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THE REST OF YOUR PEOPLE
THE MISSION
The majority of your good ideas will come from your people, not you.
There are more of them, and they are closer to the problems on the
ground.
We were in the Western Pacific, on patrol toward a simulated enemy
camp that we were to destroy, when we had to hide in the bush. The area
turned out to be patrolled frequently. Even though we were, by that time,
close to our objective, the bush was filled with thick growth, and travel
through it had been slow. Now we couldn t move at all, and we were run-
ning out of time. At the same time, leaving the bush meant crossing several
well-traveled roads on which we would be exposed. Meanwhile, we had
to hit the target right after sunset in order to get far enough out to sea to
reach our extraction ship in time. That meant traveling toward our target
in daylight.
I gathered my team around. They all crawled up. I went around, ask-
ing each person for ideas. In the end, I used several ideas from a few of
them, consulted with the chief and my leading petty officer, and
announced the new plan. It included their idea of having an advance squad
cross a wide field and take up positions at an intersection while the rest of
us crossed one of the feeder roads. It included the idea of sending out a
squad to ambush any enemy vehicles on the roads immediately before
we departed, allowing us to sprint back to the beach instead of patrolling
cautiously.
THE TAKE-AWAY
A consultant we know once worked for a company where progress on a
project had slowed down to a crawl. Lots of time had been spent analyz-
ing the market and developing strategy but no one could determine the
125
LEADERSHIP LESSONS OF THE NAVY SEALS
problem. The consultant interviewed the CEO, who seemed sincere and
enthusiastic. When he left the CEO s office, he rode the elevator down
with one of the programmers, who asked him whom he had seen. The con-
sultant admitted that he had just spoken with the CEO. Really? the pro-
grammer said, clearly amazed. It s been more than a year since he s come
down and talked with us.
It s essential that your employees know that you are interested in what
they have to say. Are you going to make your budgets this year? Are your
team members dissatisfied and looking for other jobs? Is the computer sys-
tem you re relying on benefiting your department or holding it back? Are
your clients satisfied or getting ready to leave? Tell them to push it up
through their chains of command, but tell them that you re listening. If
people conclude they mean little to you, problems are going to arise. First,
your people are going to feel disenfranchised and that prevents work from
getting done. Why should I care? Second, you re going to have an incom-
plete picture of what s going on. I had no idea everyone had to work overtime
because so many other people had quit. Finally, you ll miss out on a chance
to test your lines of communication. Jill, I just found out that our inven-
tory levels are way out of bounds. Why didn t you let me know?
Create conduits that allow your staff to give you feedback and infor-
mation. Seek out their ideas and concerns on projects. They know far bet-
ter than you do about what s going on in the trenches. Or stay in your
pen until after dark, and then go out and step on that land mine that
everyone else knew was there.
LESSON 19
BE UNAPOLOGETIC WHEN YOU FIRE SOMEONE
THE MISSION
Firing someone is possibly the toughest thing you ll ever have to do, but
if you can t do it, then you ll never get complete accountability from your
126
LEADERSHIP
people. Your refusal to thin the ranks will be correctly assumed to be your
acceptance of deadwood. Your inability to tell people that they have to
leave will be correctly seen as giving what is good for an individual prior-
ity over what is good for the team.
This is not about having to fire the rude, unpopular, incompetent,
unapologetic thief in your organization. If you can t even do that, then
return this book. There is no hope for you. This is about having to fire
the nice guy whom everyone likes, but who isn t, and who never will be,
right for the job. This is about being the unfair, heartless guy.
There was a nice guy in the SEAL organization whom I thought of as
a friend. He was in the same training course during an early part of my
commando career. He was fairly intelligent, he was fit, and he had good
intentions. Unfortunately, he couldn t operate. He wasn t a very good
shot. He was a complete mess underwater. He didn t have an aggressive
streak that compensated for his lack of aptitude. In fact, he was overly
nervous about taking risks, and his nervousness affected his ability to
remember basic procedures. He was seen as a safety risk. Everyone liked
him, but no one wanted to be his swim buddy.
The class tried to help him out. I talked with him. He was a good guy
who deserved help. But in the end, I stopped helping him. I still think of
him as my friend and as a good guy, and I don t feel good about having
him separated from the SEAL organization. But he wasn t in the right line
of work. He was told that without apology. He was forced to go find
another job, hopefully one that he was more suited for. I feel bad but it was
the right decision. There are a lot of worse feelings when someone dies in
training or during an operation because of ineptitude.
THE TAKE-AWAY
Firing someone isn t a decision you make on the fly. It s not an emotional
act that you haven t thought through. If it is, then you may face the embar-
rassing realization that you just fired the main guy your clients trusted or
the only woman who knew about Hispanic marketing. And it ll be even
worse when you have to explain to your boss that you endangered the
127
LEADERSHIP LESSONS OF THE NAVY SEALS
company because you didn t know what you were doing when you
fired the worker.
But since you re not firing someone for the wrong reasons, and
because firing them will help your organization, you have nothing to be
embarrassed about. So don t apologize. That only communicates that [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl wyciskamy.pev.pl
THE REST OF YOUR PEOPLE
THE MISSION
The majority of your good ideas will come from your people, not you.
There are more of them, and they are closer to the problems on the
ground.
We were in the Western Pacific, on patrol toward a simulated enemy
camp that we were to destroy, when we had to hide in the bush. The area
turned out to be patrolled frequently. Even though we were, by that time,
close to our objective, the bush was filled with thick growth, and travel
through it had been slow. Now we couldn t move at all, and we were run-
ning out of time. At the same time, leaving the bush meant crossing several
well-traveled roads on which we would be exposed. Meanwhile, we had
to hit the target right after sunset in order to get far enough out to sea to
reach our extraction ship in time. That meant traveling toward our target
in daylight.
I gathered my team around. They all crawled up. I went around, ask-
ing each person for ideas. In the end, I used several ideas from a few of
them, consulted with the chief and my leading petty officer, and
announced the new plan. It included their idea of having an advance squad
cross a wide field and take up positions at an intersection while the rest of
us crossed one of the feeder roads. It included the idea of sending out a
squad to ambush any enemy vehicles on the roads immediately before
we departed, allowing us to sprint back to the beach instead of patrolling
cautiously.
THE TAKE-AWAY
A consultant we know once worked for a company where progress on a
project had slowed down to a crawl. Lots of time had been spent analyz-
ing the market and developing strategy but no one could determine the
125
LEADERSHIP LESSONS OF THE NAVY SEALS
problem. The consultant interviewed the CEO, who seemed sincere and
enthusiastic. When he left the CEO s office, he rode the elevator down
with one of the programmers, who asked him whom he had seen. The con-
sultant admitted that he had just spoken with the CEO. Really? the pro-
grammer said, clearly amazed. It s been more than a year since he s come
down and talked with us.
It s essential that your employees know that you are interested in what
they have to say. Are you going to make your budgets this year? Are your
team members dissatisfied and looking for other jobs? Is the computer sys-
tem you re relying on benefiting your department or holding it back? Are
your clients satisfied or getting ready to leave? Tell them to push it up
through their chains of command, but tell them that you re listening. If
people conclude they mean little to you, problems are going to arise. First,
your people are going to feel disenfranchised and that prevents work from
getting done. Why should I care? Second, you re going to have an incom-
plete picture of what s going on. I had no idea everyone had to work overtime
because so many other people had quit. Finally, you ll miss out on a chance
to test your lines of communication. Jill, I just found out that our inven-
tory levels are way out of bounds. Why didn t you let me know?
Create conduits that allow your staff to give you feedback and infor-
mation. Seek out their ideas and concerns on projects. They know far bet-
ter than you do about what s going on in the trenches. Or stay in your
pen until after dark, and then go out and step on that land mine that
everyone else knew was there.
LESSON 19
BE UNAPOLOGETIC WHEN YOU FIRE SOMEONE
THE MISSION
Firing someone is possibly the toughest thing you ll ever have to do, but
if you can t do it, then you ll never get complete accountability from your
126
LEADERSHIP
people. Your refusal to thin the ranks will be correctly assumed to be your
acceptance of deadwood. Your inability to tell people that they have to
leave will be correctly seen as giving what is good for an individual prior-
ity over what is good for the team.
This is not about having to fire the rude, unpopular, incompetent,
unapologetic thief in your organization. If you can t even do that, then
return this book. There is no hope for you. This is about having to fire
the nice guy whom everyone likes, but who isn t, and who never will be,
right for the job. This is about being the unfair, heartless guy.
There was a nice guy in the SEAL organization whom I thought of as
a friend. He was in the same training course during an early part of my
commando career. He was fairly intelligent, he was fit, and he had good
intentions. Unfortunately, he couldn t operate. He wasn t a very good
shot. He was a complete mess underwater. He didn t have an aggressive
streak that compensated for his lack of aptitude. In fact, he was overly
nervous about taking risks, and his nervousness affected his ability to
remember basic procedures. He was seen as a safety risk. Everyone liked
him, but no one wanted to be his swim buddy.
The class tried to help him out. I talked with him. He was a good guy
who deserved help. But in the end, I stopped helping him. I still think of
him as my friend and as a good guy, and I don t feel good about having
him separated from the SEAL organization. But he wasn t in the right line
of work. He was told that without apology. He was forced to go find
another job, hopefully one that he was more suited for. I feel bad but it was
the right decision. There are a lot of worse feelings when someone dies in
training or during an operation because of ineptitude.
THE TAKE-AWAY
Firing someone isn t a decision you make on the fly. It s not an emotional
act that you haven t thought through. If it is, then you may face the embar-
rassing realization that you just fired the main guy your clients trusted or
the only woman who knew about Hispanic marketing. And it ll be even
worse when you have to explain to your boss that you endangered the
127
LEADERSHIP LESSONS OF THE NAVY SEALS
company because you didn t know what you were doing when you
fired the worker.
But since you re not firing someone for the wrong reasons, and
because firing them will help your organization, you have nothing to be
embarrassed about. So don t apologize. That only communicates that [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]