Posted on May 21, 2016
How do you cope with leaders who don't listen to subordinates?
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How do you get their attention?
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Subordinates
Subordinates
Posted 8 y ago
Responses: 11
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In PEACETIME, I would recommend that the subordinate, while doing 100% of their job, does not do anything extra and allow the one that does not listen to rise or fall on his or her own merits.
In wartime, you keep your men alive and accomplish the mission and then go to the Commander.
In wartime, you keep your men alive and accomplish the mission and then go to the Commander.
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When I was a senior O-6, I did some AD work for a Naval Region while another officer ran base Public Works. He just made O-6. I remembered him as an up and coming O-3. Something happened later to turn him into a raging micro. So one day I put my watch on the table and made a tick mark with my pencil every minute for his 1 1/2 hour long (ugh) staff meeting with Department Heads. He asked what I was up to afterwards and I told him I had some number crunching to do but would see him privately the next day.
I was recording the percentage of time he was listening, collaborating, and unilaterally directing, including shouting. The result was about a 10/5/85 split. He didn't like my "counseling" about it. Good thing he would never make flag and ultimately retired. He felt nothing would be successful unless everyone did it his way, in his particular order, and provide constant feedback on status. In other words, he had zero trust in anybody. So the staff lived down to his level with morale in the toilet and hunker mode the plan of the day for the next 2 years.
Good leaders have this whole thing flipped where you listen more, collaborate enough, and direction is "go with Plan Whatever and make sure whatever else is in the mix". If you have to tell a section head how to do things that are within their duty grade, you need a different person in the job that can do it. I fired a couple of Ops Bosses because they couldn't perform. Bottom line, good things don't happen because you hope it does. Hope isn't a strategy. Encouraging good folk to step up and out gives results beyond your expectation. A different strategy applies to the sandbaggers, but that's another topic.
I was recording the percentage of time he was listening, collaborating, and unilaterally directing, including shouting. The result was about a 10/5/85 split. He didn't like my "counseling" about it. Good thing he would never make flag and ultimately retired. He felt nothing would be successful unless everyone did it his way, in his particular order, and provide constant feedback on status. In other words, he had zero trust in anybody. So the staff lived down to his level with morale in the toilet and hunker mode the plan of the day for the next 2 years.
Good leaders have this whole thing flipped where you listen more, collaborate enough, and direction is "go with Plan Whatever and make sure whatever else is in the mix". If you have to tell a section head how to do things that are within their duty grade, you need a different person in the job that can do it. I fired a couple of Ops Bosses because they couldn't perform. Bottom line, good things don't happen because you hope it does. Hope isn't a strategy. Encouraging good folk to step up and out gives results beyond your expectation. A different strategy applies to the sandbaggers, but that's another topic.
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