Deckplate Leadership

“The world doesn’t come to the clever folks, it comes to the stubborn, obstinate, one-idea-at-a-time people.” ~ Mary Roberts Rinehart

Creativity is vital to the Deckplate Leader because life is rarely black-and-white. We have to be able to come up with what I like to call, “creative solutions to modern problems.”

The Role Of The Chief Versus The Officer

The catalyst for change and improvement should not always rest with the CEO, the Commanding Officer….or anybody serving in an executive leadership position. That is the job for the Deckplate Leader. I use this example when explaining our role as Deckplate Leaders to my Sailors:

The officer says, “We will be going to Point B tomorrow, and I want us to leave here, Point A, by 0800.” The Deckplate Leader says, “Aye, Sir,” and then gets the ship ready to depart by 0800 and gets the engines to work in order to go to point B. But halfway to point B the Deckplate Leader should have a pretty good idea of where Point C is and indicate that to his/her leaders so that they can make the ultimate decision to listen to their Deckplate Leaders and make the order to proceed to Point C.

In order to have that kind of foresight, you have to have a good handle on the rest of the 5 Be’s–Be Relevant, Be Ready, and Be Right–and in order to have your foresight known, you have to have a good grasp of the first “Be”…Be Bold. However, without the second “Be”, Be Creative, you can never hope to be successful in the other areas.

Sustainable Innovation

The most difficult part of creativity, or innovation, is having the change last. You have to have sustainable innovation. How do you do that? Well, first, you can’t make changes just for the sake of making change. You know the addage, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Everybody wants to make their mark and leave their legacy. But if it ain’t broke then don’t fix it. Maybe your legacy is that you kept a successful program from falling apart and passed on a good product to your successor. I will argue, though, that things can always be better and processes can always be improved. After all, times change, technology improves, old ways of doing things and normal routines become obsolete. It is our creativity that allows us to move with the times.

The second part of sustainable innovation is keeping it simple. The KISS rule applies here. Keep It Simple Stupid. Too much change is a shock to the system. You must manage it and pick away at the battles that you can win. Make sure that your change doesn’t create more work or cost more money. The goal is to become more efficient and cost effective, thereby producing more output with the same level of quality as there was before.

Another part of sustainable change is what we call “buy in”. This is not your father’s world anymore. It’s not a situation where the boss gets to bark the orders and the worker-bees just do it. There must be buy in from your subordinates. This means that you have to solicit the input and creativity of your replacements, our future leaders, to come up with a solution that the majority will approve of so that you have their buy in. More than likely, the workers will still be there after you leave. If you want your change to stick, then it will be those workers that carry out the job and pass it on. And if your successor ends up making a change just for the sake of change then it will not be well received, in a way forcing your successor to continue with your way of doing things or improving on your idea.

Now, I’m not talking about always going with the “group think” mentality. You are “The Chief” after all. If you know your people well enough then you won’t always have to consult them when implementing change because you will already know what the reaction will be. “Soliciting” in this case means talking to your people. Asking them questions and listening, really listening, to what they have to say.

Last, but not least, is change that is in the name of doing the right thing. Sometimes you will arrive on a scene where there are processes that don’t adhere to organizational policy, norms, or tradition and while they may work for the short term can end up causing a failure in your organization. Change must be for the right reasons and in the name of doing the right thing. If you create change that only benefits yourself, then it will not last. However, if you create change that benefits the majority of the parties involved and results in long-term success for the mission and the organization, then nobody can argue with it. Well, they can, but they will lose. Which is a good segue for the next session…

Picking Your Battles

You want to change the world. Change is always a fight. The right answer is out there right in front of everybody’s nose, and it seems like a no-brainer to us, but change, especially in the name of doing the right thing, is always an uphill battle. It will most likely be the unpopular idea because it is difficult to override our personal obligations to self-preservation. But take note of the quote that began this whole section. “The world doesn’t come to the clever folks, it comes to the stubborn, obstinate, one-idea-at-a-time people.” And as my boss just told me recently, “Eat the elephant one bite at a time.”

What all this means is that there arebattles worth fighting at any particular moment in time while others that need to be fought must wait until the first ones are won. What makes them worth your time is your ability to win at any particular point in time. Unfortunately, that also means that you won’t be changing the world overnight, and it means that you must have the energy to be persistent, or stubborn.

Where Deckplate Leaders Make Their Money

Deckplate Leaders do NOT dictate policy…directly. We advise our senior leadership on what policy should be, but at the end of the day it is someone above us that dictates the policy. Generally speaking, we are not lawyers, doctors, psychologists, politicians or clerics. Our job, then, is to advise our senior leadership on what policy should be and enforce the policy once it is published in finalized, whether we agree with it or not.

Policy is rarely cut and dry though. They are vaguely written for a very specific reason: to allow for sustainability and flexibility. They will hardly ever dictate exactly how something must be done. They will generally state the goal, the objectives that absolutely must be accomplished on the road to achieving the goal, and the things that absolutely will not be allowed while completing the particular mission. That leaves a LOT of gray area, and this gray area is where Deckplate Leaders will earn their keep by being creative and applying their knowledge of the instructions and policies to their new and unique situations. We must also use these methods of guidance when creating and sustaining change.

Conclusion

Creativity is vital to the Deckplate Leader because without it change will never begin at the level that it should, the deckplates. The only constant in life is change, and change requires leaders to “Be Creative” in order to be successful. Deckplate Leaders take ownership of this fact and are always thinking about process improvement to make the mission just as successful, but more efficiently.

Also, leading when everything is okay is easy. The true test of one’s leadership ability is to lead in the face of adversity, crisis and transformation; “leading in the suck”. This all usually takes place when new situations arise, and requires a certain degree of creativity to be successful.

The idea is not to re-invent the wheel. The wheel still works and we all like it.  But if we can improve on the tread of the wheel’s tire, well, then now we have something special.

Remember:

• Be persistent
• Keep it simple
• Do the right thing
• And eat the elephant one bight at a time.