Anyone in search of success should plan on finding failure along the way. Not only should it be accepted as a matter of course, failure should be invited as an indicator of what works and what doesn’t. Those who never fail aren’t pushing themselves hard enough, as the saying goes.
But failure in leadership is tricky because leadership involves people. Catastrophic failure is not acceptable, but it’s helpful to fail just enough to learn good lessons without hurting your people. Then hopefully the lesson will stick with the leader throughout the career and benefit future organizations and their people. That’s how I learned a vital lesson about communication and trust.
Link to U.S. Army photo by SFC Michel Sauret.
“Sir, I recommend…”
The first post in this series was about failure at Ranger School. This one happened when I was a rifle company commander in the 2nd Cavalry Regiment about ten years ago. I was just six months into the job and had a great relationship with my First Sergeant. He had been in the job before I got there and had a history with the unit. He was thoughtful and intentional, quiet but not unengaged.
He also had this gentle nudge of a technique he’d use when I was about to make a stupid decision or he had a better way of doing something. He’d start off the sentence with, “Well, sir, I recommend…,” and he’d draw out the word “recommend” to let me know that sage advice was coming. Whenever he said that phrase, I learned to listen up because he was about to save me from making a fool of myself or hurting the company.
On My Own
At one point in the fall when the training schedule wasn’t crazy, the First Sergeant took a week of leave back to the States. The senior platoon sergeant stepped up to fill the role and kept things going.
Then in a closeout meeting one day, this acting First Sergeant brought up an idea to move a Sergeant from one platoon to another. “He’d be a better fit in First Platoon and besides, they have an E-5 leaving soon and need a backfill.” The plan made sense to me and without much of a fight, I said, “Go for it.” We finished out the week and my First Sergeant came back on Sunday night.
First thing Monday morning…before PT had even started…First Sergeant walked into my office and closed the door without so much as a hello. Uh oh, I thought. I didn’t need a cue phrase to figure out that I’d messed something up.
He turned around and the look on his face surprised me. He was about to tell me that I’d undermined him by making that personnel move, but the thing is that he wasn’t angry. He was hurt, visibly impacted that I had 1) failed to acknowledge his expert knowledge in the manning of the company, and 2) failed to reinforce the trust we had established thus far as a command team.
His expression was crushing. “Sir,” he started, “…you can’t wait until I leave and then start making personnel changes.”
Damn, he thinks I did this intentionally. “No no, First Sergeant, I wasn’t planning that move. I just agreed to it.” Which, as I realized when the words left my mouth, made me seem impotent as well as ignorant.
“Sir, that Sergeant doesn’t belong in First Platoon. All his buddies are over there and it won’t be a good environment for him to grow as a leader. I was going to recommend he switch companies to get a completely fresh start as a new NCO.”
It was clear that I had undermined him. I listened, apologized, told him I respected his opinion, and committed to back his decision. We were tighter after that misstep and had a very successful command time together.
Time to Learn From Failure
I took away several lessons from this experience that are worth highlighting:
- The First Sergeant knows what’s going on in that company. In my failure, I underestimated the wealth of knowledge and deep understanding that the First Sergeant possessed about the company and its troops. At the same time, I overestimated my own knowledge of the leadership dynamics occurring within the platoons. I was not informed to the level he was and assumed it was a cut and dry decision. It was not.
- The company’s success is dependent on the quality of the communication between the Commander and First Sergeant. There is not a more important conversation happening in the unit than between those two leaders. They should collaborate on ideas, validate rumors, check each other on discipline decisions, synchronize their messaging to the unit, read each other’s emails before sending to higher, compare notes before closeout formation, and just about every other activity they conduct to lead the unit. Does the commander need to sit-in as the First Sergeant and platoon sergeants hash out the DA-6 for CQ Duty? Probably not, but you get the idea. Communication leads to consistency, reduces friction, and builds trust. (Read this post on the topic.)
- Command authority trumps all. Could I have put my foot down and moved the Sergeant to First Platoon against the First Sergeant’s advice? Yes. As the commander, I possessed full authority to do so. As commanders learn and grow with the help and counsel of NCOs, it’s important to remember that short of illegal, immoral, or unethical breaches, they have total authority over everything that occurs within the unit. But that total authority makes it vital that they check their perspective with their senior NCOs.
“NCO Business”
And finally, a thought about a contentious topic. Some NCO leaders think that officers do not need visibility on some aspects of running a unit. (Actually, I’ve also heard the line drawn between junior and senior NCOs.) In-ranks discipline corrections, low level personnel moves, the nuts and bolts of making a difficult operation happen, the first call time for lower enlisted Soldiers, the managing of Evaluation Reports, and so on. NCOs take care of those Soldier issues while officers deal with the staff, resource the company, and plan the training.
Now, my First Sergeant wasn’t an “NCO Business” kind of leader, so he had no problem talking to me about moving the Sergeant out of the company. But there are plenty of NCOs who think there is no reason to bring up personnel moves to the commander at all.
The problem with “NCO Business” is that it sets a precedent for withholding information. If you disagree with that opinion, then consider answering this question and justifying your response:
What information or activity in a unit
should the commander be denied access to or knowledge of?
I believe the answer is none. The commander is responsible for the unit and should be privy to anything and everything that happens in that unit. Information requirements flow from top to bottom. And to the extent that the commander acknowledges that he can’t know everything that is happening…clear expectations and trust should mitigate the information gap.
Leave a comment below if you have thoughts on this topic.
Questions for Leaders
- Think back on your failures. What lessons could you relearn and perhaps teach to others today?
- Identify your most important professional relationship. Is the communication as strong, transparent, and frequent as it needs to be?
- Are you getting the information you need to effectively lead? How would you know if you weren’t?
Don’t forget to check out the first post in this series, Stories of Failure – Ranger School and look for the next one!
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