Leadership is an operational imperative

An excerpt from graduation speech for Intermediate Leadership Program at Royal Military College, Osside Institute, Saint-Jean, Quebec.

I have spent 30 years in uniform, and have been a student of leadership my whole life. Most recently completing my Master’s Degree in Leadership, studying global leadership, systems thinking and organizational change. As a Chief Warrant Officer in the Royal Canadian Air Force, my greatest reward is developing leadership in others. 

I remember as a junior leader, I used to look at the Organizational Chart, and I would count how many people I had underneath me, it somehow reinforced to me that i was trusted or important. The truth is, our purpose as a leader should not be to seek out more followers, it is to build more leaders.

So, first I would like to define what leadership is to me; quite simply; Leadership is a person’s ability to influence others towards achieving a common objective. Leadership; first and foremost, will always be about influence. 

The primary thing to understand is that leadership is not something you acquire on a course and is not something that is awarded with rank or position. It can only exist within a relationship between those that aspire to lead and those that choose to follow.

It is a series of competencies, that you must continually refine and exercise over the course of a lifetime. It is, in my opinion the most important aptitude a person can have. Not only to lead in the military but to be a leader for your family, your children and your community.

As senior enlisted leaders we are the organizations eyes and ears. We are also the voice of our direct reports to the commander or senior leadership. The toughest place to lead from is in middle management. You are responsible for not only looking after your personnel but also your unit and our institution. 

As senior non-commissioned members; Junior NCMs see you as a role model, officers’ value your opinion; newly commissioned officers, regardless of Service, will benefit greatly from the advice and support of each of you, you will help guide them in their role as an officer or the commander of a platoon, flight, or section.

So, how do you as a Warrant Officer/Petty Officer 1st class grow your leadership and increase your influence? You need to build relationships with those you lead. And the foundation of any good relationship is trust.

Trust is the currency of leadership. 

To gain trust, you must be competent in your job, that doesn’t mean you need to be perfect, but you need to be able to perform at the standard you are expecting of others. You need to become a continual learner, seeking knowledge, and attempt to learn something new every day. 

You need to care for others; you should have empathy; the ability to feel what others are feeling. Looking after people is our business but understand, caring for others does not mean, always giving them what they want. Generally, people prefer to stay in their comfort zone but nothing ever grows there. Looking after people requires you to put them in uncomfortable and challenging positions. Overcoming challenges is what builds resiliency and reduces stress. Leaders require cognitive resilience or the ability to overcome stressful situations in order to cope with our current and future operating environment.

Remember your job is to grow leaders.

The best gift you can give your followers is your own state of mind. You are no good to anyone if you are unable to do your job, you must always be there when your personnel need you, but to do that you must find ways to relieve stress in a positive way. Go for a walk or run, workout, read a book, spend time with family.  Your followers will emulate what they see you do.  “Emotions are contagious, your team will take their cues from you, both the good and the bad.

And finally care for the institution. This by far is the hardest new concept for many new senior leaders and it is where many fail. Caring for the institution is not about protecting it at all costs, it is about dedicating oneself to maintaining and upholding the highest standards of moral and ethical behaviour and championing diversity, inclusiveness and equity. 

As leaders you must lead up, as well as down.  Leading up means you must be able to work with and not against those appointed above you.  They need your help, your voice and your support. 

The first thing you must do is to learn what the limits of their authority and power is, chances are it’s not as high as you may think.  Remember power is just another word for influence and we know it doesn’t come with rank or position.

I will tell you a secret that took me about 25 years to learn; No matter what rank or position you achieve in your career, you will almost always be one rank or position lower than you need to be to rectify the problem. I say that because from here on out, the problems that are brought to you will become more and more complex. So, while you may assume that someone isn’t listening or doesn’t care, the truth is they may not have the authority or power to fix it on their own.

Two examples of that right now are the current military posting season and the senior leadership crisis. Home sales, bidding wars, lack of rental properties, shortages of Residential Housing Units have the potential to displace military members and their families. The second example is the current crisis with the senior leadership of the Canadian Armed Forces. Fixing a long standing culture that has enabled and even promoted inappropriate behaviour will take all of us; it will not be a top down solution, it requires a sincere commitment by every member.

As Warrant Officers/Petty Officers you need to be translators, communicating to the troops honestly and in a way that they understand. The tone in which these messages are delivered can influence whether initiatives succeed or fail.

Words are important! 

Today, with COVID, the new chain of command is Facebook.  A new battlefield exists on social media it involves misinformation and bad messaging. No matter what you communicate to your followers, they will never believe the message if they do not believe in the messenger! That is why, only through building trust can you effectively lead. 

If you want people to trust you, you need to trust them first.  Leaders go First! That means being vulnerable, taking a chance.  Nothing builds trust with people more than taking the risk to be vulnerable.  Share your personnel experience, tell a story about your own struggles, show that you are more than just a soldier, aviator or sailor. To those you lead, you are the most important person in the unit.  

The biggest thing you can do for those you lead is to offer them your time and your experience. 

I want to leave you with some final thoughts;

First off, 

·     You will, sooner than later, be challenged by an issue that you have no experience to solve, that is where your education and your networking should be called upon, do not be scared to use it, faking it is not an option, it will catch up with you.

·     Every single decision you take, has an impact on someone! And Not acting on something, is also a decision, and that very often has long lasting negative effects on your followers.  

·     A good leader; is a person who takes a little more than their share of the blame and a little less than their share of the credit. Everything you do, must be about building trust with your followers.

And Finally; your leadership is an operational imperative. The sexual and hateful misconduct that has poisoned our culture can’t be allowed to remain any longer. A clear and growing mistrust of senior leaders has produced a crisis in confidence and it is the greatest threat to national security, mission success and our relevancy with the Canadian public. 

Building cohesion in the ranks and trust in leadership must be our number one priority. 

Very few Canadians volunteer to serve Canada in the Armed Forces, and even fewer are selected to be its trusted leaders. You are our trusted leaders!

Each of us must be the leader that our followers and all Canadians deserve.