Measuring success in command

I have long been a strong proponent and advocate for command excellence in our Navy Information Operations Commands and Detachments.  Strong enough to invest money in the effort.  For the last 6 years or so, I have sent "Charting the Course to Command Excellence" to every new commanding officer in the claimancy.  In more recent years, that package has included some relevant material on preparing for command and its significant responsibilities.  The softcopy of "Charting the Course to Command Excellence" is included in the 'deskload' of all the students attending PCO/PXO/CMC leadership in Newport, Rhode Island.  So, the efforts of my former Executive Officer, LCDR Robert A. Duncan have found their way into every command in the Navy.  That's no small feat.  He helped turn a sloppily produced booklet into a professionally produced product used by thousands (the Navy says they have over 1000 commands).

I'm always soliciting the COs for feedback on whether this material helped at all during their command tours.  As you may imagine, there's not much feedback forthcoming.

I'd like your thoughts in the "comments" on what you believe constitutes a "successful command" or "success in command".  

Will you help me out?  PLEASE?

How does one measure such a subjective thing?  Is "not getting fired" success?  Virtually every O5 CO is awarded a Meritorious Service Medal  and nearly every O6 is awarded a Legion of Merit.  Does anyone look at metrics for period of one CO's tenure versus another's?  Or is every command tour the same?  How do we distinguish between success and significance in command?  How can we better gauge 'success in command'?

Leave me a comment.

Personal Theme for 2013

"Read more, write more, and connect more."

Mark Miller (VP @ Chick fil a) talks about the importance of a personal theme for 2013 on his blog and via twitter.  I like his reasons for having a personal theme.  

A personal theme can help focus on areas we want to see results.  It also helps me see through the clutter of the many things going on in my life.  And finally, it helps establish a priority among the things I want to do in 2013.  

Mark says a personal theme can act as a magnet for our attention.  We'll see how it goes.  I reserve the right to change my personal theme at any later day in 2013.  For now, it works.

Being a Naval officer - a bit more responsible than your average person

While being a naval officer may not be one of the easiest jobs, it could well be the most rewarding. It might not make you rich or famous, but it can be a job in which you have great pride.

Your duties as a naval officer are immense; yet so is your authority. Use this authority wisely in performing your duties. Remember, the insignia you wear on your collar don’t make you smarter; they only give you authority, Depend on your Chiefs and petty officers for guidance; they have the experience and can teach you much if you will let them.

Do you remember what the role of the U.S. Navy is according to Title 10 of the U.S. Code? 

"The Navy’s role is to be ready to conduct prompt and sustained combat operations in support of the national interest."

For the Navy to be able to fulfill this role, you, as a naval officer, must be ready to perform your military duties. Only through self-examination, study of your job, and mature and rational performance can you fulfill your duties and responsibilities as a naval officer.

As always, "Thank you for your Service and your leadership."

Social skills in the new year

Any casual reader of my blog knows how I feel about the value of reading and, more importantly, writing.  Over the 2012 calendar year, I made time to send over 400 pieces of personal correspondence to a number of civilian government officials, senior Navy leadership, all of our NAVIOCOM Commanding Officers, Shipmates and many other people of consequence in my life. Writing is very important to me.  Relationships are very important to me.  Successfully putting those two things together has always been a source of personal satisfaction for me.  (Lots of "I" and "me" in this post - sorry about that).

I was taught early in my Navy career that "answering the mail" was an essential element of an officer's responsibility and an expression of his/her social/professional 'breeding'.  Fortunately, my Mother was a prolific letter writer and she taught me well.  I cannot fail to mention that my sister helped immensely with my penmanship lessons.

The responses (and non-responses) to my correspondence over the past year have been instructive for me.  I often hear some variation of the following (excuses):

• Hey, I got your letter and meant to answer it.
• Oh yeah, I need to do a better job of keeping up with the mail.
• You just don't know how busy it is on the staff here.  I barely have time to eat my lunch.
• I'm just not a good letter writer. My penmanship is horrible.
• I can never find the right paper to write on.
• I wish I had more time in the day to write like you do.
• I've been meaning to write.  I'll give you a call.
• You have no idea what my schedule is like; I don't have a minute for myself.

I was heartened to learn recently that the United States Navy recognizes the value of personal and professional correspondence and provides instruction through the COMMANDANT OF MIDSHIPMEN INSTRUCTION 1520.4B.  The subject is OFFICER PROFESSIONALISM AND CIVILITY TRAINING PROGRAM which addresses some of the following areas (relevant to my discussion here):

c. Stationery.
   (1) Social and military correspondence (Examples displayed during seminars).
    (2) Stationery specifics.
         (a) Calling Card.
              1. Correct size and correct information on card.
              2. Various ways of using calling card.
         (b) Personal Card vs. Business Card.
              1. Correct size and correct information on card.
              2. Correct use.
         (c) Stationery Use.
              1. Writing paper.
              2. Thank you notes.

              3. Condolence notes.
              4. Use of ink fountain pens.
          (d) The personal signature in life.

So, I have resolved to continue to work on combining writing and relationships in 2013.  Some of you will continue to hear from me.  And others, well...I will continue my onslaught of filling your inbox in hopes that one day you will pick up a pen and put it to paper.

Selection for command - Final post for 2012

Congratulations on being successfully screened and selected by senior members of your community for command –– it has the potential to be the best assignment you will ever have in the Navy during your long career.  To help you get off on the right foot, some of your predecessors would offer some suggestions to help with your preparation.

To start with, you'll need a personal command philosophy and initial focus. Three reasons: (1) you have to have a well-formulated plan if you're going to take your command to new levels of performance excellence, (2) for much of what you actually accomplish in your command tour, you must first establish a focus in your initial 1-2 months, and (3) your first few weeks in command will haunt you over your entire tour if you aren’t prepared to hit the deck running.

Those Sailors entrusted to your charge want and need to be led from day one of your command tour.

Get to know, network, and collaborate with your fellow commanding officers––irrespective of your career field or warfare specialty. If you are exceptionally successful, you will all become senior officers together before you know it. You will need one another. If you regard each other as competitors, you will hurt yourselves, your chain of command, and potentially - the Navy. Don’t get lost in the “glory of being the boss.” You’ll find the command experience produces many challenges along with equal measures of reward and disappointment.

Now is a good time to send a short thank you to family members and any mentors that helped you during your career. An e-mail won't suffice for this important task.  As you've certainly already been taught –– the personal touch of a hand-written note show good breeding and professionalism.

Navy commands that stand out - some observations

Stand-out commands are those that focus on meaningful contact with their Sailors at every opportunity. These contacts, be they at routine events such as morning quarters or engagements by officers and Chief Petty Officers out and about on the deck-plates, where candid, meaningful and two-way conversation with Sailors can take place, are where trust is built. 

Too often we see command communications devolve to impersonal, and very imperfect, forms of contact, devoid of the context that can only come from face-to-face communications. Always be on the look-out for the opportunity to look your Sailors in the eye and engage them on the issues important to you and to them. Always be ready for the opportunity to build and sustain trust with those you lead. 

Another common denominator found at successful commands is a commanding officer and command team that holds themselves, and their Sailors, accountable to established Navy standards as they fulfill their responsibilities. Human contact builds trust, accountability sustains trust. When trust and accountability are institutionalized in the daily routine of a command, the result is usually long-term success. When accountability is not strictly enforced, the command and control structure, which is held together by trust, falls apart and the command eventually fails.

Efforts at self-synchronization - trust is essential

“Self-synchronization is the ability of a well-informed force to organize and synchronize complex activities from the bottom up. Self-synchronization is achieving the goals of the organization without or with less leaders than in a hierarchical organization. 'A priori knowledge' enables individuals to self-synchronize because they have a shared understanding of the situation."

The creation of self-synchronization through unity of effort, commander's intent, rules of engagement, and battlespace knowledge is discussed as a starting point to create self-synchronization. The next steps in achieving self-synchronization are to empower individuals by releasing them from the multitude of requirements currently in place and the expectation and acceptance of the military as an adaptive learning organization.

Trust appears to be an important factor for self-synchronization to be successful. Trust in information, people, and equipment is needed for self-synchronization to work effectively. Trust is needed for commanders to give up some personal control and rely more on the staff.

Trust is important for self-synchronization because teams function dispersed and therefore relatively autonomous. Members of military teams have to know each other well and need trust each other. The team also needs to trust other units and other personnel that are located elsewhere. According to the interviewees, trust is closely related to the situational awareness. Knowledge about the capabilities and expertise of other units is essential for self-synchronizing the efforts of the team.

The Information Dominance Corps Self-Synchronization efforts grew from an understanding among the IDC officer corps that they would have to take the initiative to share information across the Corps.  They are doing this every day.  Every member of the IDC has the opportunity to participate in this process and elevate the level of self-synchronization across the Corps.  You can check it out HERE.

More on Self-Synchronization: What is it, how is it created and is it needed?  written by Lieutenant Commander Layne M.K. Araki, USN, Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island.

Naval officer's job to ask why

This is well worth your time.  Navy Grade 36 Bureaucrat posted http://navygrade36bureaucrat.blogspot.com/2012/12/its-officers-job-to-question-why-we-do.html?m=1?

10000 hour rule - Malcolm Gladwell

Malcolm Gladwell's latest book OUTLIERS talks about what separates the stars from everyone else. It isn't raw talent. It is sheer persistence--those who practiced harder did better, and those who practiced insanely hard became wildly successful.  Can the same be applied to Naval leadership?

        

Gladwell dubs this phenomenon the "10,000-hour rule." I think this can be applied equally to leadership. Becoming truly great at anything -- (leadership included) -- requires ten years of experience and 1,000 hours of practice per year. "Ten thousand hours is the magic number of greatness," he argues.

Becoming a leader requires "deliberate practice."

What are the elements of 'deliberate practice'? It's designed explicitly to improve performance -- the little adjustments that make a big difference. It's repetitive, which means that when it's time to perform for real, you don't feel the pressure. It's informed by continuous feedback; practicing leadership only works if you can see how you're improving.

Bits and pieces paraphrased (and others cut and pasted) from HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW.

Merry Christmas

Admiral Ernest J. King advocated for more communication and sound leadership

When Sailors are aware and understand where their command is going, and WHY; when they understand their role, and WHY their contribution is vitally important; when they have the assets, resources, training and direction they need; when they are truly empowered, then they will do the right things for the right reasons at the right times. And, you can follow your people to achieve your vision.

The challenge for leadership is to see where the command needs to go, and WHY. Leadership needs to communicate that vision to the Sailors with sound and rational reasoning, and communicate it so that the Sailors will ardently want to move the command, transform it if need be, from where it is today to what it needs to be to serve the Navy and the Nation best. Then, we won’t need to tell Sailors what to do. They’ll know. They’ll believe it. And, they’ll do it without being pushed because they believe and know it’s the right thing to do.

Can you do that much for our Sailors?  If not, step aside Shipmate.  Other leaders are ready to fulfill that responsibility with gusto.

Free for everyone

Initiative and responsibility. They are yours for the taking.  No limits.  You are free to take as much of either or both of these as you like.  Go ahead.  Try it.  Some of you will really like it.

Mashing Mark Twain's words

"The man who can, but does not, lead has no advantage over the man who cannot lead."

- Mark Twain never said that

Crisis in Leadership - modified slightly from Bill Deresiewicz's USMA presentation

http://www.mindjet.com/

We have a crisis of leadership in America because our overwhelming power and wealth, earned under earlier generations of leaders, made us complacent, and for too long we have been training leaders who only know how to keep the routine going.  (The XO can keep the routine going; Skipper - we need you to think and act in ways that move the command, mission and Sailors forward!)  

We are training leaders:

-Who can answer questions, but don’t know how to ask them. 

-Who can fulfill goals, but don’t know how to set them.

- Who think about how to get things done, but not whether they’re worth doing in the first place. (Check with Simon Sinek and CDR Sean Heritage on "The WHY of what we are doing.")

What we have now are the greatest technocrats the world has ever seen, people who have been trained to be incredibly good at one specific thing, but who have no interest in anything beyond their area of expertise. What we don’t have enough of are real leaders - those with ZERO interest in just keeping the routine going.

What we really need, in other words, are more thinkers.  

We need more:

- People who can think for themselves. 

- People who can formulate a new direction: for the country, for a corporation or a college, for the Navy—a new way of doing things, a new way of looking at things. 

- People, in other words, with vision.

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