Who deals with Grit?

I came across the book "Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance" by Angela Duckworth a few years ago. In this excellent publication, which I highly recommend, Duckworth develops a thesis on the importance of GRIT, which she defines as passion and perseverance in the pursuit of meaningful and long-term objectives to succeed at work or in life, placing this trait above factors such as IQ or physical aptitude and concluding that this trait is one of the most important predictors of success, a conclusion with which many of us can probably agree.

In reading this book, I found that the author's approach is relevant to the success of organizations and, more importantly, to the success of individuals and can be applied to any job. With these thoughts in mind, a few questions arose in my mind: Who deals with GRIT? Can it be developed or is it an innate trait? What measures could we take to develop GRIT?

In my experience of nearly 40 years in the military, I would venture to say that very few commanders/leaders are directly involved with this trait, perhaps only a handful. While it is true that the moral component plays an important role in training (recall that development is based on three components: intellectual, physical, and moral), it does not directly target the two elements of passion and perseverance but rather aims to develop the values and principles that guide an individual's ethical behaviour.

Consequently, we lack the concern that commanders/leaders show for the development of GRIT in their subordinates. From my observations, commanders/leaders focus primarily on technical aspects, then tactical and finally physical skills. Very few commanders/leaders I have met have set their sights on developing the moral qualities of their personnel, assuming that their value formation was virtually complete in their student days.

I remember talking about this subject with some outstanding commanders of units at different levels, emphasising the importance of this aspect for the holistic development of people and understanding that not everything can be delegated to the schools responsible for the different levels of training. In this sense, my advice was: think about every activity you plan and add to this plan the register of leadership development so that tasks aimed at such development are integrated into both training activities and daily service.

Can GRIT be developed? Of course, it can. This question was not only raised by Duckworth in his work but also by various experts who agree that while there is a genetic component that affects a person's character, traits such as passion and perseverance can also be developed.

In this sense, the commander/leader has a great influence. It can be seen with moderate clarity that people, especially the younger ones, are losing interest in their tasks. They get bored. They feel that their work is not worthwhile. They have no confidence in their abilities or, even worse because they have been assigned a commander/leader who lacks emotional intelligence.

Now let us look at some elements that I believe can have an impact on the development of GRIT.

Purpose: Every organization and every activity must have a purpose. It is the why and wherefore that gives clear meaning to action. In this sense, the purpose must be motivating and achieving the commitment of the members of the unit. Admittedly, it is sometimes difficult to explain this purpose, especially when it refers exclusively to theoretical statements such as "protection of territory, sovereignty, population, resources and national interests" The ability of the commander/leader will be proven by whether he can translate this purpose into concrete action. An example of this is the prolonged deployment of Chilean military units in connection with the containment of COVID-19 in 2020 and 2021, work that involved the deployment of a significant number of troops who, despite the complexity of the moment, were able to adequately understand the purpose of their actions.

Challenge: One of the tools that allow us to stimulate passion and perseverance in what we do is challenge, and in this respect, the military profession perhaps has an advantage over other activities due to its impressive versatility. The opposite behaviour is routine, always doing the same thing and using the cliché phrase "it's always been done this way" as an excuse in this regard, there is room for growth - which certainly requires creativity - on a personal and professional level, individually and collectively, technically, tactically, and physically, to name a few. One of the main problems is related to the organisational culture, which leads us to repeat very easily the same experiences we have had in similar processes, leaving little room for initiative and creativity to create challenges that promote the vocation of our subordinates.

Feedback: If there is one thing that requires character, coherence, and empathy, it is feedback, a process we often try to avoid. How can someone know if he/she is good or not if his/her commander/leader does not take the time to express this openly, directly and promptly? Perhaps it is easier if the feedback has a positive connotation and allows us to highlight an attitude, an achievement, or the fulfilment of goals, which should also make us think about the importance of recognition, which I will cover in a future article.

The most complicated situation is when it is necessary to give feedback to a person who is not behaving well, who is not meeting standards, who is performing poorly or who has not achieved a set goal. Again, the commander/leader's skills are put to the test to maintain the interest and appeal of this person so that the feedback does not become a punishment but rather brings about a change in behaviour and the commitment of his subordinates. On the other hand, this difficulty is compounded by many people's apparent aversion to criticism and/or self-criticism. I remember more than once seeing faces reflecting obvious exasperation as I took observations at the end of a training session.

As you can see, in these lines I have tried to formulate some ideas on personal development based on the concept of GRIT, i.e. passion and perseverance for long-term objectives.

The last message points out how important it is to understand that each person, subordinate and member of the unit is an individual whose characteristics distinguish him from the rest of the members of the organisation, and as such, it is an inevitable and non-transferable task of the commander/leader to know each of these people to influence them positively so that they can be properly directed in their life project and hopefully demonstrate "passion and perseverance" day after day.