Turn the Ship Around!  ## Metadata - Author: [[L. David Marquet and Stephen R. Covey]] | [[3. Resources/Authors/L. David Marquet and Stephen R. Covey|L. David Marquet and Stephen R. Covey]] - Full Title: Turn the Ship Around! - Category: #books - Kindle: [Open in Kindle](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AFPVP0Y) - Document Tags: [[leadership]] ## Document Notes ## Highlights - One of the things that limits our learning is our belief that we already know something. ([Location 433](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=433)) - It didn’t matter how smart my plan was if the team couldn’t execute it! ([Location 468](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=468)) - When the performance of a unit goes down after an officer leaves, it is taken as a sign that he was a good leader, not that he was ineffective in training his people properly. ([Location 504](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=504)) - Are you curious? I thought I was being curious during my previous tours; turns out I was only “questioning.” ([Location 599](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=599)) - Is there a call to action in your organization? Do people want to change, or are they comfortable with the current level of performance? Are things too comfortable? Is there a feeling of complacency? Do people take action to protect themselves or to make the outcome better? Does leadership in your organization take control or give control? ([Location 763](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=763)) - Why is doing what you are told appealing to some? Do people really just want to do as they are told? If a snapshot of your business went viral on the Internet, what would it reveal about your workers? Do your procedures reinforce the leader-follower model? How would your middle managers react if you implemented a checkout system like the one described in this chapter? ([Location 824](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=824)) - ACHIEVE EXCELLENCE, DON’T JUST AVOID ERRORS is a mechanism for CLARITY. ([Location 918](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=918)) - Are your people trying to achieve excellence or just to avoid making mistakes? Has your organization become action-averse because taking action sometimes results in errors? Have you let error-reduction programs sap the lifeblood out of initiative and risk taking? Do you spend more time critiquing errors than celebrating success? Are you able to identify the symptoms of avoiding errors in your workplace? When you ask people what their jobs are, do they answer in terms of reducing errors? When you investigate the criteria that went behind decisions, do you find that avoidance of negative outcomes far outweighs accomplishing positive outcomes? What is the primary motivation of the middle managers and rank and file (not what it says on the wall poster outside the boardroom)? How can you minimize errors but not make that the focus of your organization? ([Location 920](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=920)) - “Don’t move information to authority, move authority to the information.” ([Location 935](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=935)) - mechanisms into three groups: control, competence, and clarity. ([Location 937](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=937)) - Find the genetic code for control and rewrite it. Act your way to new thinking. Short, early conversations make efficient work. Use “I intend to . . .” to turn passive followers into active leaders. Resist the urge to provide solutions. Eliminate top-down monitoring systems. Think out loud (both superiors and subordinates). Embrace the inspectors. ([Location 938](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=938)) - Identify in the organization’s policy documents where decision-making authority is specified. (You can do this ahead of time if you want.) Identify decisions that are candidates for being pushed to the next lower level in the organization. For the easiest decisions, first draft language that changes the person who will have decision-making authority. In some cases, large decisions may need to be disaggregated. Next, ask each participant in the group to complete the following sentence on the five-by-eight card provided: “When I think about delegating this decision, I worry that . . .” Post those cards on the wall, go on a long break, and let the group mill around the comments posted on the wall. Last, when the group reconvenes, sort and rank the worries and begin to attack them. ([Location 1048](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=1048)) - How can you prepare your mid-level managers to shift from holding a “position of privilege” to one of “accountability, responsibility, and work”? What procedure or process can you change with one word that will give your mid-level managers more decision-making authority? When thinking about delegating control, what do you worry about? What do you as a proponent of the leader-leader approach need to delegate to show you are willing to walk the talk? ([Location 1085](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=1085)) - How do you respond when people in your workplace don’t want to change from the way things have always been done? What are some of the costs associated with doing things differently in your industry? Do we act first, and think later? Or do we think first, and then change our actions? ([Location 1188](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=1188)) - SHORT, EARLY CONVERSATIONS is a mechanism for CONTROL. It is a mechanism for control because the conversations did not consist of me telling them what to do. They were opportunities for the crew to get early feedback on how they were tackling problems. This allowed them to retain control of the solution. These early, quick discussions also provided clarity to the crew about what we wanted to accomplish. Many lasted only thirty seconds, but they saved hours of time. ([Location 1281](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=1281)) - How would you counter any reluctance on the part of your team to have early, quick discussions with you, the boss, to make sure projects are on course? To what degree is trust present in your organization? Is your staff spending time and money creating flawless charts and reports that are, simultaneously, irrelevant? What can you do in your organization to add “a little rudder far from the rocks” to prevent needing “a lot of rudder next to the rocks”? What commonplace facts can you leverage to make information more valuable and accessible to your employees? Have you ever uncovered a “reason why” akin to Sled Dog’s admission that the navigational chart legends depended on whatever color highlighter was at the ready? ([Location 1302](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=1302)) - The key to your team becoming more proactive rests in the language subordinates and superiors use. Here is a short list of “disempowered phrases” that passive followers use: Request permission to . . . I would like to . . . What should I do about . . . Do you think we should . . . Could we . . . ([Location 1378](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=1378)) - Here is a short list of “empowered phrases” that active doers use: I intend to . . . I plan on . . . I will . . . We will . . . ([Location 1383](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=1383)) - What causes us to take control when we should be giving control? Can you recall a recent incident where your subordinate followed your order because he or she thought you had learned secret information “for executives only”? What would be the most challenging obstacle to implementing “I intend to . . .” in your place of business? Could your mid-level managers think through and defend their plan of action for the company’s next big project? ([Location 1415](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=1415)) - You have to create a space for open decision by the entire team, even if that space is only a few minutes, or a few seconds, long. This is harder than in the leader-follower approach because it requires you to anticipate decisions and alert your team to the need for an upcoming one. ([Location 1507](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=1507)) - How deeply is the top-down, leader-follower structure ingrained in how your business operates? Do you recognize situations in which you need to resist the urge to provide solutions? When problems occur, do you immediately think you just need to manage everything more carefully? What can you do at your next meeting with senior staff to create a space for open decision making by the entire team? ([Location 1524](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=1524)) - Don’t preach and hope for ownership; implement mechanisms that actually give ownership. Eliminating the tickler did that for us. Eliminating top-down monitoring systems will do it for you. I’m not talking about eliminating data collection and measuring processes that simply report conditions without judgment. Those are important as they “make the invisible visible.” What you want to avoid are the systems whereby senior personnel are determining what junior personnel should be doing. ([Location 1588](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=1588)) - Are you underutilizing the ideas, creativity, and passion of your mid-level managers who want to be responsible for their department’s work product? Can you turn over your counterpart to Santa Fe’s tickler to department heads and rid yourself of meetings in the process? How many top-down monitoring systems are in play within your organization? How can you eliminate them? ([Location 1602](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=1602)) - Do you ever walk around your facility listening solely to what is being communicated through informal language? How comfortable are people in your organization with talking about their hunches and their gut feelings? How can you create an environment in which men and women freely express their uncertainties and fears as well as their innovative ideas and hopes? Are you willing to let your staff see that your lack of certainty is strength and certainty is arrogance? To what degree does trust factor in the above? ([Location 1702](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=1702)) - How do you use outside groups, the public, social media comments, and government audits to improve your organization? What is the cost of being open about problems in your organization and what are the benefits? How can you leverage the knowledge of those inspectors to make your team smarter? How can you improve your team’s cooperation with those inspectors? How can you “use” the inspectors to help your organization? ([Location 1774](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=1774)) - Take deliberate action. We learn (everywhere, all the time). Don’t brief, certify. Continually and consistently repeat the message. Specify goals, not methods. ([Location 1785](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=1785)) - “take deliberate action” as our mechanism. This meant that prior to any action, the operator paused and vocalized and gestured toward what he was about to do, and only after taking a deliberate pause would he execute the action. ([Location 1846](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=1846)) - Many people talk about teamwork but don’t develop mechanisms to actually implement it. Taking deliberate action is certainly one. ([Location 1901](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=1901)) - How do you react when an employee admits to doing something on autopilot, without deliberately thinking about the action or its consequences? Do you think that by implementing a system of taking deliberate action you can eliminate errors in your company, or within certain departments in your company? Will employees in your workplace revert to acting hastily and automatically in a real-life situation? How effectively do you learn from mistakes? ([Location 1909](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=1909)) - However, as your ability to make decisions increases, then you need intimate technical knowledge on which to base those decisions. ([Location 1938](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=1938)) - Training implies passivity; it is done to us. We are trained; we attend training. Learning is active; it is something we do. ([Location 1966](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=1966)) - The purpose of training is to increase technical competence. The result of increased technical competence is the ability to delegate increased decision making to the employees. Increased decision making among your employees will naturally result in greater engagement, motivation, and initiative. ([Location 1998](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=1998)) - Are you aware of which areas in your business are marred by mistakes because the lower-level employees don’t have enough technical competence to make good decisions? How could you implement a “we learn” policy among your junior and senior staff? Would you consider writing a creed for your organization modeled after the one we wrote for Santa Fe? Are people eager to go to training? ([Location 2024](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=2024)) - It’s easy to just nod and say “ready” without full intellectual engagement. ([Location 2085](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=2085)) - Certifications shift the onus of preparation onto the participants. ([Location 2098](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=2098)) - DON’T BRIEF, CERTIFY is a mechanism for COMPETENCE. ([Location 2108](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=2108)) - How do you shift responsibility for performance from the briefer to the participants? How much preparation do people do prior to an event or operation? When was the last time you had a briefing on a project? Did listeners tune out the procedures? What would it take to start certifying that your project teams know what the goals are and how they are to contribute to them? Are you ready to assume more responsibility within the leader-leader model to identify what near-term events will be accomplished and the role each team member will fulfill? ([Location 2122](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=2122)) - Are any of your employees on the brink of going AWOL because they’re overworked and underappreciated? When is it right for the leader to overturn protocol in the effort to rescue a single stressed-out subordinate? What messages do you need to keep repeating in your business to make sure your management team doesn’t take care of themselves first, to the neglect of their teams? ([Location 2263](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=2263)) - Specify Goals, Not Methods ([Location 2318](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=2318)) - mechanism of describing what you see is an extension of thinking out loud. ([Location 2332](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=2332)) - SPECIFYING GOALS, NOT METHODS is a mechanism for COMPETENCE. ([Location 2367](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=2367)) - Have your processes become the master rather than the servant? How can you ensure adherence to procedure while at the same time ensuring that accomplishing the objective remains foremost in everyone’s mind? Have you reviewed your operations manual lately to replace general terminology with clear, concise, specific directions? Are your staff complying with procedures to the neglect of accomplishing the company’s overall objectives? ([Location 2378](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=2378)) - Achieve excellence, don’t just avoid errors (this was introduced in chapter 7). Build trust and take care of your people. Use your legacy for inspiration. Use guiding principles for decision criteria. Use immediate recognition to reinforce desired behaviors. Begin with the end in mind. Encourage a questioning attitude over blind obedience. ([Location 2391](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=2391)) - BUILDING TRUST AND TAKING CARE OF YOUR PEOPLE is a mechanism for CLARITY. ([Location 2526](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=2526)) - What would you and your team like to accomplish? How can you as a leader help your people accomplish it? Are you doing everything you can to make tools available to your employees to achieve both professional and personal goals? Are you unintentionally protecting people from the consequences of their own behavior? ([Location 2535](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=2535)) - USE YOUR LEGACY FOR INSPIRATION is a mechanism for CLARITY. ([Location 2594](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=2594)) - What is the legacy of your organization? How does that legacy shed light on your organization’s purpose? What kind of actions can you take to bring this legacy alive for individuals in your organization? ([Location 2606](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=2606)) - Innovation Innovation means looking at new ways of doing the same thing. ([Location 2636](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=2636)) - We make decisions based on technical reasons, not hope. ([Location 2640](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=2640)) - Courage means we choose to do the right thing, even if it may be uncomfortable. ([Location 2642](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=2642)) - Commitment means we are present when we come to work. ([Location 2644](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=2644)) - Continuous improvement is how we get better. ([Location 2646](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=2646)) - Integrity means we tell the truth to each other and to ourselves. It means we have a grounded base of reality and see things as they are, not as we want them to be. ([Location 2648](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=2648)) - We encourage those below us to take action and support them if they make mistakes. We employ stewardship delegation, explaining what we want accomplished and allow flexibility in how it is accomplished. ([Location 2651](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=2651)) - We work as a team, not undercutting each other. The chain of command is obligated to implement mechanisms that encourage and reward teamwork. We back each other up in a positive way. ([Location 2654](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=2654)) - We exercise participative openness: freedom to speak one’s mind. Additionally, we exercise reflective openness, which leads to looking inward. We challenge our own thinking. We avoid the trap of listening to refute. ([Location 2656](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=2656)) - Timeliness means we do things on time: start work on time, qualify on time, are ready to start evolutions and drills on time, and get to rendezvous points on time. ([Location 2658](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=2658)) - USE GUIDING PRINCIPLES FOR DECISION CRITERIA is a mechanism for CLARITY. ([Location 2675](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=2675)) - How can you simplify your guiding principles so that everyone in your organization understands them? How will you communicate your principles to others? Are your guiding principles referenced in evaluations and performance awards? Are your guiding principles useful to employees as decision-making criteria? Do your guiding principles serve as decision-making criteria for your people? Do you know your own guiding principles? Do others know them? ([Location 2679](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=2679)) - Do you have a recognition and rewards system in place that allows you to immediately applaud top performers? How can you create scoring systems that immediately reward employees for the behaviors you want? Have you seen evidence of “gamification” in your workplace? Perhaps it’s worth reading one of Gabe Zichermann’s blog posts and discussing it with your management team. ([Location 2735](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=2735)) - Here are some things you can do to “begin with the end in mind”: Hand out this chapter as reading material. Also consider Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, chapter 2, “Begin with the End in Mind.” Discuss the concepts and idea of “Begin with the end in mind.” With your leadership team, develop longer-term organizational goals for three to five years out. Go through the evaluations and look for statements that express achievement. In every case, ask “How would we know?” and ensure that you have measuring systems in place. Then have employees write their own evaluations one year, two years, or three years hence. The goals in the employees’ evaluations should cascade down from the organization’s goals; they needn’t necessarily be identical but they should be appropriate at an individual level. Have conversations with employees to make their desired achievements indisputable (How would I know?) and measurable. ([Location 2802](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=2802)) - For how far in the future are you optimizing your organization? Are you mentoring solely to instruct or also to learn? Will you know if you’ve accomplished your organizational and personal goals? Are you measuring the things you need to be? Have you assigned a team to write up the company’s goals three to five years out? What will it take to redesign your management team’s schedule so you can mentor one another? How can you reward staff members who attain their measurable goals? ([Location 2822](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=2822)) - ENCOURAGE A QUESTIONING ATTITUDE OVER BLIND OBEDIENCE is a mechanism for CLARITY. ([Location 2910](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=2910)) - How do we create resilient organizations where errors are stopped as opposed to propagating through the system? Will your people follow an order that isn’t correct? Do you want obedience or effectiveness? Have you built a culture that embraces a questioning attitude? ([Location 2912](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=2912)) - Control Find the genetic code for control and rewrite it. Act your way to new thinking. Short, early conversations make efficient work. Use “I intend to . . .” to turn passive followers into active leaders. Resist the urge to provide solutions. Eliminate top-down monitoring systems. Think out loud (both superiors and subordinates). Embrace the inspectors. ([Location 3020](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=3020)) - Competence Take deliberate action. We learn (everywhere, all the time). Don’t brief, certify. Continually and consistently repeat the message. Specify goals, not methods. ([Location 3026](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=3026)) - Clarity Achieve excellence, don’t just avoid errors. Build trust and take care of your people. Use your legacy for inspiration. Use guiding principles for decision criteria. Use immediate recognition to reinforce desired behaviors. Begin with the end in mind. Encourage a questioning attitude over blind obedience. ([Location 3030](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=3030)) - Are you ready to take the first steps toward leader-leader? Are you ready to take the first steps toward an empowered and engaged workforce? Are you ready to embrace the changes that will unleash the intellectual and creative power of the people you work with? Do you have the stamina for long-term thinking? ([Location 3044](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=3044)) - Empowerment is a necessary step because we’ve been accustomed to disempowerment. Empowerment is needed to undo all those top-down, do-what-you’re-told, be-a-team-player messages that result from our leader-follower model. But empowerment isn’t enough in a couple of ways. ([Location 3112](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=3112)) - empowerment by itself is not a complete leadership structure. Empowerment does not work without the attributes of competence and clarity. ([Location 3114](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=3114)) - empowerment still results from and is a manifestation of a top-down structure. At its core is the belief that the leader “empowers” the followers, that the leader has the power and ability to empower the followers. ([Location 3115](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=3115)) - Are you limiting your leadership to empowerment? What programs have you instituted to supplement control with competence and clarity? Have you divested yourself of the attitude that you, as a corporate leader, will empower your staff? ([Location 3125](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AFPVP0Y&location=3125))