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Many within (and outside of!) the Delta Companies, Inc., organization will know Wally from his many training sessions at Colas University, various Colas meetings, and even our own Delta Days training events. As a former U.S. Marine Officer, Wally led a tank battalion before becoming a pilot of AH-1W Super Cobra attack helicopters. Today, he serves as President of FireStarter Speaking and Consulting. To learn more about Wally, visit his website at www.firestarterspeaking.com.
Our exploration of "NO YELLING: The 9 Secrets of Marine Corps Leadership You Must Know to Win in Business", continues with the ninth secret: Rehearsals and Critiques which includes: The Foundation of Success, Practice the Way You Play, and Let's Talk About It.
"Don't be afraid to make mistakes. In fact, go ahead and make mistakes, that means you are trying. Most important, learn from your mistakes. Do this and you will succeed and people will follow you." - Owen Murray, Major USMC.
My father always said, "If you had time to do it right the second time, you had time to do it right the first time." And great leaders say, "That went well, let's take a look at what went right and wrong and see what we can do to make it better next time," as they conduct a rigorous and rankles debrief.
The Foundation of Success
"Repetitive training on the very basic tactics is a pain, no doubt, but they are the building blocks of more complex tactics." - Vaughn Fox, Major USMC.
Beyond the emotional baggage of practice, there are other reasons we don't place high value on these essential elements of successful performance. We often perceive ourselves as too busy to practice. The corporate environment often looks at rehearsing, or training, as a waste of time that could be better spent producing revenue. People may not take it seriously, because of poor execution, in which case it does become a waste of time. Or people don't do a thorough debrief so there is no learning, again, a waste of time. The most successful leaders and the most successful organizations make rehearsal and practice integral to the planning and operations process. No surprise, the success rate of these groups is usually higher than the groups that don't practice.
Mission success in the corporate world is characterized by such things as improving on budget and schedule expectations and profitability increasing market share. Prototypes and rehearsals are examples of due diligence activities, before executing the plan, that often pay huge benefits.
Practice the Way You Play
Rehearsals and practice must be done well. Poor practice is worse than no practice. Proper practice yields a well-trained group that is able to execute.
Practice is for everyone. Leaders lose credibility when they don't fully participate or when they merely go through the motions. This behavior sends three very negative messages to people:
- I am better than you and I don't have to do this.
- This isn't really that important but you have to do it anyway.
- When it comes to "game time" I may not be ready because I did not practice.
"Don't miss the point. As leaders we send messages with everything we do. And we need to be ready on game day because we practiced the right way all along." Craig Blanford, Major USMC.
Let's Talk About It
People want feedback. They really do want to know how they are doing - good or bad. They might not like hearing the bad stuff but they want to know. Most of them really do want to get better. If they have no desire to improve, it may be due to a poor environment created by the leader. Ideally, this feedback is continual and not limited to an annual performance review. Continuous improvement is the norm today, and it requires ongoing analysis.
"On top of improving the process, we were involving the people who were actually doing the work. They know best the issues we are facing and when we ask them, it motivates them." Jon Hruska, Captain USMC.
Critiques are an important part of training because critical self-analysis, even after success, is essential to improvement. Their purpose is to draw out the lessons of training. As a result, we should conduct critiques immediately after the completing training, before the memory of the events has faded.
Critiques should be held in an atmosphere of open and frank dialogue in which all hands are encouraged to contribute.
We learn as much from our mistakes as from things done well, so we must be willing to admit mistakes and discuss them.
Of course, a subordinate’s willingness to admit mistakes depends on the commander’s willingness to tolerate them. Because we recognize that no two situations in war are the same, our critiques should focus not so much on the actions we took as on why we took those actions and why they brought the results they did.” Warfighting
Leaders set the tone in the debrief. This tone must be conducive to learning, with the leader often acting more as a facilitator, guiding the process…. The debrief we are talking about here is one in which people learn what went right, what went wrong, and how to make it better next time.
Summary
Practice the way you plan to play. Allocate the resources (time, money, people, and leadership) to do it correctly. Work with people to get better.
Critical analysis and review of the facts is essential, as is full and fair treatment for all players. When this procedure is regularly followed, people actually look forward to the accountability.
Develop the habit of delivering feedback to your team.
You cannot accomplish great things with a disinterested workforce. You can achieve greatness with one that believes in continuous improvement that starts at the top.
"The only way you can possibly get better at what you do is to talk about how you are doing. Too often we avoid these conversations since we don't want to hurt feelings. You will never get better that way." Clark Cox, Captain USMC.
Donald G Rosenbarger
Senior Vice President
Delta Companies Inc
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