Thursday, October 21, 2010

Harvard Business Review offers these tips for leaders - Help your Action Officers be more effective

Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff recognizes the Joint Staff Action Officers of the Month at the Pentagon, Washington, D.C., on March 10, 2010. (DoD photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Chad J. McNeeley/Released)
On a large Navy staffs around the world, there are countless distractions, threats, and roadblocks to getting work done. Superior Navy leaders take pride in shielding their Action Officers from these annoyances.

Harvard Business Review offers Navy leaders these three tips on ways to help their Action Officers focus on what matters:

  1. Show up on time. One of the biggest detractors from work is wasted time. This might be the time your Action Officers spend waiting for you to show up to meetings or to give needed direction. Being important doesn't give you permission to impede productivity.
  2. Stop the intrusions. Set aside time when your Action Officers can think and work, and not be expected to respond right away to phone calls, voicemail and e-mail.
  3. Let them have good fights. Don't avoid conflict. Make your Action Officers feel safe enough to speak their minds, even to you, so they have productive and creative disagreements.
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7 comments:

  1. John ByronOctober 21, 2010 at 6:56 AM

    4. Reduce the size of the staff.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Megan @ Chicago GirlOctober 21, 2010 at 11:09 AM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousOctober 21, 2010 at 7:13 PM

    Rubber Ducky, in terms of reducing the size of the staff, that is what the BCA is for.

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  4. AnonymousOctober 22, 2010 at 1:57 AM

    Captain Lambert,

    I must have been in the wrong Navy, during my entire career. I do not even know what an Action Officer is, but years ago he would have been attached to the Gunnery Officers hip, and would know the main battery right down to every working component and the secondary battery as well. He should have also memorized the watch quarter and station bill and know exactly what it meant when the Gunnery Officer reported "all stations manned and ready" to the Captain after GQ had been sounded.

    Very Respectfully,
    Navyman834

    ReplyDelete
  5. John ByronOctober 22, 2010 at 7:09 AM

    BCA: que esta?

    ReplyDelete
  6. General QuartersOctober 23, 2010 at 10:12 AM

    #5 - Do not insist upon "Death by PowerPoint" for every occasion, however insignificant.

    ReplyDelete
  7. AnonymousOctober 24, 2010 at 9:33 AM

    Rubber Ducky,

    BCA is when Body Composition Analysis. How the Navy keeps its Sailors from getting too large.

    (Bad joke about the "size" of the staff. . .)

    ReplyDelete