Musings, leadership tidbits and quotes posted by a retired Navy Captain (really just a high performing 2nd Class Petty Officer) who hung up his uniform a bit too early. He still wears his Navy service on his sleeve. He needs to get over that. "ADVANCE WARNING - NO ORIGINAL THOUGHT!" A "self-appointed" lead EVANGELIST for the "cryptologic community". Keeping CRYPTOLOGY alive-one day and Sailor at a time. 2015 is 80th Anniversary of the Naval Security Group.
From SECNAV SAS speech. "We have a long tradition of creativity, and we have exceptionally talented people in the Navy and Marine Corps. I’ve charged this Task Force with harnessing that creative energy of our Sailors and Marines and infusing the ideas that come forward into our operations."
In his speech, he pointed to the "Check In the Box" promotion system that gets our senior officers like the CNO promoted. Maybe officers should take an exam to prove their knowledge as we whitehats do. Maybe they could innovate that. Officers will never have to take tests to get promoted because officers make the rules. Think about it !!
Can't say I disagree with the statement as written that the Navy has been at the forefront of innovation and technology, but only strictly from an R&D perspective; there are some robust efforts out there to that end. One would argue that we are woefully behind on fully implementing any true innovation into our great Navy of any notable scale due to the bureaucratic nature of our organization's acquisition cycle and program of record management system(s). If anything truly innovative comes along, by the time the initiative is authorized, funded, made a program of record, and implemented at the scale the Navy requires I would argue it's no longer innovation, but rather life cycle maintenance and/or upgrades...the point here is that innovation implies that time, scale, and impact of the effort are achieved; not just one of those attributes.
The SECNAV's Task Force Innovation Initiative (TFI) is to create a culture of innovation across the Navy and is commendable in every aspect, but most notably because it demonstrates commitment. While I applaud the effort here, the level of focus is off base in my humble opinion. At the SECNAV and OPNAV levels of leadership you don't really create a culture of any kind; you can enable, encourage, and perhaps foster culture but you don't create culture. To create a true culture of innovation (of fitness, or pick your buzz word), you must start at the deck plates or the local command level. For that to truly be realized it requires leadership of all paygrades to be willing to embrace risk rather than avoid it...today's average leader wants to get through the current assignment/tour without a perception of having failed anything, but innovation requires trying and failing your way to success which is very much counter culture to any large organization, and most definitely one such as the Navy which is steeped in tradition.
Just my .02, and don't expect everyone to agree.
@Anonymous @May 4, 2015 at 9:30 AM - only by questioning our leaders do we ensure mutual understanding and accountability, failing to do so is failing in your role as a Sailor or leader of any kind. There are clearly tactful ways to do so, and cases such as crisis or casualty that require strict adherence to following orders, but innovation is not one of them.
I recall that before we had DEEP BLUE we had the Office of Special Technology that spun up technology as quickly as humanly possible and then transitioned it to a POR as an ACAT IV or ACAT III program. It worked for a long time but then collapsed when the original founders moved on or retired. There was innovative stuff but a lot of it was funded by Congressional +up money and it was hard to find a sponsor at OPNAV willing to transition it to POR. That included little things such as RADIANT MERCURY.
SECNAV said it, so your question is out of bounds.
ReplyDeleteFrom SECNAV SAS speech. "We have a long tradition of creativity, and we have exceptionally talented people in the Navy and Marine Corps. I’ve charged this Task Force with harnessing that creative energy of our Sailors and Marines and infusing the ideas that come forward into our operations."
ReplyDeleteIn his speech, he pointed to the "Check In the Box" promotion system that gets our senior officers like the CNO promoted. Maybe officers should take an exam to prove their knowledge as we whitehats do. Maybe they could innovate that. Officers will never have to take tests to get promoted because officers make the rules. Think about it !!
ReplyDeleteHarrumph. SECNAV needs to read "Men Machines and Modern Times" by E.E. (yes the other one) Morison.
ReplyDeleteMike,
ReplyDeleteCan't say I disagree with the statement as written that the Navy has been at the forefront of innovation and technology, but only strictly from an R&D perspective; there are some robust efforts out there to that end. One would argue that we are woefully behind on fully implementing any true innovation into our great Navy of any notable scale due to the bureaucratic nature of our organization's acquisition cycle and program of record management system(s). If anything truly innovative comes along, by the time the initiative is authorized, funded, made a program of record, and implemented at the scale the Navy requires I would argue it's no longer innovation, but rather life cycle maintenance and/or upgrades...the point here is that innovation implies that time, scale, and impact of the effort are achieved; not just one of those attributes.
The SECNAV's Task Force Innovation Initiative (TFI) is to create a culture of innovation across the Navy and is commendable in every aspect, but most notably because it demonstrates commitment. While I applaud the effort here, the level of focus is off base in my humble opinion. At the SECNAV and OPNAV levels of leadership you don't really create a culture of any kind; you can enable, encourage, and perhaps foster culture but you don't create culture. To create a true culture of innovation (of fitness, or pick your buzz word), you must start at the deck plates or the local command level. For that to truly be realized it requires leadership of all paygrades to be willing to embrace risk rather than avoid it...today's average leader wants to get through the current assignment/tour without a perception of having failed anything, but innovation requires trying and failing your way to success which is very much counter culture to any large organization, and most definitely one such as the Navy which is steeped in tradition.
Just my .02, and don't expect everyone to agree.
@Anonymous @May 4, 2015 at 9:30 AM - only by questioning our leaders do we ensure mutual understanding and accountability, failing to do so is failing in your role as a Sailor or leader of any kind. There are clearly tactful ways to do so, and cases such as crisis or casualty that require strict adherence to following orders, but innovation is not one of them.
-Seth Lawrence
I recall that before we had DEEP BLUE we had the Office of Special Technology that spun up technology as quickly as humanly possible and then transitioned it to a POR as an ACAT IV or ACAT III program. It worked for a long time but then collapsed when the original founders moved on or retired. There was innovative stuff but a lot of it was funded by Congressional +up money and it was hard to find a sponsor at OPNAV willing to transition it to POR. That included little things such as RADIANT MERCURY.
ReplyDelete