Category Leading With Courage

The most enduring leadership lesson I ever learned was a military adage that says:

“Your plan is only good until first contact with the enemy.

And the enemy’s job is to stop your.”

 In military training, friendly forces are called the ‘Blue Team,’ while enemy forces are considered the ‘Red Team.’

The Red Team’s job is to stop the Blue Team’s plan.

Read more about planning

Red Teaming

Recently a simulated battle took place at the U.S. Marine Corps training Centre at Twentynine Palms, California. The exercise involved 600 British Royal Marines acting like the ‘enemy’ force, or ‘Red Team’ against a much larger U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) unit preparing for deployment overseas.

The British press gloated that the Royal Marines trounced the USMC so severely during the exercise that US commanders asked for a pause to reset their plans.

I’ve been on the receiving end of a similar simulated defeat, and I was glad for it.

Glad?

Except for a few bruised egos, nobody was hurt. We learned important lessons. And plans were tested and improved. And we were better for the experience and more prepared for the day when we faced off against a real enemy.

This is the point of exercising and training: To test your plans and capabilities.

How about your plans?

Outside of the military, most organizations conduct their planning with a small group of executives. Or worse, planning is done by one person, the CEO.

One of the best ways to ensure your strategy or projects are successful is to test it by an objective team, a ‘Red Team,’ that sees it through clear and new eyes.

The red team evaluates a strategy, a presentation, or a business plan for weaknesses and checks that any unanswered questions are answered to improve the plan.

And give it the best chances of success.

if your presentation or strategy has serious problems, they should tell you that, “This is not making sense!”

Red teaming can be a very unsettling experience for some – but the goal of each member of the red team is to help improve the strategy, presentation, value proposition, business plan and chances of success.

Remember, to have success; you occasionally have to break a few eggs!

Here are some optimal guidelines for forming and running a red team review:

• Because of their experience, members of our red teams emulate the process and mindset of the stakeholders.
• Pick at least three people to serve on each team.
• They are knowledgeable in the company’s space.
• Team members must have no prior connection with the team that is presenting.
• They must be willing and able to commit the necessary time and attention to the process.
• Insist that members are given at least two days to read the materials in the presentation and do a bit of personal research.
• Team members must be committed to helping the team improve their chances of success.

Read about how to get results

Benefits of a Red Team Review

A Red Team Review is an independent test of the executive’s decision-making.  The results will provide you with guidance and direction on what must be done to improve your plan’s chances of success.

Angus Duffy served throughout WWII with honour, ferocity and courage. He returned home and continued to serve as a soldier, business leader, husband and family man.

Most would say he was a war hero, community hero, family hero, or all three. In my opinion, none of these was the most heroic thing he did in a long, unbelievable and history-making life.

The most heroic thing he did was a quiet, humble and dignified demonstration of moral courage.

Click here to read more about Moral Courage.

Post-WWII, Angus became the Commanding Officer (CO) of a storied infantry unit. As CO, he was entrusted with the symbols that embodied the Regiment’s ethos, history and culture: its Colours.

Historically, the Colours served as a rallying point for that unit’s soldiers in battle. Today they are a record of the proud and costly history of each Regiment, and they are protected as if made of gold.

When Angus was the CO, someone stole the Colours from the Regiment. There is a whole story behind this heinous crime, but suffice to say, it would be the equivalent of someone breaking into your home and violating your most personal family artifacts.

The CO is personally responsible for the Colours, but no thinking person blamed Angus for the theft, and this is where one of the most selfless, courageous acts that I have ever heard of took place. Angus took his regimental cap badge off of his beret because he took personal responsibility for losing the Colours.

Angus was never charged or accused of misconduct with the loss. To my knowledge, no one ever publicly blamed him for negligence, nor was ever a mark placed on his record regarding the matter. He took on the personal responsibility and public punishment for losing the Colours and never wavered from it.

The Regiment obtained replacement Colours, and Angus went to his grave, never putting his cap badge back on.

What have you done to take responsibility?

Have you resigned on the point of principle or refused to do something that did not align with your values?

Click here to read more about walking the talk.

You don’t have to wear a hair shirt for the rest of your life, but here are three actions you should do when taking responsibility:

1. Take personal responsibility

Colonel Duffy could have blamed many people for the theft and embarrassment to the Regiment over losing the Colours.

He didn’t. He said, “I am the Commanding Officer. As such I am personally responsible for the Colours, and I am responsible for their loss”.

2. Go public

Angus certainly went public.

He publicly demonstrated his responsibility by taking down the second most important thing in a soldier’s life, the emblem of his regimental family affiliation: His cap badge.

3. Be consistent with your values and brand

Holy Moly, was he consistent or what!

Until his death, Angus demonstrated his responsibility. His values and brand were on demonstration to everyone.

Do You Measure up?

Once you knew Colonel Duffy’s story, you would have followed him anywhere.

What wouldn’t you do for a leader who demonstrated that level of moral courage?

Once you understood his devotion to duty, you were not likely to fail the Regiment.

Are you leading your people by taking responsibility?

People Fear Change!

Just like they fear monsters under the bed …

or behind the closet door …

or what lurks down those cellar steps.

Why?

Two reasons:

1. We can’t see what’s there so our imagination fills in the blanks … As kids we imagined monsters, as adults we don’t like change so we imagine job loss, upset and disaster.

2. Like a horror movie we know that the first person to go down those stairs is going to get killed …Most of us have lived through a change management exercise they did not go well and we ended up worse off than when we started.

Watch the Vlog to see how we as leaders can take fear out of the equation and give our hopes and aspirations for organizational change the best chances for success.

Before you read the article below, I wanted to frame the post with this personal note:

Many know I served as an infantryman in the Canadian Army. Years ago, on a training exercise, we had soldiers from another unit attached to us, one of which was an Inuit from Nunavik (Northern Quebec).

His section commander seemed like a good soldier and appeared to be very good at his job, but to be clear, he was a terrible human being and a racist.

Why?

Several times I overheard him call the Inuit soldier a ‘Tundra N-Word.’

But I stepped back and didn’t say anything.

I out-ranked the commander by several grades, I was the senior person in every sense of the word, and quite frankly I was an equal participant in racism at work because I didn’t say anything.

I failed that young man and set a poor example for every other soldier who saw what was going on.

I put my head down and failed to lead with Moral Courage.

Now is not the time for you to put your head down.

Now is the time to approach issues like Black Lives Matter and Anti-Racism protest with humility and hard truths delivered kindly.

When you see systematic and blatant racism, find the moral courage to face and address it with Moral Courage.

How?

• • • Read the article on Moral Courage below.

• • • Share the survey with your full team.

• • • Be courageous and hold small group conversations about times when your people have seen times when your organization has not lived with Moral Courage when it comes to fairness and systemic racism.

• • • Now do the hardest thing you will ever do … shut up, sit there and listen.

• • • Then commit to improving.

Now is not the time to put your head down.

Take care, be well and be safe.

“Few men are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, the wrath of their society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence.  —  Ernest Hemingway (1899 – 1961), A Farewell to Arms

Most military training is the epitome, the living embodiment, of the first line of Hemingway’s quote. It is the underpinning of the regimental system: an undying fidelity to your Regiment, your colleagues and comrades. Add in great leadership, and this fidelity is what allows a body of soldiers to accomplish great things.

Why? Because anyone cold, wet, hungry or afraid may well be tempted to give up; because you are only letting yourself down. But, that same cold, wet and frightened person would rather a slow painful death than let down friends, colleagues and comrades.

But when something is going wrong, that fidelity can become a terrible hurdle to scale when you are standing up for your ethical beliefs. When you stand up, there are perceived or actual risks of stress, anxiety, isolation from colleagues, or threats to employment. This moral conflict can make you feel powerless to improper behaviour.

“You can live with pain. You can live with embarrassment. Remorse is an awful companion.” – Senator John McCain

Often organizational cultures and constraints make doing the right thing difficult or impossible. How are you, or your organization, doing at removing the barriers to morally courageous behaviour? Try this simple exercise: Rank your thoughts from 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest) for these questions:

• I/We encourage dialogue around ethical behaviour and actions every day.

1————-2————3————4————5

• My colleagues have the moral courage to take action when called on.

1————-2————3————4————5

• ‘Whistleblowing’ may be seen as the equivalent of being a ‘rat,’ a ‘tattle-tail’ or that you are letting down your friends & colleagues.

1————-2————3————4————5

• I/We face issues and problems face on every day.

1————-2————3————4————5

What would do to improve any one of those scores by 1 point?

How do you encourage moral courage in your actions and the actions of those around you? www.americannursetoday.com developed the mne­monic CODE to help to remember what steps to take when you face a moral dilemma:

C: Courage

The first step is to critically evaluate the situation to determine whether moral courage is needed to address it. Morally courageous people know how to use valid and objective information to determine whether a situation warrants further exploration.

O: Obligations to honour

When caught in a moral dilemma, you should self-impose a purposeful time-out for reflection to help determine what moral values and ethical principles are at risk or are being compromised. And to consider: What’s the right thing to do? What principles need to be expressed and defended in this situation?

D: Danger management

What do you need to do to manage your fear of being morally courageous? This step requires the use of cognitive approaches for emotional control and risk-aversion management. During this step, explore possible actions and consider adverse consequences associated with those actions. To avoid becoming overwhelmed when deciding how to act, focus on one or two critical values.

E: Expression

The “E” in CODE stands for expression and action through assertiveness and negotiation skills. Knowing one’s obligations and demonstrating specific behaviours can enable you to move past your fear and serve as an active patient advocate,

Three things you can do to supporting moral courage:

1. Share the CODE mnemonic with your peers and team,
2. Host a lunch & learn or use a staff meeting to talk through hypothetical situations,
3. Demonstrate Moral Courage in each of your actions. Click here to read more about Walking the Walk.

The fact that you are a leader will create complex moral and ethical dilemmas, and you will inevitably have to demonstrate moral courage.

As a leader, YOU are accountable for providing the best possible leadership – so you better get used to the fact that it is not always easy or fun.

John Wayne once said: “Courage is being scared to death—and saddling up anyway.”

Do you want to go deeper and learn more?  Contact me Steve@StevenArmstrong.ca, and we can begin the conversation.

It was a harsh lesson in accountability.

I don’t remember why I was late, but I was late.

I was dishevelled, probably hungover and looked like crap.

The rest of the soldiers in my platoon were on time, looked good and were all formed up.

I fully expected to be punished for screwing up, but I did not anticipate that the entire platoon would be confined to barracks for my mistake.

I was responsible for my friends and peers losing their freedom. I knew it, and to my great horror, they knew it.

You see, the Army knows that as an individual, you might be willing to let yourself down, but you would rather die than let your peers down. They drive accountability to your peers.

Accountability is the glue that holds high-performing teams together.

The Sticking Point

Even with the proven success of high-performance teams with high levels of peer-to-peer accountability, leaders always seem hesitant to make it central to their organization.

Over 200 teams have taken my Team Online Assessment, and of the five critical behaviours of high-performing teams – trust, healthy conflict, commitment/decision-making, accountability, and team-oriented results – it is accountability that teams rate as the most problematic.

Why is this?

For some leaders, there is a temptation to be popular with their team. Who doesn’t want to be well-liked?

Read what leaders won’t do.

Others don’t want to confront a high performer whose behaviour is bad, even when it hurts team results.

In some cases, hesitancy can be caused by a friend in their organization whom the leader can’t bear to confront because of their personal relationship.

Read about tough conversations.

While this discomfort is real, the implication for not facing these issues is often poor results. It is fair to say those in your organization won’t like you if you fail.

A leader’s avoidance of accountability can start a feeling of resentment from those with different personal performance standards. And this resentment is deep.

Think about this on a personal level…have you ever had a job where you performed well, met your numbers, had a good attitude, arrived early and stayed late while the person sitting near you rarely hit their numbers, had a bad attitude and did as little as possible?

How did you feel about it? Resentful?

Accountability in Action

Improving an organization’s ability to gain advantage using peer-to-peer accountability is less complicated and quicker than it may appear.

The leadership team must set an example and openly commit to holding one another accountable. As leaders model this behaviour, it will permeate the rest of the organization. For most, this causes a sigh of relief because people ultimately want to have a sense of accomplishment at work.

Once leaders commit to accountability, some simple but specific guidelines are needed for it to take root. Discussing and coming to an agreement regarding the following four questions is a great place to start:

What behaviours/actions are acceptable on the team? Team members need to identify what behaviours are acceptable. Some examples include not holding back in meetings, avoiding back-channel politics, fully engaging in meetings, meeting commitments on time, and staying off email during meetings. Discussing, understanding and committing to these expectations in advance helps team members feel comfortable calling out these behaviours that detract from the team.

Where will these conversations happen? The most common question regarding accountability is, “Should it be public or private?” We’ve found that high-performing teams do this much more in public than private. The whole team benefits from knowing the team standards are being upheld, and the group often learns from observing the process.

When will we bring it up? Team members must consider the time frame for holding one another accountable. Should teams talk about it the moment an issue is suspected? A day later? A week later? However, allowing a specific commitment to go unmet over a few days can make discussing it more challenging.

What manner/style should be used to bring up issues? Team members tend to be more comfortable when they know how their colleagues will deliver feedback. Will teammates be careful not to offend, or will they come across straight forward? Will the feedback come out of anger or a desire to help?

The key to success in accountability is that everyone on a team feels empowered to hold other team members accountable, according to one (or more) of the four agreements. For accountability to become ingrained in the culture, exceptions should not be allowed. Additionally, no team member should be above accountability, and all team members, not just a select few, should be responsible for enforcing it.

Results

Accountability is essential in developing a high-performing team.

Read about results

Behaviorally and intellectually aligned teams have constructive conflict and make firm commitments. They need to be able to push each other to stick to those commitments in the spirit of achieving results.

When teams suffer from a breakdown in accountability, results do suffer.

It may seem harsh for teams that have never engaged in this direct form of feedback. In reality, it is quite the opposite.

Holding a team member accountable for their actions shows that you care about them enough to take the interpersonal risk to discuss the issue. When feedback is given according to the outlined agreements, it can help a team member’s personal/professional development and the team’s progress. Those with effective peer-to-peer accountability will avoid costly and challenging situations and freely march toward their desired results.

I have seen the power of accountability play out in several settings. In my previous careers, I was fortunate to be part of high-performing teams, and if I could point to one distinct behaviour of those highly successful teams, it would be peer-to-peer accountability.

Regardless of your organization’s size or industry, a solid commitment to accountability is perhaps the most significant indicator for achieving long-term success.

Colonel George E. Renison was a WWII hero, Chairman of WH Smith Books and Chancellor of the University of Waterloo.

He led a life with a scope and breadth that reads like a historical novel.

I was lucky to have known him, shared a glass with him, dined with him, and had many a wonderful conversation with him.

I am not sure how the subject came up, but we once talked about what was known in his day as battle stress.

Now we understand it as PTSD.

He described a person’s ability to absorb trauma as courage and in this way:

At our birth, we are all given a pocket of courage in the form of money. Each of us gets a different amount, and it is given to us in different currencies. 

Some of us get a million dollars, but in one bill, and others get hundreds of dollars in nickels, dimes and quarters.  

As we go through life, we bump into traumas. Sometimes there are big, like combat, and others are smaller. But each ‘bump’ sends an invoice payable immediately.

At each trauma, we pay that charge from our pocket of courage.

None of us pay the same for what seems like the same trauma.

For some, what seems like a ‘lesser’ trauma extracts a considerable cost; other significant trauma costs a small fee.

Regardless, when a person is out of money to pay the trauma invoice, that’s it.

There is nothing left.

There is no refilling your pockets.

You are broke.

And you are broken.

You never know when someone’s ‘currency’ will run out.

You never know when they will have spent the last of their ‘money.’

You never know how they will react.

But they will react.

Some react by lashing out in anger.

Some react by becoming sullen.

They almost all call out for help.

Unfortunately, the call is silent or inappropriate – like angry rage.

Are you listening?

Have you thought about how you might help?

Read more about the importance of listening when someone is ready to talk.

Read more about using silence to get more out of those ‘challenging’ conversations.