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    5 Conversations to Have with Your New Boss

    This article is the third installment of a three-part series for those starting new jobs.  The first article covered How to Make a Greater Impact in Your Next Job by creating a 90 Day Transition Plan. The second article discussed a simple method to Assess Your New Organization. This third article covers 5 Conversations to Have with Your New Boss to gain clarity in your role and direction.

    5 conversations to have with your new boss

     

    Have you ever started a new job and wondered what to tackle first?  You received a bunch of information from your new boss, but it seems to lack any coherent direction.

     

    5 Conversations

    This article provides insight on 5 critical conversations to have with your boss when starting a new job to clarify your path and avoid unnecessary friction.   The result of these conversations will also provide you with the freedom of movement you desire to gain momentum in your new role.  Having these conversations early will not only prevent unneeded conflict but will set conditions for you to accelerate your success in the organization.

     

    After you’ve started a new job and started following your 90-day transition plan, you will need to have a few conversations with your boss in order to ensure you are on the same page with shared expectations.  The purpose of having these conversations is to ensure you both agree on the direction and manner in which you want to drive the organization that you are now a part of. Having these conversations will help you avoid putting a lot of energy into an idea that either your boss hasn’t bought into or doesn’t agree with.

     

    Ideally, you’ll want to do this after you’ve assessed your organization (first 30 days) and have a firm understanding of the people, processes, and problems.  Having an understanding of your organization provides the context in which your plan will work within.  These conversations are adapted from Michael Watkin’s book The First 90 Days: Critical Success Strategies for New Leaders at All Levels.  The five conversations are:

     

    Your role and situation

    As a starting point, line out your understanding of your roles and responsibilities to your boss. Ask whether you see things the same way.  Someone may have already explained this to you on your first day but take the initiative and time to brief back your boss to ensure you have clarity.  This is a great way to save time and future pain by gaining alignment early. If you skip this conversation you risk moving out on great initiatives, but potentially in the wrong direction.  I’ve personally and painfully learned this lesson by skipping this step.

     

    Also, provide your understanding and assessment of the organization in an effort for shared understanding.  Your organization could be a startup that needs energy upfront to get it off the ground. It could be one that is currently successful and just needs minor corrections to sustain that success, needs realignment, or could be a failing enterprise that is in need of a complete turnaround.

     

    Expectations and Goals

    Once you and your boss are in synch on your role and the organization’s situation, it’s time to discuss expectations and goals.  It’s a good idea to ask your boss for desired outcomes in the short and long-term. This is a chance for you to shape those expectations by outlining what you think you can achieve over time.  You can have ambitious goals here, but remember it’s always better to under promise and over deliver rather than set yourself up for unmet expectations.

     

    Communication Style

    Discuss how your boss wants to communicate in terms of frequency, medium, and what kind of type of content.  Asking your boss “How do you like to receive information?” is a great way to learn how to make your message stick.

     

    Some bosses like to read information in the form of an email or white paper.  Others are visual learners and better understand things through graphs and charts.  You will be doomed to Powerpoint if you are in the military.  Some may like to hear things verbally.  If this is the case, you can help yourself with a little preparation and prepare a narrative to provide the information. Messages are more easily remembered and repeatable in the form of a story.

     

    Resources

    You will need resources in some form to get the job done.  This can take the form of money, people, time, training, etc.  This discussion can easily turn into a negotiation. You should be prepared to outline what you think you’ll need to get the job done.  More often than not, you will be asked to get the job done with fewer resources than desired.  This may be due to competing priorities, upcoming deadlines, or merely because fewer resources are available.  Don’t let this become a contentious discussion for either of you.

     

    Understand that you have shared interests here and look for ways to convey mutual benefits in terms of resource usage.  Linking resources to outcomes and providing a menu of options is a great way to gain progress in these discussions.  For example, “With 4 people on the team, I think we can get this done in the next 3 weeks. If we have 3 people on the team, we will likely need another week to get the same results.”

     

    Feedback

    After 90 days or so on the job, it will be time to ask for feedback on your performance.  Asking questions about how you are performing and where you have room for improvement is critical for your growth.  Discussing your strengths is just as important to gain better awareness of your unique talents that you bring to the team.  Strengths Finder 2.0 is a great book on this topic.  It is also beneficial to discuss training, projects, or assignments you can undertake to continue your growth as a leader.

     

     Conclusion

    Having these 5 conversations will help save you time and prevent potential friction with your new boss. These conversations will provide you with a level of clarity and direction that will set you up for accelerated success in your organization.

     

    Question: How have you gained clear direction from your boss?

     

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    Photo Credit: Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, meets with Adm. Harry Harris Jr., commander of U.S. Pacific Command, at Pacom headquarters at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, Feb. 1, 2018. DoD photo by Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Dominique A. Pineiro

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    3 Questions to Assess Your New Organization

    Gaining Understanding in Your New Job

    This is part 2 of our summer transition series.  Our last post discussed how to craft a transition plan for transitioning into a new job.  Now that you have a transition plan, you will benefit from conducting an assessment of your new organization.  An assessment will give you a feel for how things are running and where you can help.  This post covers how to assess your new organization with 3 simple questions that can fit on a 3 x 5 card that you can carry around in your pocket.

    Assess

    Assess Your Organization for Improved Understanding

    Gaining a better understanding of your organization falls under Phase 1 of your 90 Day Transition Plan, which should occur in your first 30 days of joining your new organization. You can, of course, ask any number of questions to folks in your organization to gain a better understanding, but these three questions are meant to be a conversation starter. Asking these three questions consistently of the various departments in your organization can help you identify trends and anomalies in your organization.  Responses from multiple individuals from multiple departments can guide you on where you should initially focus your efforts.  These questions help you identify your organization’s strengths, weaknesses, and provide you focus areas as a leader.  The three questions are:

     

    1. What does this organization do exceptionally well?
    2. In what areas does this organization need to improve?
    3. If you were me, where would you focus your efforts initially?

     

    What do we do well?

    This question drives at determining the strengths of the organization.  Strengths are a key piece to the puzzle of your organization. Strengths should not only be identified and understood but built upon as return on investment is typically high. While individuals may give varying answers on your organization’s strengths based on perspective, you will likely find strong and accurate trends from the group.

     

    Where do we need to improve?

    This question gets after the organization’s weaknesses.  Weaknesses are also key to understanding trouble areas that you may need to give attention to early in your new job.  While you can assume some risk in some areas of weaknesses, you will need to use judgment on which areas need attention in the near term versus which areas can wait.  Evaluating weaknesses against your organization’s mission and purpose is a good starting point.

     

    What should I focus on first?

    One can look at this question and sense that the one asking the question is either clueless or incompetent. However, the value of this question is that it drives after a greater question of “How can I help your department?” or “What is your greatest need?”.  It provides the people in your departments with a chance to provide input.  Gaining input from your team allows your people to be heard and provide their opinions.  This question, consequently, provides you with free advice on where to look first. You will likely find trends from this question as well.  While the trends may not always be in a specific area, such as “we need improved talking points to deliver our message”, you can definitely find trends in broader topics, such as “we need to improve in our internal and external communication.”

     

    Benefits of Assessing Your Organization

    Assessing your organization is key to helping you understand your new organization and how you fit within it.  An assessment helps you understand the operating environment, key relationships, and strengths and weaknesses.  You can learn what challenges the organization faces and conversely what opportunities lie ahead.  Once you have a firm understanding of the organization, you’ll be ready to start making a positive impact.  All of this can be done by using three simple questions consistently while learning and gaining an understanding of your new job and organization.

     

    Question: What questions help you assess your organization?

     

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    How to Make a Greater Impact at your Next Job

    90-Day Transition Plan to Add Value

    As warmer weather approaches, most military leaders understand that summer season is a time of transition and changing jobs.  If you’re changing jobs this summer this article is for you.

    transition

    Transition Plan

    Many of us transition from one job to the next moving at 100 mph and don’t have a chance to give much thought to their next assignment, let alone have a plan on how they are going to manage the transition.  This article lays out a 90-day plan that leaders can implement to maximize the value they provide their organization during these transitions.

     

    Why 90 days?

    90 days may seem like a long time to transition into a job that you may only be doing for one to two years.  This 90-day plan doesn’t have you sitting back for three months.  In fact, with this plan, you’ll be making a positive change in your organization one month into the job.  90 days allows sufficient time for you to learn the new organization and its environment so that you can appropriately determine how to gain some quick wins and improve performance before bringing in new and innovative ideas. This 90-day plan is broken down into three 1-month phases. Phase 1 is dedicated to learning. The second phase is dedicated to quick wins and increasing momentum.  Phase 3 is dedicated to innovating with new ideas into the organization.

     

    Phase 1-Learn

    You can’t expect to be very effective in leading an organization that you don’t understand. Take your first 30 days to get to know the organization’s mission and its people.  Take time to introduce yourself and let your team get to know you as well.  Learn not only the organization’s mission but learn how it operates as well.  Try to understand the operating environment. You can do this by learning the organization’s recent history and key relationships of leaders in the organization.  Start building a relationship with your boss as well as your team. Gain understanding of the organization’s current strengths and weaknesses.  Learn what challenges the organization faces and conversely what opportunities lie ahead (every challenge can be seen as a future opportunity). Once you have a firm grasp of the organization, its mission, people, challenges, and opportunities, you’ll be ready to start making a positive impact.

     

    Phase 2-Increase Velocity

    Making a positive impact with only 30 days on the job can be difficult.  However, you’ve studied the organization for the past month and have a better appreciation for the team and its people.  In the second phase, you want to gain some “quick wins” to get some momentum going under your leadership.

    What can you do to gain “quick wins”?  One good place to start is by removing obstacles that hamper your team’s ability to do its mission. You should have gained a good sense of these obstacles when identifying challenges in your first month on the job. Obstacles for your team can include duplicative efforts or processes that seem to be cumbersome and slow.  Obstacles can include gaining approval for tasks or projects at levels that are inappropriately higher than they need to be.  By removing obstacles that hamper your team’s ability to do its job, you will increase the speed at which your organization can operate.  This will give your team some momentum and demonstrate your ability to add value to the organization.

     

    Phase 3- Innovate

    After you’ve gained a greater understanding of your new organization and have increased the teams’ momentum, conditions will be set to begin innovating with big ideas and any bold changes you want to implement.  Before your team is ready for change, they will have to know that you care and are competent and worthy to follow.  By now, you’ve taken the time to learn and understand in your first month and have proven your value in the second month.

    Now that your team trusts you, as you’ve earned some street credit, they are ready to follow you through change.  Innovative ideas can stem from ideas you had before coming to the job or based on ideas your team wants to implement. If the changes you want to implement stem from goals you had prior to joining the new organization, you’ll want to ensure that these goals are still relevant based on what you observed in the first two months.

     

    Conclusion

    If you follow the three-phase plan above you will likely improve not only your performance as a leader but also improve the performance of your team.  You’ll also set conditions to gain buy-in from your team members for bold changes and foster an environment of innovation.

    At no time do you need to wait to correct deficiencies in the organization or correct behavior that is detrimental to the team.  This 90-day model is meant to ensure that you’ve given sufficient time to learn your organization, its people, and gain some credibility prior to implementing any vas changes.

    Going into a new position with a transition plan gives you some direction. This plan is merely a framework to follow that you can adjust and not meant to be a rigid process. You can always audible from the plan if a crisis emerges.  If you go into a new endeavor without a plan, you have no basis for adjustment and are really just shooting from the hip.

    Give the 90-day transition plan a shot and let us know how it works in the comments section. Also feel free to share any of your tips for transitioning to a new job.

     

    Question: What do you do to facilitate job transitions?  Please comment below.

     

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    Thanksgiving and the Benefits of Gratitude

    Thanksgiving is a holiday that reminds us to pause and be thankful for the blessings in our lives.  There are many benefits to being grateful that range from the scientific to spiritual realms. Forbes magazine article points out that science has demonstrated physical and mental benefits of being grateful. These include better health, sleep, and self-esteem.  Being grateful also improves your humility and enables you to focus on and serve others.

    Thanksgiving

     

    Over the past few years, I’ve identified 3 major parts of my life that I am thankful for.

    Family

    Each day, I take the time to be thankful for my wife and kids and record that emotional fact daily in my journal.  I’m also thankful for my mother, sister, and my wife’s family, many of whom who have been by our side and helped us greatly through times of hardship and joy in the journey of life. From births to birthdays, to hospitalization, and death, our family has always been there without fail.

     

    Profession

    I’m also thankful for the opportunity to serve my country and its people.  Serving in the military alongside some great Americans and being a part of something greater than yourself is extremely rewarding. This holds true even during the times that the call of duty takes you far away from home.

     

    2nd Chance at Life

    A few years ago, I had a near-fatal parachuting accident (occupational hazard-see above) that changed my perspective on life. A close call with death in which you have no control leaves you extremely vulnerable. That vulnerability led me to understand that I must rely on others to make it in this world.  Interdependence makes life more enjoyable than self-reliance, which is an area that I still try to improve in my life.

     

    Near-death experiences seem to have an immediate benefit of being able to identify what’s truly important in life.  Since my accident, I’ve made changes in how I eat, sleep, and where I spend my time.

     

    I’m not sure why God spared my life and extended my time on this Earth, but I assume it is for a purpose.  I try to dedicate each remaining day I have to try to seek out and fulfill that purpose.

     

    Regardless of our current situation, most of us can find something to be unhappy about. Conversely, and more importantly, there is also always something to be grateful for.  There are more benefits to viewing the world from a perspective of gratitude. The benefits include bringing joy to other people as well as being happier yourself. Give it a try not only on Thanksgiving but throughout the year to see a difference in your life.

     

    Question: What are you grateful for this Thanksgiving?

     

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    Photo Credit: A Marine greets his family at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, S.C., Nov. 21, after returning from a seven-month deployment. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Terry Haynes III.

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    How to Deliver Bad News to Your Boss

    4 Items That Will Make a Tough Conversation Easier

    Have you ever agonized over having to deliver bad news to your boss?  The sinking feeling of having a pit in your stomach doesn’t help you want to pick up the phone to make that call. I know I’ve personally had some angst when faced with this situation.

    Delivering Bad News

     

    As a young company commander in charge of over 180 soldiers, I had a soldier get a DUI a week after another one of my soldiers tested positive for drug use.  I knew I had to call my boss, but was concerned about the phone call, as this was the second incident in a week.  My gut told me that these incidents would reflect poorly on my leadership abilities. I privately wondered if this would start me down the road of being replaced prematurely or even fired. Having the worst case scenario in my head, I sat at my desk staring at my phone.

     

    Bad Thing Will Likely Happen Under Your Watch

    It’s inevitable.  Bad things will happen while you are in charge. It doesn’t matter how good you are. Unfortunate events occur on nearly everyone’s watch.  It took me years to realize this. Once I did, I also realized that it’s not the event itself that matters as much as how you respond to the event. When bad things happen, you will need to deliver bad news.

     

    Report Bad News ASAP

    Unlike wine, bad news does not get better with time.  The opposite is true. Bad news actually gets worse with time, which means you need to deliver bad news in a timely manner.  Here are four items to keep in mind and help guide you through that dreaded conversation. Prepare for the conversation with these four items to have a better experience.

     

    4 Items That Will Make a Tough Conversation Easier

    1. Report What You Know. This can easily be done with a 5 Ws format (Who, What, Where, When, and Why).
    2. Report What You Don’t Know. Inevitably, there will be information gaps that will require time to develop the situation. Figure out the pieces of information that you don’t know. This requires you to step back from the situation to gain perspective on the information you need, but don’t yet have.
    3. Report What You Are Doing About the Situation. Identify how you are trying to fill the information gaps and your plan of action is to work towards resolving the situation.
    4. Inform your Boss what resources or assistance you need. You may not be able to handle everything yourself. Be sure to handle items that are appropriate at your level, but also don’t be afraid to tell the boss what you need or how he or she can help you.  This requires maturity in determining what you can’t or shouldn’t do for yourself.

     

    At the end of the day, you can’t control bad luck or nor can you always prevent unfortunate incidents.  You can, however, choose how you respond to bad news. Done correctly, you will set the example for your team on how to handle the situation. Done incorrectly and you will show your team how NOT to handle stressful situations.

     

    Question: What tips do you have for delivering bad news?

     

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    Photo Credit: An airman calls in a medical report while airmen prepare to evacuate a simulated patient during a tactical combat casualty care class at the New Jersey National Guard’s Joint Training and Training Development Center at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., Sept. 27, 2017. Air National Guard photo by Master Sgt. Matt Hecht

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    Giving Thanks on Veterans Day

    Veteran’s Day is typically a time when people thank those who have served and those who continue to serve in the military.  This is typically done with either a simple statement of “Thank you for your service” or even gesture of thanks via a free meal or other benefits on Veteran’s Day.  However, Veteran’s Day can also be an opportunity for our Veteran’s to demonstrate their gratitude for the opportunity to serve as well.

    Thanks

     

    Serving our military provides various benefits that should be acknowledged by our service members and veterans. These benefits include the act of service in itself, the opportunity to maintain a level of fitness, and the ability to exercise leadership to name a few.

     

    Serving Something Greater Than Yourself

    There is a great feeling pride instilled in those who serve something greater than oneself.  The opportunity to serve our great nation and its people is a true benefit that we may sometimes overlook.  Service not only applies to our nation but extends to the men and women that serve to our left and right.  This service falls in line with my personal belief in why I am on this Earth; to serve our Creator and other people.

     

    Physical Fitness

    Not many professions offer its people the opportunity to exercise during the workday.  Not only does the military afford you the opportunity to exercise but requires it.  This inevitably means that our work days tend to extend into the 12-hour range, but the benefits of physical fitness extend into old age.

     

    Leadership

    Many corporations don’t offer formal leadership training to its employees or new managers. By contrast, the military provides leadership training in two ways: formal leadership training and leadership by example.  The military offers some of the best examples of leadership in the world.  Military service provides formal leadership training and the opportunity to work in a “lead by example” culture, which provides a great environment to work in.  The military generally doesn’t allow leaders to simply “talk the talk”, but requires them to “walk the walk” as well.

     

    Giving Thanks

    This year, when someone thanks you for your service, I challenge you to thank them in return. Also, stop to take a moment to be thankful for the opportunity to serve our military.  The military has provided you with the opportunity to defend and serve our nation, its people, and your brothers and sisters who served alongside you, while also forcing you to be physically fit in a culture of leadership. Being thankful provides a lifelong benefit of its own.

     

    Question: What benefits have you experienced from serving our military?

     

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    Photo Credit: A veteran holds an American flag in formation during a Veterans Day Ceremony, Nov. 10, 2017, at Yokota Air Base, Japan, Nov. 10, 2017. Members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9555 took part in the ceremony. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Donald Hudson.

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    One Phrase that Gives You Freedom of Action

    Have you ever find yourself waiting for your boss’ approval before you can move forward with a project?  If you’ve been in this boat, there’s one phrase that you can start using to gain some freedom of action at work.

    freedom

    I’ve had a boss that was extremely deliberate in his decision making.  He was so deliberate that it felt like he was slowing me down.  The problem was that I was constantly waiting for him to get the OK to continue to do my job. Many interpreted his deliberate style as just plain slow. The real issue was that my boss felt he needed to make every decision in order to add value to the organization, which was not necessarily true. He was overwhelmed with the number of decisions he felt he had to make.

    I felt I knew in which direction we needed to go and what we needed to do to get there.  My boss, on the other hand, constantly hesitated in making decisions, which frustrated me. I felt like a saddled horse, being slowed down and just wanted to break loose and sprint.

     

    Command By Negation

    After months of frustration, I realized that there was a way I could help my boss out while gaining greater latitude in my job. This idea came from a concept borrowed from the U.S. Navy known as “command by negation.”  The practice is outlined in the U.S. Naval Officer’s Guide, which states, “commanders report their intention to their superior officer, noting that the action will be taken UNless Otherwise DIRected (UNODIR) and provide a continual stream of information to the superior officer, who is not required to sign off on the plan or execute it, but only gets involved if the superior objects.”

    There is one simple phrase that you can start using today to break free of any constraint while, giving your boss a vote at the same time.

    UNODIR:  Unless Otherwise Directed…

    The phrase “Unless otherwise directed” provides you with a way forward without the wait. An example of using UNODIR is “Unless otherwise directed, I intend to implement the training program we discussed last week.”  This statement demonstrates the intent of the subordinate to take initiative using a training plan that was recently discussed with the boss.  The boss has a chance to change the direction of the team if he disagrees.

     

    Why It Works

    There are several reasons this one phrase enables you with freedom of movement to get your job done in a timely manner.

    1. Initiative. First of all, it allows you to take initiative. You are not waiting to be told what to do, but instead, you are outlining how you intend to generate action from the bottom up.
    2. Intention instead of Permission. It practices the principle of “Intent Based Leadership” made popular by David Marquet. You are explaining what you intend to do, instead of asking permission. Asking permission will generally slow down the decision cycle.
    3. Gives Your Boss the Option to Say “No.” Your boss is still in control as she has the opportunity to stop you or say no. Taking initiative and providing your boss with intent does not mean that you are rogue and running wild. You are still giving your boss a vote.
    4. Faster decision making. Decisions will naturally be faster as your boss’ option to say no or adjust your plan has an expiration date. The phrase is not an ultimatum but merely explains that if your boss objects they have a limited window to make that correction or objection.

    Results = Freedom of Action

    When I started using this phrase, I was surprised at the results.  I had a greater level of autonomy to go in the direction I thought we needed to go, while my boss still had a voice in the matter.  My boss felt as though he had fewer decisions to make and rarely ever provided direction that varied my plan.

    In order to use this phrase and technique effectively, you should have some street cred built with your boss first. If you are not a known quantity, it will be tougher to implement the idea.  Try using “Unless Otherwise Directed” today and see if you can gain more latitude while working within your boss’ intent. It may make your collective organization faster as you work together with fewer decision chokepoints.

     

    Question: What steps have you taken to get more latitude in your job?

     

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    Photo Credit: Sailors aboard the forward-deployed Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Stethem man the rails as the ship enters port in Busan, South Korea, Oct. 21, 2017. Stethem is operating as part of the Ronald Reagan Strike Group in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations, a combat-ready force that protects and defends the collective maritime interests of its allies and partners in the Indo-Asia-Pacific. Navy photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Jeremy Graham

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    Empower Your Team with One Simple Question

    Have you ever found yourself frustrated with subordinate team members who bring you their problems? Have you ever asked yourself, “How can I empower my team to be self-directed problem solvers?”

    Empower Your Team

    A few years ago, as an Executive Officer and Chief of Staff, I found myself flustered with subordinate leaders who seemed to bring me problems to solve for them.  I found myself helping them with organizational issues in their areas of specialty throughout the workday. Eventually, 5 pm would roll around and things would quiet down to a point that I could finally get my own work done. This traditionally meant that I missed dinner with my family. I knew there had to be a better way.

    The Quest

    Determined to find a solution, I started to analyze these issues. I looked at the root causes of the problems that led to daily emergencies. I knew that understanding the cause of these emergencies would help me find a solution.

    The following days were spent asking questions to understand how we got to a specific problem.  What were the underlying conditions? Who was responsible? How can we prevent this from happening again?

    Why People Bring You Problems

    As I looked deeply at the issues that troubled my team, my first realization was that whether you are in the military, the corporate world, or in any industry that involves human interaction, problems will arise.  My second discovery was that I, in fact, was a big reason that my team brought me problems instead of solutions. The reason people brought me problems was because I enabled their behavior.  I did this in two ways:

    1. I attempted to add too much value. Marshall Goldstein discusses this phenomenon in his book “ “>What Got You Here Won’t Get You There.”  Goldstein states, “A classic problem of smart, successful people is Adding Too Much Value. This bad habit can be defined as the overwhelming desire to add our two cents to every discussion…It is extremely difficult for successful people to listen to other people tell them something that they already know without communicating somehow that (a) they already knew it and (b) they know a better way.”  The Military Leader’s Drew Steadman also speaks to this issue in his blog post Adding Too Much Value.
    1. By consistently solving every problem brought to my attention, I trained my staff to rely on me and bring me issues for a quick fix. This meant that I wasn’t giving them an opportunity to figure it out on their own first.

    Once I understood my role in the problem, I quickly realized that I could change the situation as well.  I discovered that a simple question empowered my team and put them at the center stage.

    There is one simple question that you can start asking today to empower your team members and get them in the habit of bringing you solutions instead of problems.

    What’s Your Recommendation?

    Asking your team members for their recommendation, empowers them and transforms their thinking into that of a problem-solver.  This simple question moves your employee to the driver’s seat instead of just being a passenger.

    How One Question Empowers Your Team

    There are several reasons this one question transforms your employees from merely reporting problems up the chain to an active member in the issue.

    • Gives Voice. The question gives your team members a voice in the issue.  Over time this voice will grow from one with an opinion on a specific problem to a voice that helps improve the organization.
    • Provides Agency. Being asked for a recommendation gives your team member a stake in the matter. They now have “skin in the game” as they are now part of the solution.
    • Instills Ownership. Having agency gives people ownership of the topic. Once your team members “own” the issues they come across, they will work feverishly to not only solve them but look for ways to prevent them in the future.
    • Expectation. This question implies that you expect your team to be part of the solution, which transforms them into a group of problem solvers.

    Once I started asking this question, I saw a change in my team over time.  At first, they struggled with an answer but came to the see solutions as we discussed the problem.  Soon my team came to be prepared with a recommendation in hand.  And later they informed me that there was an issue, but that they had solved it with a specific course of action.

    This one simple question empowered the team and transformed them into being proactive problem solvers.  This question can work for you and your team too. Give it a try.

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    Question: How do you empower your team?

    Photo Caption: Staff Sgt. Kyle Law and Staff Sgt. Joshua Jorgensen, 774th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron crew chiefs, consult a technical order to troubleshoot a C-130H Hercules engine problem. They are at Bagram Air Field, Parwan province, Afghanistan, Oct. 6, 2013. Hercules aircrew from the 774th EAS delivered 32 cargo bundles during two trips to remote drop zones in Ghazni province, Afghanistan. Law, a San Antonio, Texas, native, and Jorgensen, a Brentwood, Calif., native, are deployed from Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark. (USAF Photo/Master Sgt. Ben Bloker)

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    Battalion Command Lessons Guidebook

    Lessons Learned over a Two Year Command

    If you are you getting ready to take battalion command or you are already in command, then this command lessons learned guidebook is for you.

    Battalion Command Lessons Learned

     

    This product was put together by my friend Scott Shaw, who recently commanded 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry at 3rd Infantry Division.  He took the time to create this file to help current and future battalion commanders across the Army.

     

    Overview

    This 30-page document shares lessons learned from over two years of command and is broken down into easy-to-read sections:

    • The first 6 months
    • The first year
    • The second year of command

    Scott also included new officer initial counseling, which he conducted either one-on-one in his office or during physical training. There is a section with LTC Shaw’s guidance to his field grade officers and company commanders.

    If you read nothing else, please read these first few pages as they cover the most important and top 5 lessons learned in command.

    You can review, download, and share this document with anyone who you think will benefit from it.  The worst lesson to learn is one that someone else learned earlier.

    Thank you for sharing Scott!

     

    Access the PDF by clicking the link below:

    Battalion Command Lessons Learned

     

    You can also find Battalion Command Lessons Learned on our resources page.

     

    Question: What lessons have you learned in command?

    Please reply in our comments section and share this post so that others may benefit.

     

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    3 Blogs that Will Improve Your Leadership

    In addition to reading articles on Developing Your Team, you can check out great content at the sites listed below.  These are sites that I regularly read and subscribe to and wanted to share them with you as I’ve enjoyed the perspectives and ideas gained from these sites and think that you will too.

     

    Business Leadership

    Michael Hyatt. Michael Hyatt is a former CEO and Chairman of a book publishing company whose site focuses on business leadership, personal productivity, and personal growth.  Michael’s goal is to help you win at work and succeed at life.  Michael’s content is extremely insightful and highly recommended.  After benefitting from his content, I subscribed to Michael’s blog and podcast on iTunes ( the first podcast I subscribed to). I found Michael’s site through the next site.

     

    Military Leadership

    The Military Leader.  The Military Leader was the first blog site I subscribed to. It is hosted by an active duty Army officer who is a friend of mine. The Military Leader focuses on leadership from a military perspective as the title indicates, and aspires to helps leaders grow themselves and their team. The site not only has great content but has several guest authors who contribute to the site for varying perspective. This is a great site for leaders in the military.

     

    Family Leadership

    Mark Merrill.  Mark Merrill is an author (All-Pro Dad), former NFL player, husband, and father, whose site focuses leadership at home. This site has great articles on marriage, fatherhood, and leadership. I recommend this site to husbands and fathers. Mark’s wife Susan has a similar site for wives and mothers called iMom.com.

     

    The original list had a few more sites, but we wanted to provide you with a select few that are the best. Based on your feedback, we can add more in the future.  Feel free to check them out. You won’t be disappointed.

     

    Question: What leadership sites or blogs do you recommend?

     

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