The Military Leader

Manage Your Work, Mange Your Life

Posted on Thursday, April 17, 2014

Article: Manage Your Work, Manage Your Life (HBR)

Here is a very insightful article on balancing work and home life, and crucially relevant for we military leaders/commanders who typically feel a strong sense of duty to “stay engaged” at work.

Takeaways:

Define success for yourself (“what does it mean to have a balanced family and still meet goals at work?)
Manage technology (no brainer)
Build support networks (have an outlet at work and home)
Travel/Relocate selectively (involve family in decisions; make ‘time away’ a team decision)

Posted on Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Wisdom from Doctrine (ADP 6-22 – Army Leadership)

“Encouragement and inspiration characterize leadership whereas coercive techniques run counter to Army leadership principles. Subordinates respond well to leadership that encourages commitment to achieve shared goals, thus improving the leader’s ability to use indirect influence in situations where clear lines of authority do not exist. Leadership seeks to influence others through the communication of ideas and common causes. Positive, empowering influence comes by knowing how to lead, relate to others, and free other to manage tasks.”

– Army Doctrine Publication (ADP) 6-22 Army Leadership

Two points are worth noting about this paragraph from ADP 6-22 – Army Leadership.

When was the last time you encouraged and inspired your team? The guidance clearly states that Army leaders are to develop their leadership styles based on “encouragement and inspiration” and that coercive influence is not acceptable. It’s very easy to focus on task accomplishment and forget the emotional component of performance. Truth is, that’s what most people respond to; we all like to find encouragement and inspiration. And it doesn’t have to be the soft and cuddly encouragement; your team likely won’t respond to that. Connect your team to the unit’s or the Army’s history; remind them of the higher purpose of serving; or highlight the long line of sacrifice that others have made. In accordance with ADP 6-22, find ways to create a positive environment…not one that is simply absent of negativity. There’s definitely a difference.
The other interesting point within the text is that leaders who create trust through positive leadership and shared values create the impetus to accomplish the mission when “clear lines of authority do not exist.” Essentially, this builds an environment where team members excel even when they aren’t required to, which can be powerful for an organization.

Bottom Line

“Not being toxic” is not enough for Army leadership. Our Soldiers and officers deserve more. They deserve leaders who build their leadership personas on positivity and inspiration, knowing that such an environment will allow their teams to accomplish more.

http://www.warcouncil.org/blog/2014/4/5/what-i-wish-i-knew-from-cadet-to-lieutenant-in-afghanistan

Posted on Friday, April 11, 2014

Lessons from a ‘not-so-new’ Lieutenant

A great summary of lessons from a not-so-new Lieutenant. A must-read for good perspective. Highlights include:

5. Most of the time you’ll have no idea what you’re doing
6. Your parents probably did a better job prepping you for leadership than anyone
7. West Pointers are spoiled

Posted on Thursday, April 10, 2014

12 Things Good Bosses Believe (Rule #4)

“One of the most important, and most difficult, parts of my job is to strike the delicate balance between being too assertive and not assertive enough.”

Fact: a team’s performance decreases under too much pressure from its leadership.

It is also true that a team may underperform without enough pressure from the leader…but honestly how often do you see under-motivated military leaders? Our challenge is usually in scaling back assertiveness and pressure so that our teams can perform their best.

Tommy Lasorda summarized it well: “I believe managing is like holding a dove in your hand. If you hold it too tightly you kill it, but if you hold it too loosely, you lose it.”

Similarly, knowing WHEN to apply assertiveness is a skill of great leaders. They read the environment and anticipate when their teams will need pressure and when to back off. It’s a common belief that military leaders must be constantly assertive, Type-A, and intense. But doing so can be counterproductive to achieving unit goals.

http://blogs.hbr.org/2010/05/12-things-that-good-bosses-bel/

http://blogs.hbr.org/2010/05/12-things-that-good-bosses-bel/

Posted on Tuesday, April 8, 2014

12 Things Good Bosses Believe (Rule #3)

3. Having ambitious and well-defined goals is important, but it is useless to think about them much. My job is to focus on the small wins that enable my people to make a little progress every day.

More important than creating big goals is to actually connect those goals to each level in the organization.

This is the process of translating a Mission Statement into Commander’s Intent into actionable tasks. (“There’s the hill we’re going to take…but nevermind that because first we have to cross a minefield…and to do that I need you to mark the lane.”)

It’s also vital for the team members to see that their small win contributes to the team’s big win. And even though Soldiers will dutifully execute any task assigned them…leaders will shift from positional power to transformational power if they can connect at the Soldier level and show how their contribution matters.

Posted on Monday, April 7, 2014

Tragedy and Readiness

Fort Hood's Lesson

Last week’s shooting at Fort Hood was a sad, unnecessary tragedy that no community should have to live through. And until the fabric of our society grows past this trend in violence, we will have to continue to prepare for such events. When these tragedies do occur, how the involved leaders respond can determine how damaging the events become, as well as how the public reacts to them.

Unpredictability will be a hallmark, it seems, as will national media attention. This means is that the small-town sheriff, or the unknown hospital supervisor, or the base’s commanding general could progress from ‘business as usual’ to ‘nationally-televised responsibility’ in a matter of hours.

Put another way…the most challenging event in a leader’s life could be just around the corner.

Even though Fort Hood’s commanding general is no stranger to summoning peak performance at critical moments…he didn’t start April 2, 2014 thinking he’d be mitigating a terrible crisis with an audience of millions. What does this example show?

Leaders must live in the mindset that their talents will be put to the test in some unimaginable, untested way…caused by an event that is alarmingly unpredictable. Leaders will have to show staunchness in seeing the tragedy through, while at the same time empathizing and consoling their organization. They’ll have to find a surge of energy at the end of an already-long day, and then continue that pace for weeks. Which means they will have had to live a life of readiness, having developed both the talents and the physical/mental capacity to endure the test.

Questions for Leaders:

What tragedies could appear on your organization’s horizon?… Financial loss? New competitor? Loss of a key team member?
Do you have a system for preparing for crises? Does your organization think about and prepare for worst-case scenarios?
When tragedy strikes, will your organization look to you for guidance, inspiration, and support? What type of leadership does it respond to?

Posted on Sunday, April 6, 2014

12 Things Good Bosses Believe (Rule #2)

“My success — and that of my people — depends largely on being the master of obvious and mundane things, not on magical, obscure, or breakthrough ideas or methods.”

Robert Sutton’s second belief about good bosses reminds us that while it is important for leaders to create vision for the organization, the more important work deals with leading people through the tangible steps to achieve that vision.

bosses Consider commanders you’ve seen that set out “Command Philosophies” containing lofty goals and the challenge to reach ill-defined levels of “x” capability. These documents may chart a path but they’re not what the junior leader will rely on when he’s trying to do his part to reach those goals.

Our military typically operates in a complex environment during combat and a muddled, overtasked environment in garrison. It is the leader’s job to sort through the muck to clearly define the steps/systems the team must perform to reach his goal. Task – Purpose – Endstate. Teams need this clarity to perform well.

Incidentally, consider that our system affords certain perks and comforts to commanders (his own vehicle, good accommodations, etc) because it expects them to get their head out of the weeds and identify the “obvious” when the team is rowing too hard to see what’s ahead.