several years ago when I had the
privilege of assuming command of the US
Navy’s largest aviation squadron it was
in bad shape and getting worse we were
tearing up airplanes and we were hurting
people every day there were incidents
that made us feel like we were getting
by just on luck thinking back on it now
I’m shocked that we weren’t crashing
airplanes I had over 115 airplanes in my
squadron and many of them look like this
we’re clearly in no shape to fly but I
had a couple of dozen others that we
used every day to train the Navy’s
newest fighter pilots to fly the f-18
Super Hornet unfortunately those
airplanes well they looked okay on the
outside they were just about a shape on
the inside as this one can you imagine
getting into an airplane that’s got 5 10
even over 30 different reasons why it
should be grounded and then taking it
flying and doing things like dropping
bombs and dogfighting and trying to land
on an aircraft carrier at sea it seems
like such a silly question to ask yet
all around me every day I had hundreds
of smart talented and capable people who
are making those sort of bad decisions
but it wasn’t their fault and it wasn’t
the airplanes our problem was our
culture somehow our familiar culture of
a high degree of individual
accountability extreme levels of
professional and technical knowledge the
ability to balance competing priorities
while still managing risks all of that
had gotten so far out of whack changing
culture and a large and complex
organization is hard no matter in the
absolute best of cases but imagine now
people who are unfamiliar with the
changes that we’re talking about there’s
uncertainty about the path ahead
oftentimes they’d rather just put their
heads down hope for the best and do
the circumstances that they that they
see themselves in today and think about
all the leaders you’ve known who’ve
talked about the change that they’re
gonna bring the improvements that are
gonna come how things are gonna be
better yet it’s almost as soon as their
plans are rolled out it seems like
they’re falling apart so as we think
about making change in an organization
it’s no wonder that so many times we try
to change the culture of our teams and
we fail so we could talk about all the
reasons why failure upon failure was
allowed to pile up in that squadron but
the real learning comes from thinking
about how we were able to successfully
transform the culture and that very
broken organization in spite of all of
the challenges that we faced in spite of
all the expectations that we would fail
the transformation was remarkable
injuries became rare our incident rates
plummeted our productivity skyrocketed
goals I had set and expected to meet in
24 months we achieved in less than nine
it was a remarkable turnaround now just
for a moment here I should make sure
that you understand the culture that I’m
talking about isn’t what maybe some
might be thinking of you know things
like beanbag chairs and ping pong tables
at work well I’m a big fan of that sort
of thing the culture I’m talking about
defines how an organization works our
culture comes from our values our
beliefs our behaviors and we see it
across our organizations every day one
of the primary roles of leadership is to
define the culture they want in their
teams but if you asked a leader and they
answer it honestly they would probably
admit that as they go about doing their
work every day there’s an element of
fear that goes with them I know that
fear that fear comes from this the doubt
and the uncertainty that you have that
the expectations you’re setting for your
team about whether or not they’ll
actually be able to meet them I had over
1,300 people in my squadron all
talented capable accomplished and yet
every day I feared the decisions that
they were making they knew what the
right decisions were and they knew how
to do those things but our culture
simply wouldn’t let them do the things
that they should be so I had to create a
new culture I had to create a culture
that was healthy and it was robust it
had to be highly reliable so we could
consistently and we could safely execute
our job
the pillars upon which a culture of high
reliability are built include integrity
which means that you can count on people
to do what they say and to do what
they’re expected to do they have the
courage to do what is right and to hold
others and even themselves accountable
formality means that people follow
procedures they follow rules they don’t
tolerate unauthorized shortcuts when
you’re thinking about knowledge it means
that you do you know not only what you
do but why you do it and you’re
constantly learning and incorporating
that learning back into the work that
you’re doing every day when you have
strong team back up your fear just melts
away because you know that there are
dozens perhaps hundreds of people out
there looking for and thinking about
what it is that you haven’t found or
thought about and oh by the way you’re
expecting them to tell you about it when
they find it and so what they do when
they bring you that news even if it’s
bad news you really value it lastly a
questioning attitude means that people
don’t just assume that things are gonna
go okay they’re looking for those
unexpected points of failure they’re
anticipating what could go wrong they
don’t just assume they go out and verify
and when you have a team that’s built on
a foundation like this trust grows like
wildfire so when you define your culture
the words matter the definitions of
those words matter even more what
matters most of all is that those words
and definitions get into the minds of
the people on your team so they guide
the decisions that they’re making every
single day
now I said earlier one of the
fundamental roles of leadership is to
define the culture for the team that
they’re leading the other equally
important role is to ensure that every
member on the team knows what is
expected of them to bring that culture
to life I did this by talking to every
single person in my squadron in
one-on-one meetings in small groups in
large groups and town hall sessions and
welcome aboard briefings even in their
performance reviews I emphasize my
expectations for them to bring our
cultural life but the point I am ffice
eyes above all else was that I expected
them to hold me to the same expectations
I was laying out for them and everybody
else in the squadron and as a leader if
you really want to get accountability
going then enable and empower every
person on your team to hold you
accountable when you have an entire team
that’s holding each other accountable
including the senior leaders then change
can happen very very quickly and in this
culture of high reliability where people
are empowered they know what’s expected
of them and they’re holding each other
accountable remarkable things can happen
like the day I was walking across my
hangar heading out to the flight line
and I saw a sailor he had just graduated
from high school and had been in my
squadron for less than two weeks but a
couple of days prior I’d been talking to
him about my expectations for him and
our culture I waved and then as I
stepped onto the flight line he yelled
sir stop you can’t go out there without
your helmet and your goggles
imagine the youngest most junior person
in the organization telling the most
senior person that he was making us
mistake in that one instant when he
intervened in my mistake he demonstrated
all five of the pillars of our culture
now that’s a simple story but the point
is that started happening all across the
organization I went from being an
individual who was trying to change the
behaviors and habits of 1,300 other
to having hundreds of folks that were
using these Polar’s to change the
behaviors of everybody where they worked
every day now there’s this myth out
there that leadership in the military is
somehow easier because we were a ranked
on our collars and we can just tell
people what to do that couldn’t be
further from the truth the essence of
great leadership varies not one bit from
the military to corporate to commercial
to private to government organizations
what I know for sure is that people on a
team they want to be lead they want to
know that what they’re doing is
meaningful and that they’re contributing
in a way that adds value to the team
they want to have expectations set for
them and they want to be able to achieve
them what they want is a leader who can
lead without fear when you lead without
fear you empower your team to do the
sort of things that they’re asking to do
every single day so we started
accomplishing that sort of that sort of
outcome on a day-in and day-out basis I
set expectations for every one of the
members of my team that they could stop
any sort of activity that they felt was
unsafe and pretty soon instead of having
a supervisor on every single job I
started having people no matter what
they were working on they became their
own supervisor they took an attitude
that they could solve their problems I
empowered them to make decisions on the
best interest of the squadron and on
behalf of myself and I also accept the
expectation that if any of them saw
something that is it shouldn’t be they
had to put a stop to it
in our old culture nobody would speak up
there was no reason to do so in our new
culture
I gave recognition and awards to people
who took the chance to say hey there’s
something wrong and pretty soon it
started to spread and
for just a short period of time we put
these airplanes back together and we
started doing this sort of awesome
flying you see here but more importantly
we put a team back together we put a
team that was built upon a healthy and
just on the foundation of a healthy and
strong culture in a culture of high
reliability one thing is absolutely sure
people feel empowered and they feel
equipped and they feel capable of making
the sort of decisions that are expected
of them every day as I think about those
sailors that I led and the challenges
that we met I have a question that I
would ask of you in the teams that
you’re a part of do you think that based
upon the stated values of your
organization that people can make the
decisions the organization is expecting
of them and further do you believe that
there’s enough substance in the
definitions of their vision that people
would be able to know how to use it to
guide their behaviors and the work that
they’re doing every day
if you’ve laid out your culture
if you’ve defined it if you’ve
communicated it and then lastly if
you’ve given people the necessary
knowledge and ability to act then you
can be sure that you can lead without
fear as I think about all the challenges
that we came through what I absolutely
want to leave you with is that it’s not
easy here’s going to be challenges
people are going to have to make
decisions they’re gonna have to make
decisions that they’re not sure that
they should be but you want them to fall
back on the culture that you built in
the organization you want them to know
that they have to make those decisions
and they have to guide their behaviors
nonetheless and if you’re leading a team
that’s built on a foundation with a
culture like that then I can assure you
as a leader you have absolutely nothing
to fear thank you
you
privilege of assuming command of the US
Navy’s largest aviation squadron it was
in bad shape and getting worse we were
tearing up airplanes and we were hurting
people every day there were incidents
that made us feel like we were getting
by just on luck thinking back on it now
I’m shocked that we weren’t crashing
airplanes I had over 115 airplanes in my
squadron and many of them look like this
we’re clearly in no shape to fly but I
had a couple of dozen others that we
used every day to train the Navy’s
newest fighter pilots to fly the f-18
Super Hornet unfortunately those
airplanes well they looked okay on the
outside they were just about a shape on
the inside as this one can you imagine
getting into an airplane that’s got 5 10
even over 30 different reasons why it
should be grounded and then taking it
flying and doing things like dropping
bombs and dogfighting and trying to land
on an aircraft carrier at sea it seems
like such a silly question to ask yet
all around me every day I had hundreds
of smart talented and capable people who
are making those sort of bad decisions
but it wasn’t their fault and it wasn’t
the airplanes our problem was our
culture somehow our familiar culture of
a high degree of individual
accountability extreme levels of
professional and technical knowledge the
ability to balance competing priorities
while still managing risks all of that
had gotten so far out of whack changing
culture and a large and complex
organization is hard no matter in the
absolute best of cases but imagine now
people who are unfamiliar with the
changes that we’re talking about there’s
uncertainty about the path ahead
oftentimes they’d rather just put their
heads down hope for the best and do
the circumstances that they that they
see themselves in today and think about
all the leaders you’ve known who’ve
talked about the change that they’re
gonna bring the improvements that are
gonna come how things are gonna be
better yet it’s almost as soon as their
plans are rolled out it seems like
they’re falling apart so as we think
about making change in an organization
it’s no wonder that so many times we try
to change the culture of our teams and
we fail so we could talk about all the
reasons why failure upon failure was
allowed to pile up in that squadron but
the real learning comes from thinking
about how we were able to successfully
transform the culture and that very
broken organization in spite of all of
the challenges that we faced in spite of
all the expectations that we would fail
the transformation was remarkable
injuries became rare our incident rates
plummeted our productivity skyrocketed
goals I had set and expected to meet in
24 months we achieved in less than nine
it was a remarkable turnaround now just
for a moment here I should make sure
that you understand the culture that I’m
talking about isn’t what maybe some
might be thinking of you know things
like beanbag chairs and ping pong tables
at work well I’m a big fan of that sort
of thing the culture I’m talking about
defines how an organization works our
culture comes from our values our
beliefs our behaviors and we see it
across our organizations every day one
of the primary roles of leadership is to
define the culture they want in their
teams but if you asked a leader and they
answer it honestly they would probably
admit that as they go about doing their
work every day there’s an element of
fear that goes with them I know that
fear that fear comes from this the doubt
and the uncertainty that you have that
the expectations you’re setting for your
team about whether or not they’ll
actually be able to meet them I had over
1,300 people in my squadron all
talented capable accomplished and yet
every day I feared the decisions that
they were making they knew what the
right decisions were and they knew how
to do those things but our culture
simply wouldn’t let them do the things
that they should be so I had to create a
new culture I had to create a culture
that was healthy and it was robust it
had to be highly reliable so we could
consistently and we could safely execute
our job
the pillars upon which a culture of high
reliability are built include integrity
which means that you can count on people
to do what they say and to do what
they’re expected to do they have the
courage to do what is right and to hold
others and even themselves accountable
formality means that people follow
procedures they follow rules they don’t
tolerate unauthorized shortcuts when
you’re thinking about knowledge it means
that you do you know not only what you
do but why you do it and you’re
constantly learning and incorporating
that learning back into the work that
you’re doing every day when you have
strong team back up your fear just melts
away because you know that there are
dozens perhaps hundreds of people out
there looking for and thinking about
what it is that you haven’t found or
thought about and oh by the way you’re
expecting them to tell you about it when
they find it and so what they do when
they bring you that news even if it’s
bad news you really value it lastly a
questioning attitude means that people
don’t just assume that things are gonna
go okay they’re looking for those
unexpected points of failure they’re
anticipating what could go wrong they
don’t just assume they go out and verify
and when you have a team that’s built on
a foundation like this trust grows like
wildfire so when you define your culture
the words matter the definitions of
those words matter even more what
matters most of all is that those words
and definitions get into the minds of
the people on your team so they guide
the decisions that they’re making every
single day
now I said earlier one of the
fundamental roles of leadership is to
define the culture for the team that
they’re leading the other equally
important role is to ensure that every
member on the team knows what is
expected of them to bring that culture
to life I did this by talking to every
single person in my squadron in
one-on-one meetings in small groups in
large groups and town hall sessions and
welcome aboard briefings even in their
performance reviews I emphasize my
expectations for them to bring our
cultural life but the point I am ffice
eyes above all else was that I expected
them to hold me to the same expectations
I was laying out for them and everybody
else in the squadron and as a leader if
you really want to get accountability
going then enable and empower every
person on your team to hold you
accountable when you have an entire team
that’s holding each other accountable
including the senior leaders then change
can happen very very quickly and in this
culture of high reliability where people
are empowered they know what’s expected
of them and they’re holding each other
accountable remarkable things can happen
like the day I was walking across my
hangar heading out to the flight line
and I saw a sailor he had just graduated
from high school and had been in my
squadron for less than two weeks but a
couple of days prior I’d been talking to
him about my expectations for him and
our culture I waved and then as I
stepped onto the flight line he yelled
sir stop you can’t go out there without
your helmet and your goggles
imagine the youngest most junior person
in the organization telling the most
senior person that he was making us
mistake in that one instant when he
intervened in my mistake he demonstrated
all five of the pillars of our culture
now that’s a simple story but the point
is that started happening all across the
organization I went from being an
individual who was trying to change the
behaviors and habits of 1,300 other
to having hundreds of folks that were
using these Polar’s to change the
behaviors of everybody where they worked
every day now there’s this myth out
there that leadership in the military is
somehow easier because we were a ranked
on our collars and we can just tell
people what to do that couldn’t be
further from the truth the essence of
great leadership varies not one bit from
the military to corporate to commercial
to private to government organizations
what I know for sure is that people on a
team they want to be lead they want to
know that what they’re doing is
meaningful and that they’re contributing
in a way that adds value to the team
they want to have expectations set for
them and they want to be able to achieve
them what they want is a leader who can
lead without fear when you lead without
fear you empower your team to do the
sort of things that they’re asking to do
every single day so we started
accomplishing that sort of that sort of
outcome on a day-in and day-out basis I
set expectations for every one of the
members of my team that they could stop
any sort of activity that they felt was
unsafe and pretty soon instead of having
a supervisor on every single job I
started having people no matter what
they were working on they became their
own supervisor they took an attitude
that they could solve their problems I
empowered them to make decisions on the
best interest of the squadron and on
behalf of myself and I also accept the
expectation that if any of them saw
something that is it shouldn’t be they
had to put a stop to it
in our old culture nobody would speak up
there was no reason to do so in our new
culture
I gave recognition and awards to people
who took the chance to say hey there’s
something wrong and pretty soon it
started to spread and
for just a short period of time we put
these airplanes back together and we
started doing this sort of awesome
flying you see here but more importantly
we put a team back together we put a
team that was built upon a healthy and
just on the foundation of a healthy and
strong culture in a culture of high
reliability one thing is absolutely sure
people feel empowered and they feel
equipped and they feel capable of making
the sort of decisions that are expected
of them every day as I think about those
sailors that I led and the challenges
that we met I have a question that I
would ask of you in the teams that
you’re a part of do you think that based
upon the stated values of your
organization that people can make the
decisions the organization is expecting
of them and further do you believe that
there’s enough substance in the
definitions of their vision that people
would be able to know how to use it to
guide their behaviors and the work that
they’re doing every day
if you’ve laid out your culture
if you’ve defined it if you’ve
communicated it and then lastly if
you’ve given people the necessary
knowledge and ability to act then you
can be sure that you can lead without
fear as I think about all the challenges
that we came through what I absolutely
want to leave you with is that it’s not
easy here’s going to be challenges
people are going to have to make
decisions they’re gonna have to make
decisions that they’re not sure that
they should be but you want them to fall
back on the culture that you built in
the organization you want them to know
that they have to make those decisions
and they have to guide their behaviors
nonetheless and if you’re leading a team
that’s built on a foundation with a
culture like that then I can assure you
as a leader you have absolutely nothing
to fear thank you
you
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