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to the best person for the job. It requires developing a process and stick-
ing to it. Because if you don t have that, then all you have is a circus with-
out a ringmaster.
Ask yourself a few questions. What s the purpose of a team? Why do
you have more than one person working on a project? If your answer is
something along the lines of  the more people you have, the more you can
get done, you re wrong. Bringing together a carefully chosen group of
people to act as a team will let you throw fewer people at a project, because
you ll be maximizing the use of the people you have. This means teaching
people that they ll get further by covering one another s butts, because then
they can focus on accomplishing the team s goal without worrying about
watching their backs or jockeying for credit. It means knowing that if you
slip, someone s going to catch you. And that means having a clearly artic-
ulated system that lets everyone knows what s going on, who s accountable
for what, and where each person fits in.
Without guidance, workers are little more than a mob. Yes, that mob
can get stuff done, like knocking out all the windows on a random store-
front. But just try to change its direction, try to get it to focus on some-
thing specific, try to get it to work toward a common end, and you ll
quickly discover the shortcomings of the mob as an organizational tool. A
mob doesn t do quality work. It s the antithesis of a SEAL team. It s not
the way to run a project, or a division, or a company.
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ORGANIZATION
We ve watched sales departments rip themselves apart because they
were left to manage themselves. We ve watched programmers create codes
that don t work because nobody with the big schematic that shows how it
should all fit together was directing the effort. We ve all seen foreign armies
fall apart in a firefight because their communications were cut off and their
troops had no idea what was going on. Why? It wasn t because there
weren t enough people. It was because they didn t have a coherent system
within which to work.
Situations where people don t automatically run to the top dog for
answers, where workers don t automatically pass the buck when they re in
trouble, and where workers don t automatically look out for themselves
first exist in unnatural and artificial environments. People aren t born
ready to work in a given system. They require guidance to provide them
with specific parameters, substantial direction, and definite goals.
Believe it or not, your organization won t run the way you want it to
all by itself. Your division won t suddenly become organized merely
because you d find it more convenient. And your profits won t suddenly
appear out of someone s drawer. If you want to run a circus, you d better
have a few rings for all the acts to work in. And you d better have a ring-
master to tell them where to go.
LESSON 2
THE KEY TO ACCOUNTABILITY IS STRUCTURE
THE MISSION
A few years ago, a SEAL platoon was quickly inserted into a U.S. embassy
to help protect U.S. personnel and interests. The Marines were on their
way, but they wouldn t arrive until a few days later meanwhile, the team
was on its own. While it was waiting for the cavalry, the platoon found
itself extremely undermanned in comparison to the mobs that seethed just
outside the embassy gate. As a result, the platoon commander stretched
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LEADERSHIP LESSONS OF THE NAVY SEALS
out his platoon s structure so that it could cover every contingency, around
the clock. Eight-man squads, four-man fire teams, and two-man elements
worked independently at opposite ends of the compound. These units,
which were conducting operations that had the potential for severe
political repercussions, were often led by young petty officers. And yet,
despite their youth, independence, and isolation, the members of each
separate SEAL element continued to act as an integral part of the platoon
and conducted their separate missions in a manner that supported the
overall operation.
How did this happen?
Even though they re working in different places and at different times,
each member of each SEAL element recognizes and continues to be part of
an existing chain of command. Each knows that the element leader (i.e.,
the leading petty officer, the chief, or the platoon commander, depending
on the operation) expects the SEALs below him to adhere to the organi-
zation s high standards and work toward the success of the mission. And
they know that this structure also extends beyond the platoon. The entire
SEAL organization expects them to do what is right. They know that they
would face severe and meaningful professional, personal, and cultural con-
sequences if they failed to perform as SEALs.
This may seem like a minor, or even a superfluous, point. After all,
isn t every member of an organization aware of the system in which he or
she is working? Don t all members of the organization know what the sys-
tem expects of them, and what measures the system will impose if the goals
of the organization aren t met? Too often, the answer to those questions
is no. Just think about it how often have you worked with a team or
observed an organization in which all of the members didn t know what
was expected of them, didn t understand what was going on, or didn t have
a sense of personal accountability for the success or failure of the mission?
Does Bob, next door, know what s going on? The fact is that SEALs oper-
ate in a system that provides them with clear definition of who they are and
what they re doing because they are supported by a system that makes a
point of providing this kind of direction and focus.
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ORGANIZATION
In direct contrast to the SEAL platoon situated in the embassy, mobs
of people intermittently gathered in the streets outside the compound,
approached or circled its walls, and then dispersed into the shadows.
Within this ebb and flow, no one was responsible to anyone else. Individ-
ual accountability vanished under the tyranny of the mob. Periodically,
someone would stir up the mob by screaming insults. Someone would [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]