What if you are actually getting it right? You are a good leader. You’re respected and the troops trust you. There is no shortage of people stopping you for a “quick minute” chat about something they are having to contend with, seeking your advice and guidance on how to deal with it.
Yet…
The team seems perpetually pissed off. It seems no amount of listening and providing the team with perspective works to improve their morale and engagement. As any good organizational leader would do, you put together a command climate survey and shoot it out to the line to see if you can get a glimpse of what the problem may be.
The results do more than just raise your eyebrows. What the team had to say about their first line leaders was more than just the typical bellyaching about silly rules or getting chewed out for some benign infraction. It described “leaders” that hid behind their “duties” and were absent when the action started. Abhorrent behaviors by team members were going unchecked; inconsistent enforcement of standards was very apparent; and the team communicated a clear lack of trust and confidence in the people they had to answer to on a day-to-day basis.
Clearly there is a disconnect between what you expect of your leaders and how they are executing their duties. There is also a glaring disconnect between the results you are seeing the leader generate and how they are executing their duties.
The answer is clear: your subordinate leaders are destroying your team culture, engagement, and therefore the results your team is able to achieve.
Command Climate
Pete Blaber, a retired SOF operator and leader in the Army’s SMU, recently did an interview on the Shawn Ryan Show and provided what I believe to be the perfect description of a command climate and each leader’s contribution to it. In this segment he is describing his time in the Rangers as a young leader and the impact this time had on his development as a leader:
“ …it was a foundational experience because of the amazing leadership climate that was in place for all four of those years… I was taught then what a leadership climate is. …think of a leadership climate the same way you think of a real climate. You can feel the effects of a leadership climate. You can see the effects of a leadership climate. And when people find a healthy leadership climate, they put down stakes. They work together as teams… And the positive climate makes everyone who lives under it grow, progress, and succeed.
Now when you think of an unhealthy leadership climate, it stymies growth. People are miserable and the only thing they think about is how do I get the F out of here and get to a place where the sun shines occasionally, and I can grow, I can progress, and I can succeed.”
“ The other thing they (the Rangers) taught me which was foundational was that a leadership climate does not emerge from just the most senior leader. Instead, a leadership climate emerges from the sum total of choices made by all the leaders in the climate system. …leadership is a collective thing on an organization. It’s not just the guy at the top… he can be cool and you can tyrants right underneath them. If they’re allowed to operate, then you’re living in an unhealthy leadership climate, even though the guy at the top is ok.”
This is perhaps the most important and impactful bit from this section of the interview:
“ …you can be the smartest, funniest, most handsome, most tactically astute commander a unit has ever had, but if you turn a blind eye to a tyrant who’s making their lives miserable, they’ll treat you with the same derision they threat that tyrant… Your job is to remove these friction barriers that prevent your guys from growing and succeeding in what they do.
…when you don’t do that, you’re not doing your duty as a leader.”
Profound and absolutely correct.
It doesn’t matter if you, personally, are doing all of the leadership stuff right if your subordinate leaders are not also getting it right as well.
Everyone has to be on the same page of standards, leadership ability, and execution. Every single individual in that ecosystem influences that ecosystem. Even if you are the next Colin Powell or John Maxwell… if there is one chink the leadership chain, you will never rise to the level that you are supposed to. The team will always be hamstrung by the lowest level leader you bring in the organization.
Let me say this another way: You will never lead your team beyond the capability and effectiveness of the worst leader. The longer you tolerate their existence, the worse things get.
The team culture is pulled down to that level.
The team’s performance is pulled down to that level.
The team’s standards will be pulled down to that level.
There are about 167 ways to deal with the leaders that are polluting the ecosystem. Some of them right and some of them wrong. The point is, you have to deal with it. It needs to be a visible solution, not some closed door “counseling session” and then releasing the beast back in to the wild. The team is watching.
They are watching to see if you deal with it or you continue to tolerate this bad seed. Without a visible response they lose faith in you because they have no other choice than to accept the fact that you are allowing this to continue. Remember, EVERY leader in the ecosystem is contributing to overall climate.
What Do I Think
I think about how frustrating it must be to know that on the day to day, you personally are getting it right, but some dud or duds are destroying your team… right under your nose… and with your implicit blessing (if you know they’re a problem and you allow it to exist, you have given their existence your blessing.) On second thought, how frustrating is it to know that you probably promoted them in the first place?
This is a problem that you can fix. It will not be easy. But you have to be loyal to the team over any individual, including yourself (some Jocko there).
