Chapter 11: The Leader As Commander Flashcards
The authority to direct subordinates to perform duties toward the attainment of organizational objectives
Command
- Stay away until you officially assume command
- Make a clean break of your old job
- Prepare for new responsibilities
Basic guidelines for new commanders
- Understand your new position, roles & responsibilities, and boss’ expectations
- Become proficient in your mission knowledge & technical expertise
- Get to know your people
- Ascertain the unit’s health
- Determine the direction you want your unit to take - establish priorities
Priorities for the first 90 days of a command
- Be yourself - a self-confident commander does not don new clothes
- You’re not “one of the guys” anymore
- Beware the temptations of ego - rank does not confer privilege or give power; it imposes responsibility
3 challenges a new commander may face when assuming command
- start with the intent from your commander
- the mission at hand will specify goals and objectives
Developing a command intent
Commander’s Intent
A leader’s concise expression of purpose
- a basic philosophy that is consistent with the superior commander’s own command intent
- an explanation of why the mission matters
- an assessment of what the opposition is trying to do
- a scope of empowerment
- a tolerance for risk and a sense of when the risks outweigh potential benefits
The components of a command intent
- via a carefully prepared SPEECH / DOCUMENT
- INFORMAL REMARKS, a give-and-take dialogue
- allowing the passage of TIME to reveal your overall philosophies, expectations, & intentions
Three approaches for communicating command intent
- an overarching reason for being
- human connection
- logical sequencing
- measurable achievement
The components of a mission statement
- Involve the troops
- Consider stakeholders’ perspectives
- Reflect upon tough, soul-searching questions
The steps in developing a mission statement
(1) Why does this job exist? What is its basic purpose?
(2) What does the job accomplish?
(3) How does this job relate to other jobs in the organization?
Questions that a good job description might answer
- Joint Authorship (boss & those doing the job)
- Job Functions (list key responsibilities, functions, duties)
- Performance Standards (quotas, acceptable error rates, deadlines, etc)
Basic principles to follow when writing a job description
- Candidates wear masks to interviews (superficial personae, awkwardness, exaggerating abilities)
- Encouraging the interview to be a 2-way dialogue
Challenges that an interviewer must overcome during a job interview
- create thoughtful questions connected to job description
- rate candidates with the same scorecard
- read the candidate’s resume before the interview
- break the ice; make the candidate comfortable
- acknowledge the candidate made it this far; explain the interview’s purpose
- really listen
- use why, open-ended, and situational questions
- take notes
- offer opportunity for final remarks
- shake hands, thank their time
- immediately evaluate on the scorecard
Practical tips for conducting an interview
- Halo effect
- Attraction bias
- Impressive references
- Nepotism
Four hazards are hiring manager must overcome with new hires
The tendency to favor people who come from a background similar to one’s own, or share the same interests
Halo effect
Bias to physically attractive people; perceived as more sociable, happier, and more successful
Attraction bias
Favoring relatives or friends and professional matters, especially hiring
Nepotism
Hiring is a matter of ____, of weighing the pros and cons.
Trade-offs
Termination should be a ____ ____.
last resort
- The boss should treat the subordinate with perfect dignity
- You can bounce back after being fired and find professional success elsewhere
The principles of dismissing staff with dignity
The absence of leadership - no concern for the mission or team
Laissez-faire
Management by exception (MBE)
A form of transactional leadership in two types: active MBE & passive MBE, both with a negative focus
A form of corrective transactional leadership in which the leader waits for mistakes to happen, steps into fix them, then steps back
Passive MBE
A form of corrective transactional leadership in which the leader is highly visible, checking up on everyone’s work, and looking for errors
Active MBE
A form of transactional leadership with a positive focus in which leaders use incentives to encourage people to do the right things
Contingent reward
- Individual Consideration (IC)
- Intellectual Stimulation (IS)
- Inspirational Motivation (IM)
- Idealized Influence (II)
The Four Is of transformational leadership in the Full Range Leadership Model (FRLM)
Develop other people - to mentor on a one-on-one basis
IC
Individual Consideration
Promote the use of brain power - everyone contributes new thoughts and different perspectives
IS
Intellectual Stimulation
Inspire confidence about the future - expressing confidence in and encouraging the team
IM
Inspirational Motivation
Lead by personal example - exemplify what each individual team member should become
II
Idealized Influence
1. Getting tasks done through people
2. The practice of turning over to a subordinate enough authority to do a specific task, and then holding that person accountable for the results
3. A leadership skill which involves the development of an understanding between a leader and a follower about how they’ll share authority and responsibility for accomplishing their portion of the mission
Delegation
As people move up the management ladder, they should shift from doers to managers
The vital shift
- gains help in accomplishing the mission
- can focus efforts on other aspects of the mission
- develops followers into experts who may come to know more about a facet of the mission than the leader does
How the leader benefits from delegation
- enjoys an opportunity for personal growth
- finds job security by becoming the team’s expert on a facet of the mission
- wins self-respect and the trust and respect of the team
How the follower benefits from delegation
- taps a reservoir of creativity
- accomplishes more simply because delegation is a force multiplier
- makes better decisions because problems are handled systematically, all in due time
How the team benefits from delegation
What are the 3 key words in effective delegation?
Authority
Responsibility
Accountability
That influence one possesses at any point in time, which will cause someone to do with the authoritative individual wants them to do at that time
Authority
The obligation to undertake a specific duty or task within an organization
Responsibility
Assessing what and how a person did on a particular job
(i.e. were the goals accomplished?)
Accountability
- DEFINE the task
- ASSIGN the task
- Grant AUTHORITY
- FOLLOW-UP
The four steps to follow for effective delegation
- unclear delegation
- supervise too closely
- help too much
- rushed delegation
- improper selection of subordinates
Common mistakes in delegation
- The commonly held values within a group
- Norms, customs, values, and assumptions that guide behavior
- The way things are around here
Organizational culture
I. UNFREEZING
II. LEARNING NEW CONCEPTS
III. INTERNALIZATION
The three phases in leading organizational culture change
Letting go of hard traditions and experiencing a motivation to change
includes Survival anxiety and Unlearning
PHASE I - Unfreezing
Learning new concepts that will bring the desired culture into effect
includes clear articulation of vision, psychological safety, right metrics and a rewards, symbols and physical symbols, training and safety nets, stories to communicate culture, and teachable moments
PHASE II - Learning New Concepts
Owning the new culture
includes lasting commitment, out with the old behavior, need for success, addressing adversaries of change, and the nuclear option
PHASE III - Internalization
- Safety must be integrated
- Safety is a right
- Everyone is responsible for Safety
- Safety is a value
The four pillars for safety leadership
-
Incentives
These must encourage good behavior, not penalize bad behavior -
Trait theory
Learn fundamentals of safety leadership by studying and imitating the traits of leaders whose organizations have great safety records
Two practical ways to develop a pro safety culture
The process of measuring how well an individual has fulfilled assigned duties and responsibilities
Performance appraisal
- often socially awkward
- difficult with knowledge workers
- contains a single-rater bias
- reflects on both the subordinate and the boss
- easily becomes GOTCHA without encouraging improvement
Drawbacks of top-down performance appraisals
- Multiple Perspectives
- Reality Check
- Skill & Competency Focus
- Self-Improvement
- Boss Relationship
The characteristics of 360° feedback
- Continuous improvement - metrics help!
- A system of moving parts - remember that a single metric can be misleading
- 92% of statistics lie - how you group measurements can give a misleading picture of the whole
Basic philosophies of measuring organizational performance
Describe the difference between processes and outputs
Processes merely enable outputs (e.g. preflighting and fueling before actually flying)
In measuring a team’s performance, focusing on outputs (and outcomes!) is more important than processes
The process for setting goals that cascade down into objectives, which, in turn, become the metrics for the teams overall success
Management by objective (MBO)
-established in the 1950s (not trendy anymore)
-leaders may spend more time on reports than actually working
-if an objective is incomplete, MBO doesn’t say why or what to do next
-how can rhe connections of goals & objectives be relevant?
-often looking at metrics in isolation
Cons of using MBO
