we’re too busy. We mean well. We have good intentions. But we fail to get around to it. As a result we become bad at sharing information – whether it comes in the form of a news bulletin, or a heads-up, or instruction that teaches people how to do something that we don’t have the time to do ourselves. Over time it begins to look as if we are withholding information.

Being bad at sharing information doesn’t mean we are willfully withholding it. The two are not exactly the same. But the net result is the same in the eyes of the people around us.

How do you stop withholding information?

Simple answer: Start sharing it.”

Marshall Goldsmith
What Got You Here Won't Get You There (New York: MJF Books, 2007), 71
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Why Your Leadership Style Needs Some…Gemütlichkeit???

Let me reveal a secret about social functions in the military:  No one wants to attend a morale or family event and feel like they’re right back at work. We spend all day in the midst of clear authority, customs, and time-critical tasks and we don’t want our social events to feel anything like that.

But, we’ve all been there. Here’s a short story.

Why Your Leadership Style Needs Some Gemütlichkeit

The Commander of U.S. Garrison Bavaria taps the keg at the 56th Annual German-American
Volksfest in Grafenwoehr, Germany, 2014. Link to photo.
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7 Military Blogs You Need to Check Out

Get your Sunday reading in with some peer writing. Here are 7 of the best military blogs out there right now if you’re looking for professional, well-written content. What I like about these site is that they’re either created/hosted by an active duty service member, or they’re a repository of active duty writing. So, you know you’re getting relevant content.

military blogs

Army combat helmets assigned to Soldiers participating in the 2009 U.S. Army Reserve Best Warrior Competition sit at the ready during the Urban Warfighting Orientation Course phase of the competition. Link to photo.
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A Career of “Career-Ending” Jobs – Eisenhower’s Wavy Path to Success

If you haven’t thought about it from this perspective, consider this about a diminishing military:  we can’t expect that leaders will reduce mission requirements when there are fewer service members  – “Do more with less” sounds appropriate.

And a subsequent effect is that the service members who remain will have less of a say in their assignment choice, as “personal preference” cedes ground to “needs of the Army.” Some officer and NCO leaders will receive assignments to perform unglamorous duties in less-than-optimal locations. And they’ll think their career is over because of it.

The Making of a Leader: Dwight D. Eisenhower by retired Army Colonel Robert C. Carroll in the 2009 Edition of Military Review, shows how General Eisenhower’s career had a similar tone. Carroll recounts Ike’s string of “not-so-elegant jobs that many might consider career-enders, but would later pay huge dividends.”

Supreme Allied Commander U.S. Army Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower. Courtesy: Wikipedia.