For the past year, I’ve worked virtually with an international group of leaders who reside in Australia, Pakistan, Mexico and the US. These are senior executives that are on track to be C-suite members during their career. Our work is around what gaps they need to overcome individually to continue soaring in the organization.
Last month, we watched a video by David Marquet, author of Turn the Ship Around, during which he shared the approach for taking the worst performing submarine in the fleet to the best in one year.
These are the three key lessons I heard:
> Never give another order – Empower the team to make decisions… and stand by them when they take a different approach than you would. (With one exception: final launch of a weapon; that responsibility alone stayed with him)
> Allow leaders to discover the answer – This is a coaching tenet: rather than tell them, ‘Do this’, ask ‘What do you want to do?’ Marquet shared: When the commander says, ‘Captain, I intend to submerge the ship,’ he asked, ‘What do you think I’m thinking right now?’ to help them consider things from his perspective. Then, later, they discussed whether their decision was the right one in the moment.
> Place more authority where the information is – Those in the field – (or on the front lines of the ship) – understand better than a CEO (or captain) what’s happening. From his viewpoint, there are two pillars that matter: Technical Competence (ability to do the job) and Organizational Clarity (everyone understands the goal and their individual role in achieving it).
