turn the ship around! 041614

Turn the Ship Around!How to Create Leadership at Every Level

L. David MarquetCaptain, U.S. Navy [Retired]

(Austin, TX: Greenleaf Book Group Press, 2012)

05/02/2023 [email protected] 2

Foreword by Stephen R. Covey Here top leaders will learn how they can release the

passion, intellect, and energy of their people. Front lines will find ways to embrace decision making, making it easier for bosses to let go of control.

We are in a profound shift from the Industrial Age of “control” to the Knowledge Worker Age of “release.”

Leadership is communicating to people their worth and potential so clearly that they are inspired to see it themselves.


THE PROBLEMLEADER – FOLLOWER

THE SOLUTIONLEADER – LEADER


Questions to Consider

In your organization, are leaders rewarded for what happens (in their group) after they transfer (or is that the next leader’s problem?)

Do leaders want to be “missed” after they leave?

When an organization does worse after the departure of a leader, what does this say about that person’s leadership?


USS SANTA FE – SSN-763

$2 BILLION NUCLEAR SUBMARINE

LOS ANGELES CLASS – SECOND FLIGHT 688

Second Flight 688s have bow planes, twelvevertical-launch Tomahawk land-attack missiletubes, four torpedo tubes, and a redesigned nuclear reactor plant that has enough fuel to last the entire life of the ship.


USS SANTA FE – 135 CREW MEMBERSCAPTAIN L. DAVID MARQUET (CO)

COMMANDER, UNITED STATES NAVYEXECUTIVE OFFICER (XO)(SECOND IN COMMAND)

FOUR DEPARTMENT HEADS(WEAPONS, ENGINEERING, NAVIGATION/OPERATIONS,

AND SUPPLY)

JUNIOR OFFICERS(NAVAL ACADEMY AND ROTC)

TWELVE CHIEFS

(THE SENIOR ENLISTED MEN)

ENLISTED SAILORS


Questions from the Captain

What are the things you hope I don’t change? The things you secretly hope I do change? What are the good things we should build on? If you were me, what would you do first? Why isn’t the ship doing better? What are your personal goals for your tour

here on Santa Fe?


What’s keeping you from doing your job better?

What are our biggest challenges? What are your biggest frustrations about how

Santa Fe is currently being run? What is the best thing I can do for you?

Questions from the Captain


Answers “Admin disappears into a black hole.” “The duty officers delay getting maintenance started.” “The junior officers are the source of low standards.” “I was previously qualified for this watch station, transferred ship

to ship, and now have to start over with a blank qualification card.” “I’ve been waiting for 4 weeks to get a test so I can qualify.” “There’s no participation in the wives’ club.” “The radio installation and upgrade we just received left us with

less capability than what we had before.” “I was promised a certain job when I came here” “I just keep my head down and try to stay out of trouble. When

things go badly, I secretly hope someone else will screw up next.”



Are you asking questions to make sure you know, or to make sure they know?

Do you have to be the smartest person in your organization?

How do you know what is going on “at the deckplate” in your organization?


“Whatever they tell me to do.” Do people take action to protect themselves or to

make the outcome better? Does leadership in you organization take control or

give control? Why is “doing what you are told” appealing to

some? Do people really just want to do as they are told?

Do your procedures reinforce the leader-follower model?


Don’t focus on Avoiding Errors The crew was in a self-reinforcing downward spiral.

Poor practices resulted in mistakes, mistakes resulted in poor morale, which resulted in avoiding initiative and doing only what was absolutely necessary.

“I needed to radically change the daily motivation by shifting the focus from avoiding errors to achieving excellence.”


Don’t focus on Avoiding Errors Focusing on avoiding errors is useful for

understanding procedures and detecting major problems before they occur; but it is a debilitating approach as the objective of an organization.

Connecting our day-to-day activities to something larger was a strong motivator for the crew.



Are your people trying to achieve excellence or just avoid making mistakes?

Has your organization become action-averse to avoid errors?

Do you spend more time discussing errors than celebrating success?

How do you minimize errors but not make that the focus of your organization?


Achi

eve

Exce

llenc

eI believe the personal freedoms, respect for humandignity, and economic prosperity we enjoy in the United States are unique throughout the history ofmankind and across the span of the globe.

I believe that this is not a natural state but one whichmust be worked for relentlessly, and, if necessary, defended.

I believe the men who sallied forth from these very piers in boats like Tang, Wahoo, and Barb wereengaged in an honorable and worthwhile endeavor.

I believe those eternally on patrol beyond the reefdid not die in vain.

The future depends on those willing to continue thathonorable and worthwhile endeavor.

Accordingly, I reaffirm my vow to defend the Constitutionof the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.Shipmates of Santa Fe, I will be proud to sail will you.

Thank you. (Captain Marquet)


CONTROL

FIND THE GENETIC CODE FOR CONTROL AND REWRITE IT.

ACT YOUR WAY TO NEW THINKING. SHORT EARLY CONVERSATIONS MAKE

EFFICIENT WORK. USE “I INTEND TO…” TO TURN PASSIVE

FOLLOWERS INTO ACTIVE LEADERS. RESIST THE URGE TO PROVIDE SOLUTIONS.


CONTROL

THINK OUT LOUD (EVERYBODY). “EYEBALL ACCOUNTABILITY” PUSH DECISIONS TO THE NEXT LOWER

LEVEL IN THE COMPANY. “WHEN I THINK ABOUT DELEGATING THIS

DECISION, I WORRY THAT…” ISSUES OF COMPETENCE, ISSUES OF CLEAR UNDERSTANDING.


Act Your Way to New Thinking

Example: the “Three-Name-Rule” When any member of the crew saw a visitor

on our boat, he was to greet the visitor using three names – the visitor’s name, his own name, and the ship’s name.

For example, “Good morning, Commodore Kenny, my name is Petty Officer Jones, welcome aboard Santa Fe.”


Perfect But Irrelevant

Short early conversations make efficient work. Good chopping, wrong forest. (Covey) Don’t you trust me? (I trust you’re telling the

truth, but verify for me you know the truth). Is your staff spending time and money

creating flawless charts that are irrelevant? “…a little rudder far from the rocks vs. a lot of

rudder near the rocks.”


“I intend to…” Disempowered Phrases:

Request permission to…?

What should I do about…?

Do you think we should…?

Could we… Don’t ask “If you can

do” – say what you aregoing to do!

Empowered Phrases*: I intend to… I plan on… I will… We will…

Empowered phrases “take control.”

Clarify verbally why you are ready, so the Chief just needs to say, “Very well.”



What causes us to take control when we should be giving control?

What would be the biggest obstacle to implementing “I intend to…” at your business?

Could your mid-level managers think through and defend their plan of action for the company’s next big project? Or would they say “this is what I was told to do.”


Don’t Provide Solutions

Resist the urge to provide solutions. How deeply is the top-down leader-follower

structure ingrained in your company? What can you do at your next meeting with

senior staff to create a space for open decision making by the entire team?

Seriously.


Don’t Provide Solutions

If the decision is urgent, make it, then have the team evaluate (“red-team”) it.

If the decision must be made soon, get team input, even briefly, then make the decision.

If the decision can be delayed, force the team to provide inputs. Do not force the team to come to consensus, which whitewashes differences. Cherish the dissention.


Who’s Responsible?

Eliminate top-down monitoring systems. Bosses frequently “bemoan” the lack of

ownership in their employees. Are you under-using the creativity and passion

of your midlevel managers who want to be responsible for their department’s output?

“We are checking up on you” is a vitality, initiative, and passion killer.


Think Out Loud

“When I heard what my watch officers were thinking, it made it much easier for me to keep my mouth shut and let them execute their plans. It was generally when they were quiet and I didn’t know what they would do next that I was tempted to step in.”

Short early conversations make efficient work. “Show me what you are working on…”


Think Out Loud

Do you ever walk around your facility listening only to what is being communicated through informal language?

How comfortable are your people with talking about their hunches and gut feelings?

Are you willing to let your staff see that your lack of certainty is strength, and that certainty is arrogance?


Think Out Loud

“I can tell you that forward or aft, attack submarine or ballistic missile submarine, there is a tremendous reluctance for the junior officers to tell their superiors anything other than 100 percent certified information.”

No room for content-rich conversations critical to good team performance.

This is hard to change.



How do you use outside groups, the public, social media comments, and government audits to improve your company?

What is the cost of being open about problems in your company, and what are the benefits?

How can you “use” the inspectors to help?


COMPETENCE

TAKE DELIBERATE ACTION, DON’T OPERATE “ON AUTO-PILOT.”

LEARN (EVERYWHERE, ALL THE TIME). DON’T BRIEF, CERTIFY. CONSISTENTLY, REPEAT THE MESSAGE. SPECIFY GOALS, NOT METHODS. “COMMANDER’S INTENT” (HEATH)

“Commander’s Intent” Made to Stick by Chip Heath & Dan Heath, p. 26-28. Random House, 2007.


Take Deliberate Action

“He didn’t engage his brain before he did what he did; he was just executing a procedure.”

We wanted people to act deliberately, and “take deliberate action” was our mechanism.

This meant prior to any action, the operator paused and vocalized and gestured toward what he was about to do. Only after a deliberate pause would he execute the action.


“We Learn”

“We had been taking actions that pushed authority down the chain of command and empowered the officers, chiefs, and crew; but we realized that as more authority is delegated, technical knowledge at all levels takes on a greater importance. It created an extra burden for technical competence, which created a need for more learning.”


USS Santa Fe Creed*What do we do on a day-to-day basis?

Why is “learning” better than “training”?We learn.

Training implies passivity; it is done to us. We are trained. Learning is active, it is something we do.

How does the work get done?We do the work. But, we learn by doing – maintenance,

evolutions, casualty drills, studying. So, when we are working, even doing field day, we are learning.

* excerpt



Which areas of your business are mistake-prone because lower-level employees don’t have enough technical competence to make good decisions?

How could you implement a “We learn” policy among your junior and senior staff?

Can you “divest control” and “increase competence” in your organization?


Don’t Brief, Certify

A briefing is a passive activity. You just listen. A certification differs from a brief in that the

person in charge asks questions. At the end of a certification, a decision is

made whether the team is ready to perform. If the team has not demonstrated the

necessary knowledge, the operation should be postponed.



How do you shift responsibility from the briefer to the participants.

When was the last time you had a briefing on a project? Did listeners tune out the details?

What would it take to start certifying that your project teams know what the goals are and how they are to contribute to them?


Consistently Repeat the Message

“After 2 months, how could they not get what we were trying to do? I’d given them much greater authority with Chiefs in Charge.”

“They’d heard me talk a hundred times about how we were going to run things on Santa Fe.”

“What I realized, however, is the need for a relentless, consistent, repetition of the message.”



Any of your employees about to go AWOL from overwork and underappreciation? Is it okay to overturn protocol to rescue a single stressed-out subordinate?

What messages do you need to keep repeating in your company to make sure your management team doesn’t take care of themselves first, to the neglect of their teams and their people.


Specify Goals, Not Methods

In leader-follower the procedure often becomes the master and not the servant.

Are you under-using the creativity and passion of your midlevel managers who want to be responsible for their department’s output?

Are you ready to assume more responsibility within leader-leader to identify near-term goals and the roles of each team member?


CLARITY

ENCOURAGE A QUESTIONING ATTITUDE. BUILD TRUST, TAKE CARE OF YOUR PEOPLE. USE IMMEDIATE RECOGNITION TO

REINFORCE DESIRED BEHAVIORS. USE YOUR LEGACY FOR INSPIRATION. USE GUIDING PRINCIPLES FOR DECISION

CRITERIA. BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND.


FROM : USS SANTA FESUBJECT : SANTA FE DEPLOYMENT OBJECTIVESREMARKS:1. SANTA FE EXPRESS IS NOW HEADED WEST. MY OFFICERS

AND CREW ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO THE CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES OF BEING DEPLOYED ON THE FRONT LINES FOR OUR NATION’S SECURITY . . .

2. WORKING WITH MY DEPARTMENT HEADS AND SENIORENLISTED ADVISORS . . . I HAVE SET EMPOWERMENT,EFFICIENCY, AND TACTICAL EXCELLENCE AS THE GUIDINGTHEMES FOR CONTINUOUSLY IMPROVING OUR PERFOR-MANCE DURING THE DEPLOYMENT.A. EMPOWERMENT:

I INTEND TO EMPOWER THE CREW TO ACHIEVE THEIRPERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL GOALS THROUGH INITIATIVES SUCH AS A FOCUSED EFFORT TO IMPROVE ADVANCEMENT EXAM PERFORMANCE, ENCOURAGING PACE (PROGRAM FOR AFLOAT COLLEGE EDUCATION)


AND OTHER INDEPENDENT STUDY PROGRAMS, AND PROVIDING INCENTIVES FOR INCREASED PHYSICAL CONDITIONING. I FURTHER INTEND TO PUSH AUTHORITY AND RESPONSIBILITY DOWNWARD WHEREVER PRACTICAL TO IMPROVE JOB SATISFACTION. THIS IS A CONTINUATION OF A THEME I HAVE ALREADY STARTED TO WORK ON AND I THINK WE ARE HAVING SOME SUCCESS. I ALREADY HAVE TEN CREWMEN WHO HAVE SUBMITTED REENLISTMENT REQUESTS FOR THE GULF. (REENLISTING IN THE ARABIAN GULF CARRIED TAX BENEFITS.)

B. EFFICIENCY:REACHING OUR EMPOWERMENT GOALS WILL REQUIRE US TO SIGNIFICANTLY IMPROVE CREW EFFICIENCY IN EVERYTHING FROM RUNNING TIGHTER DRILL SCENARIOS TO REMOVING INEFFICIENCIES IN MEAL


C. TACTICAL EXCELLENCEI INTEND TO CONTINUE OUR PURSUIT OF TACTICAL EXCEL- LENCE BY ENCOURAGING INNOVATIVE METHODS OF LEVER- AGING SANTA FE’S COMBAT POWER WITH PARTICULAR EMPHASIS ON SUBMARINE SUPPORT TO THE BATTLE GROUP, NATIONAL TASKING, STRIKE WARFARE AND SPECIAL OPERATIONS . . .

3. I AM WORKING TO ESTABLISH MEASURES OF EFFECTIVENESS FOR EACH OF OUR GOALS. I WILL KEEP YOU POSTED ON OUR PROGRESS TOWARD EMPOWERMENT, EFFICIENCY, AND TACTICAL EXCELLENCE.

4. VERY RESPECTFULLY, CDR DAVID MARQUET.



What would you and your team like to accomplish?

How can you as a leader help your people accomplish it?

Are you unintentionally protecting people from the consequences of their own behavior?


Use your Legacy for Inspiration

“Attention to port.” “We are now passing the approximate

location of where the USS Grayling was sunk in September 1943.”

“Carry on.” Grayling was one of the 52 American

submarines that were sunk in World War II.



What is the legacy of your organization? How does that legacy shed light on your

organization’s purpose? What kind of actions can you take to bring this

legacy alive for individuals in your company?


Underway 15 DECEMBER 1998

USS SANTA FE PEARL HARBOR, HAWAII(25 DAYS TO THE CHANGE OF COMMAND)

8 JANUARY 1999SUBMARINE BASE, PEARL HARBOR(172 DAYS TO DEPLOYMENT)

18 JUNE 1999PEARL HARBOR, HAWAII (DEPLOYED)


Deployment

2 JULY 1999WESTERN PACIFIC OCEAN(IN COMMAND)

SEPTEMBER 1999SOMEWHERE IN THE ARABIAN GULF

JANUARY 2000AT ANCHOR OFF LAHAINA, MAUI


Accomplishments We steamed 40,000 miles safely. We made 9 port calls in 6 countries, and the crew

had acted as perfect ambassadors. We hadn’t had a single liberty incident. We maintained the submarine at 100 % operational

readiness, with 0 operational impact due to repair, maintenance, personnel, or any other issue.

While on deployment, we reenlisted 19 crew members for a total of over $500M in reenlistment bonuses, a record at the time.


Accomplishments We awarded 22 submarine qualifications (dolphins)

and the crew qualified 290 individual watch stations, an average of 2.4 qualifications for each crew member.

Operationally, we had demonstrated some key capabilities, including our torpedo exercise in the Arabian Gulf, transiting the Strait of Hormuz several times and the Strait of Malacca twice, and picking up the U.S. Navy Seals.


Don’t Do This – Do ThisLeader-follower Leader-leader

Take control Give control

Give orders Avoid giving orders

When you give orders, be confident, unambiguous, and resolute.

When you do give orders, leave room for questioning.

Brief Certify

Have meetings Have conversations

Limit communications to terse, succinct formal orders.

Augment orders with rich, contextual, informal communications.

Be questioning Be curious

Want to be missed after you depart. Want not to be missed after you depart.

Protect information Pass information

Make inefficient processes efficient. Eliminate processes that don’t add value.

05/02/2023 [email protected] 5105/02/2023


Extracted, excerpted, quoted, paraphrased, selected and otherwise handpicked verbiage for this PowerPoint presentation is from the book: Turn the Ship Around: How to Create Leadership at Every Level by L. David Marquet. Published by Greenleaf Group Book Press in Austin, TX, 2012.www.greenleafbookgroup.com

PowerPoint created by John GillisFirst Light, [email protected]

Veritas

05/02/2023

http://www.greenleafbookgroup.com/

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turn the ship around! 041614

Leadership & Management