From “Accept or Eject” to “Inclusion and Diversity”

End of Fiscal Year is a busy time and one of the many things you are busy with is catching up on all things related to completing the training you never got around to finishing.

Leadership training is right there at the top.

Anyways, the leadership training got me thinking about an episode that took place some 7-8 years ago at my previous employer during the annual sales meeting. At the time, I thought the episode was a bit strange, but looking back at the event now one can easily tell that times have changed.

Here's the story.

As part of our annual sales meeting, an all-hands session covering the future success of the company was scheduled for all employees working in the Nordics region. The company (as they often do) had brought in an external motivational speaker to cover the very specific topic of Team Cohesion.

The motivational speaker presented himself as a former US special forces elite soldier who had seen action in Grenada, Panama and Kuwait. I believe most of us looked forward to hearing this guy give his talk on what makes a great team tick - and perhaps hear some 'war stories' about personal sacrifice and 'taking one for the team'. 

Team Cohesion as the key to success

The talk started off great and I was pumped up. This guy was both funny and could deliver his message with a punch. He vividly talked about how elite teams prepare for critical missions and how Team Cohesion is the single most important element for success.

We all nodded along and I think most of us even agreed. Some of us even felt empowered and ready to go into the new fiscal year in a metaphorical bayonet charge. It was all a bit Gung-Ho!

But - right there - the talk took an unexpected twist.

Instead of bringing it home by highlighting the obvious (and sometimes tacky) metaphor of 'the chain being only as strong as its weakest link', the speaker threw a curveball at the audience.

According to the speaker, the best way to achieve Team Cohesion is not by building on the strengths of each individual of the team - but by rooting out those who disagree with the mission or who have altering views on how to achieve the mission.

I remember being somewhat thrown back but this. Not enormously, but enough to get an uncomfortable itch in the back of my mind.

Comparing teams within an organization with elite soldiers?

The one element in his talk that stuck was how he compared the beginning of the new fiscal year with that of a special forces team going into action.

Just like 'we' were sitting in the audience, listening to 'our' leaders talking about the mission ahead of us (the new fiscal year), he had been sitting in choppers wearing his headset and learning about a specific mission and being ready to take orders from his superiors.

The main message he wanted to get across was this; you either accept the mission or you reject it. There was to be no in-between. “Accept or Eject”,  “Accept or Eject”.

These days, the message is very different. How time changes things.