HELM THE FAILURE

There are two aspects of the Navy’s training that have stood with me till date. These two have supported me in all conditions where we encountered any failure situation. It is these aspects which guided as the failures encountered during the proceedings were helmed successfully.?

Firstly, as Naval Cadets during the Sea Training Phase, we learnt that when changing over the watch, relieving Officers should personally satisfy the following apart from the friendly ships in the vicinity (each action counts!): -?

(a) Standing orders & special instructions of the Master (Captain) relating to ship's navigation.

(b) Position, course, speed & draught of the ship.

(c) Prevailing & predicted tides, currents, weather, visibility & their effect upon course and speed.

(d) Procedures for the use of main engines to maneuver when the main engines are on bridge control, & status of the watchkeeping arrangements in the engine room.

(e) The ship security status.

(f) Sufficient time has been allowed for night vision to be established & such vision is maintained.

(g) Navigational situation, including but not limited to:

(i) The operational condition of all navigational & safety equipment being used or likely to be used during the watch.

(ii) The errors of the Gyro & Magnetic compasses.

(iii) The presence & movements of ships in sight or known to be in the vicinity. (iv) The conditions & hazards likely to be encountered during the watch.

(v) The possible effects of heel, trim, water density & squat on under keel clearance.?

Secondly, in the Defence Services Staff College, we were taught the concepts of the Game Theory and the Situational Analysis. Both these are powerful concepts, and their bottom line is that one must be always aware of the Own Course of Action (CoA) and the Enemy’s Course of Action (ECoA) to remain engaged in the field. For me, these concepts relate powerfully to the Art of Management both in the Military and the Corporate World! Let me take you through a real life scenario onboard a dived Submarine.?

The Sun had set somewhere deep inside the Bay of Bengal. Our Submarine was on a patrol to participate in a War Game commencing in the next 48 hours. These games begin on precise time and thereafter each ship/submarine/aircraft (Unit) has a role carved out for itself. A box is allocated within the vastness of the mighty ocean to indicate where the Submarine would hunt its enemies and the tactics are to be deployed by the Unit through its own calculations and intelligence mechanisms available. Post the sun set, the events started unfolding. We had dived to catch the bathy layer and its thermoclines to prevent any detection lest an enemy designated Unit prowling in the Submarine Area detected us and we would be out of the game even before it began! The crew had settled down into an easy night routine and were anticipating raw action to unfold when the game began. The propellers hummed effortlessly, and silence prevailed as the crew rested. During the mid-night hours, the shaft of the port (left) engine indicated unusual vibrations, became noisy and its parameters malfunctioned. The crew on watch promptly shut down the port engine and began investigation. A massive engine cooler was found to be malfunctioning and leading to poor engine performance. This is a mammoth equipment and its replacement, followed by operationalizing at Sea is a tough ask. ?

The Command Team huddled together, and a decision had to be taken. First, what is the capability left with the Unit to actively participate in the War Game? Second, how much time will it take to attempt any repairs whilst at Sea? Thirdly, was the crew capable of undertaking such a massive repair on its own duly considering the complexity of the job and the engineering involved? One aspect was clear to every member onboard- the failure had to be helmed. Strategy was discussed thread bare and the leadership onboard the Submarine did not allow any culture to eat the strategy for the breakfast! Each department onboard the Submarine had work to do and individual plans were chalked out which were meshed with the overall plan. The plans were gamed by the Command Team and the Commanding Officer decided to execute the actions. We were off to work before the clock had struck 4 am.?

This engineering task demanded round the clock work and precise control over each sequence of event including onboard battery power management to stay afloat. The other working engine had to be shut down to enable the repairs to be undertaken and the battery power took over. The sweat and toil began, and the crew went for the repairs and restoration of the good operational state. The team clicked as per the gamed plan and the port engine was restored with a job that is nothing less than an engineering marvel and involved grit, determination at the highest level. As both the engines hummed back to life, the current flowed back into the parched batteries and they once again started restoring their chemical composition. The Unit was back in action and raced across its assigned sector to participate in the War Games. The sweat breaking on the foreheads now was of a different situation. The new failure situation challenging to emerge was no more own equipment challenge but to become victorious in the action. The Command Team was back to work for a different format strategy. Yet the Game Theory and Situational Analysis remained the bedrock of the decision making.?

Failures are omnipresent and their probability definition is unlimited. Failures merit careful scan and today even ahead of horizon as the factors accompanying failures have unlimited dimensions. The World of today is full of definitions like VUCA, BANI and their newer avatars would continue to emerge. Nothing is same anymore as the World is on the move. The days of Wars of Intervention still allowed relative success somewhere else. The rising expectations graph is the evidence that failures need to be helmed to achieve success. The patterns visible today merit careful strategic decision making to achieve long term forecasts. The investment in long term strategy can face challenges of failure in short and mid-term but this is exactly where the failures need to be helmed. There can be points where we also know humans who suffer from cause and effect due to ever emerging non-linearity. The complexity of information and occurrences in their entirety have the capability to influence everything else on various levels. In a rapidly changing World, the traditional leadership dimension has changed to factor helming of the failures with an increasing alacrity.?

The thinking today should be about organizational development that is fundamentally different from the traditional linear model. This thinking should provide a valuable tool for managing in a chaotic world which refuses to pivot and then settle down! To helm the failures, the successful leaders must face their own emotions and anxieties to prevail. A combination of courage and openness is needed now towards new things to deal with the adversities of the world leading to omnipresent failures.?

Nobody can do this alone, though. In today’s world, we all need to pull together, create a fruitful exchange among the like-minded, and generate crowd intelligence. This is exactly why lifelong learning will play an even more vital role for effective leadership than before. There is a need to find solutions to most urgent problems yet keeping the focus on long term objectives. And leaders can take a leaf out of the book of the deprived humans across the globe who continue to discover faster than anyone else as they survive against odds. They helm their failures each day!?

Leading in today’s world requires a high degree of maturity and a targeted development of one’s own management personality. There are both visible and non-visible yet omni-present pressures to make impossible happen. Check the resources, check the teams, keep up the factors to achieve the resilience and stay on top of the failures. Afterall, management theory never states that failures cannot be helmed!! Believe in the team and believe in the efforts of the team. A team effort can help to helm the failures away even as the cross winds blow hard, and the boat is rocking and yet on its way towards calmness.

{Disclaimer- The views expressed by the Author are his own and in no way related to his present Organization}