We all been there. We ponder the ways we can do things differently if we were the leader in charge. “If only I had the keys to run the show the world would be a better place.” But it’s not that easy as it seems. The only way you can learn how to lead is by actually leading a group of people.
There is no quick guide or college management class that can mimic the unpredictability of other human minds. But you’re smart and resourceful, you have a couple of influential figures in mind that you look up. Maybe it was a favorite boss back in the day or you might take a stab at emulating Steve Jobs (don’t..). If you been following my blog for a little bit, you probably know where I look for answers on leadership, the military. They are the best decision-makers in the world. Here are some leadership lessons I’ve pulled from reading about the military:
Leadership Requires Research
Whether you are the captain of your sports team or manager of your marketing team, you probably don’t have as much to account for compared to a decision-maker in the military. You may have to juggle deadlines and budgets, but in the military operations, the lives of soldiers are on the line. In a war zone, you are tasked with getting people’s sons and daughters home in one piece while accomplishing the main objective.
What separates a three-star General from the CEO of a top company is attention to detail. Quoting Sun Tzu, “Most battles are won before they are being fought”. It is imperative to gain as much information about the project you trying to complete. The initial “intel” you receive can be the difference between a successful mission or mission failure.
The source of any intelligence or research has to be analyzed as well. If your source of research is the internet, you have to remember that anyone can post false information. If you rely on data, there could be margins of errors in the statistics you received from your analysts. So it is a good thing to make decisions based on your research but don’t let it be the only thing factoring into your decision making. Also, don’t make the mistake of making decisions without any research.
Leadership is Nothing Without a Team
From experience captaining lacrosse teams, one way you can lose games is by losing the locker-room. The real-world translation is creating a negative environment that encourages low morale. My first college project was on the Herzberg Motivation-Hygiene Theory. Employees will lose morale if they feel they are underappreciated and undermotivated. Leadership has to avoid this at all costs.
The most perfect scenario to address this issue is to look at US Army SFOD-D also know as Delta Force. They are the United States’ most secretive Tier-1 Special Operations Unit that specializes in Counter-Insurgency. Based on the book, “All Secure” by Tom Satterly, we got a sense of how this unit operates. No one has a rank within the unit. Each individual can make their own decisions. They are expected to know their job and the job of the person next to them. Their post-operation performance reviews criticize every aspect of the job they perform to the point that even one mistake can lead an individual’s dismissal from the group.
This same thinking is also applied in most fighter squadron units as well.
In a more every-day practical sense, give the people under you a reason to show up for you. Don’t create an environment that has you calling all the shots for the individuals under you. Lay down the main objective and have your people address how they’ll approach reaching the goal. Your motivation and your neighbor’s motivation may not be the same. Don’t handcuff them by implementing a police state with your motivations being the law.
Encourage your team to build their skillsets by learning the jobs of their team members. This will lead them to get value from working beyond compensation. Your performance reviews should hold everyone accountable. Do not play favorites. Your team should strive as close to perfection as possible. The saying goes, “your team is only as good as your weakest link“.
Leadership Needs To Have Quick Feet
Murphy’s law states that “everything that can go wrong, will”. Mike Tyson said in a fight environment, “everyone has a plan before getting punched in the face”. Well-thought-out plans go haywire all the time. It is your job as the leader to already had accounted for and developed a new game plan based on what went wrong.
The United States Air Force Pararescueman are experts in this type of planning. These men are sent behind enemy lines to recover downed pilots or injured soldiers, give basic medical treatment and get them back home within the golden hour (the best chance for survival is to get an injured soldier to a hospital in 60 minutes).
According to the books by former Pararescueman “Never Quit” by Jimmy Settle and “Guardian Angel” by William Kline, a pararescueman has to be ready for a change at any time based on the status of their patients or the conditions of their helicopter landing zone. Missions sometimes are changed from landing a helicopter on a road to pick up a wounded soldier to a 35,000 foot HAHO (High Altitude High Opening) jump from a C-130 because of the presence of land mines at the Helicopter landing zone. These “PJ’s” must be ready for anything.
If you think narrow-minded and picture success as the only result, you are setting yourself and your team up for failure. You need to address all the possible outcomes when developing a plan. Your team will look at you to be Johnny on the spot with an answer if something goes sideways. Any hesitation could lead to distrust amongst your team thus booking you on a direct flight to losing the locker-room.
Conclusion
Building leadership skills requires a lot of time and commitment. They aren’t the easiest to obtain. You learn by trial and error. Luckily, we live in a world that our most successful leaders write down their experiences for the rest of us to learn from.
