!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> Streamline Training & Documentation: The High Seas

Friday, April 28, 2006

The High Seas

One of the books I recommend to people interested in learning more about effective management practices is It's Your Ship: Management Techniques from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy, by D. Michael Abrashoff. Abrashoff was commander of the USS Benfold from June 1997 to February 1999, and much of the experience he draws on comes from that period, though he also touches on his entire Navy career, which began with his graduation from the Naval Academy in 1982 and continued until he returned to civilian life in 2001.

Abrashoff's approach was a concerted effort to win his sailors' trust and, ultimately, their commitment to making the Benfold the best ship in the fleet. His book describes the steps he took and the ten key lessons he learned:
  1. Lead by example — ""If [your people] see you fail to implement a policy you disagree with, they may think they have a green light to do the same. If they see you not telling the truth, they may feel free to lie as well. Likewise, if they see you challenge outdated business practices, they will follow suit."


  2. Listen aggressively — "It seemed to me only prudent for the captain to work hard at seeing the ship through the crew's eyes. ... I tried to establish a personal relationship with each crew member. I wanted to link our goals, so that they would see my priority of improving Benfold as an opportunity for them to apply their talents and give their jobs a real purpose."


  3. Communicate purpose and meaning — "It finally hit me that people were just showing up to collect a paycheck every two weeks. ... I decided that before I launched any big new policy, I would ask myself how my sailors saw it. If it made sense from their vantage, I probably had a pretty good policy. If it made no sense, I either had the wrong policy or I wasn't communicating clearly."


  4. Create a climate of trust — "Though the process is tedious and time-consuming, you will benefit if people feel more secure, are more willing to take risks, and have a positive attitude about the organization. ... It was because I never complained about small problems that I was listened to when urgent matters came up. I also did my homework so that when I presented the problem I had all the facts to back up my claims."


  5. Look for results, not salutes — "As captain, I was charged with enforcing 225 years of accumulated Navy regulations, policies, and procedures. But every last one of those rules was up for negotiation whenever my people came up with a better way of doing things. As soon as one of their new ideas worked in practice, I passed it up the chain of command, hoping my superiors would share it with other ships."


  6. Take calculated risks — "Show me someone who has never made a mistake, and I will show you someone who is not doing anything to improve your organization. ... I took only the risks that I thought my boss would want me to take, risks I could defend within my job description and authority. For the most part, they produced beneficial results, and my boss got the credit for that, so he didn't object."


  7. Go beyond standard procedure — "Our budget for the nine weeks [of maintenance] was $3 million, and we brought it in at about $2.2 million. Not only had we gotten the work done right the first time two weeks ahead of schedule [by creating a new computer tracking system to manage the overhaul process], we had also cut the cost by some 25 percent..."


  8. Build up your people's confidence — "The more I went around meeting sailors, the more they talked to me openly and intelligently. The more I thanked them for hard work, the harder they worked. The payoff in morale was palpable. I'm absolutely convinced that positive, personal reinforcement is the essence of effective leadership."


  9. Generate unity — "Treating people with dignity and respect is not only morally right, but also highly practical and productive. Unity became the fundamental purpose of my leadership model. We achieved that goal because we learned how to make people want to belong to our 310-member club, ready to give their best to a fair-dealing ship that clearly valued them, no matter what color or sex they were."


  10. Improve your people's quality of life as much as possible — "When I took command I had three top priorities: to get better food, implement better training, and make as many promotions as I could every year. Though some people titter when I list food as number one, the fact is that it raised morale and helped start the process of transforming our ship."
A nice summary of Abrashoff's ideas was published in Fast Company in 1999.

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