In July and August of 1988, along with 1350 of my Classmates, I was required to memorize The Law of the Navy by Admiral R. A. Hopwood, R.N. (Ret). To this day, of the handful that I can still recite, the fifth verse is especially timely:
On the strength of one link in the cable
Dependeth the might of the chain.
Who knows when thou mayest be tested?
So live that thou bearest the strain.
In 2017, the Navy suffered two collisions with the tragic loss of 17 Sailors. The investigations and the Navy's responses have become largely a matter of public record.
In both incidents, as in almost every operational incident during the past 30 years, the Captain of the ship made themselves the single point of failure, and then made a mistake.
It may appear that the two Captains failed in nearly opposite ways - one was asleep in his bed at the time of the collision; the other on the bridge attempting to do too much himself.
The real difference was where in the error chain the Captain's link broke. In the first case, it was long before the collision in the building of culture and in operational planning. In the second it was the last link in the chain; the proximate cause.
Admiral Hopwood warned that leaders must always be prepared to be tested. To be called on to perform at their absolute peak. Preparation is a continuous event. It can't be put off until tomorrow because we don't know the time of the test.
How can we make sure that the organization succeeds, even if the leader makes an error at a critical time?
How do we make sure that the leader, regardless of title, isn't a single point of failure for their organization?
How can leaders be confident that even if they aren't there to make the critical decision, their team will make a decision that is just as good (or better)?
Organizations may choose to put procedures in place, as the Navy has done, to give structure to successful leadership. Principles such as questioning attitude, forceful back-up, and integrity.
World-class organizations must go further than principles and checklists.
They must build trust by giving trust, go beyond compliance to cultivate culture, and invest deeply in their teams.
The result is a strong, tightly woven team that is anti-fragile.
That grows stronger when it is tested.
Such a team will vastly outperform a chain that fails whenever a single link breaks.
Promethean Blue can help your team reach the next level by building the organizational strength and anti-fragility needed for tomorrow's success.
Contact info@promethean.blue today to get started.
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