Guard Duty Sucks!
David Norris
Helping leaders keep their head, heart, and ass wired together. International Contrarian Leadership Coach to Entrepreneurs and CEOs
While stationed as a Guard Officer at Marine Barracks, Guam, in 1980, on a somewhat regular basis after being relieved from guard duty at the US Naval Magazine and having all Marines in the briefing room, I would dismiss all NCOs, asking them to please step out.
I remember the first time I did this and found myself alone with 40 trained killers that were bored shitless with guard duty.
This is where I asked them to unload their complaints, gripes, bitches, concerns, and suggestions. Nothing was off limits. ?My one ground rule was that I would not tolerate disrespect to myself, the USMC, or the US Navy. State your concerns. Get it off your chest. Let it out.
Interestingly, when a Marine bordered on disrespect, his fellow Marines shut him down. Restate your question.
Sometimes I could give them an answer they did not like or had considered. Sometimes I would write something down. Most of the time I just listened. The language was colorful and there was a lot of laughing.
Two weeks later, one of the Marines in my charge asked if he could say something to me. Of course.
He thanked me for that session we had one morning two weeks ago. He said thank you for allowing them all to just speak, talk, gripe, complain, and suggest things.
I said OK however I had not done anything about the matters they brought up.
His response surprised me. He said it didn’t matter. I had afforded them a place to be heard and that was enough. Other Marines soon shared the same thing with me.
Marines unloading their complaints, gripes, bitching, concerns and even though I did little or nothing about them and they were still grateful I heard them. They did not really care if I fixed anything.
WHAT THE HELL?
I did not take their expressions of gratitude lightly. Message received. Even though is takes time to do something, they were trusting me that I might be able to do something. I went to work getting done what I could get done.
See my previous story on “fiesta liver”.
When your people speak up, they want to feel heard, not dismissed.
Shut up and listen. Listening is leadership. Your leadership matters.
“Listen first, talk later, and when you do listen, do so artfully.” ~ Stephen B. Sample, author of The Contrarian’s Guide to Leadership.