Posted on Dec 1, 2023
Lessons from the U.S. Navy on Building a Culture of Learning
352
3
1
2
2
0
Five years ago, U.S. Navy leaders faced a massive strategic challenge: to get more of its fighter aircraft ready for takeoff.
The F/A-18 strike fighter is one of the U.S. military’s most important aviation assets, but during the 2010s, it faced a consistent problem: Too many of them were unavailable due to maintenance needs or other reasons. By 2018 almost half of the F/A-18s in operational squadrons were “down” at any time. In financial terms, that represented billions of dollars of assets sitting in hangars around the world. In military terms, it meant that many F/A-18 squadrons were not fully mission ready.
In 2018, Secretary of Defense Mattis directed the Navy to increase the number of ready F/A-18s from 260 to 341 jets within one year, citing a clear mission-driven requirement. Many military leaders didn’t think that improvement was possible. Yet by bringing a renewed focus on organizational learning and embracing different behaviors, problem-solving tools, and collaboration approaches, the Navy not only achieved that goal but exceeded it — and sustained the gains.
The F/A-18 strike fighter is one of the U.S. military’s most important aviation assets, but during the 2010s, it faced a consistent problem: Too many of them were unavailable due to maintenance needs or other reasons. By 2018 almost half of the F/A-18s in operational squadrons were “down” at any time. In financial terms, that represented billions of dollars of assets sitting in hangars around the world. In military terms, it meant that many F/A-18 squadrons were not fully mission ready.
In 2018, Secretary of Defense Mattis directed the Navy to increase the number of ready F/A-18s from 260 to 341 jets within one year, citing a clear mission-driven requirement. Many military leaders didn’t think that improvement was possible. Yet by bringing a renewed focus on organizational learning and embracing different behaviors, problem-solving tools, and collaboration approaches, the Navy not only achieved that goal but exceeded it — and sustained the gains.
Lessons from the U.S. Navy on Building a Culture of Learning
Posted from hbr.orgPosted in these groups: 
Flying
Flying
Edited 6 mo ago
Posted 6 mo ago
Responses: 1
1
1
0
PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."Lead, don’t manage.
Broad performance improvement and behavior changes must be inspired and led, not managed. Navy leaders devoted significant effort to the transformation and set a consistent tone emphasizing learning through collaborative problem-solving rather than assigning blame.
Regular operating reviews were essential forums to foster this mindset. These reviews were designed for leaders to hold each other accountable in stride, using key tools such as driver tree analysis and predictive models. The discussion in these forums centered on learning and barrier removal, not blame. Leaders routinely asked five key questions: Where did we predict we would be now? Where are we actually? What did we learn from any gap between the two? What are the most consequential barriers to meeting the goal (and how do we know)? Who owns the decision rights on them? Over time, these conversations became psychologically safe as leaders kept the focus on collaborative problem-solving – what are the biggest barriers we face today, how do we know, and how do we solve them?
The Navy also learned that as gap-closure plans are refined, senior leaders must simplify and streamline activity. The tendency in many change initiatives is for everything new to be additive, overwhelming people and confusing priorities. Instead, leaders must reprioritize effort based on what has been learned, allocating effort to the most consequential and reducing or eliminating lower-value activities. The overall transformation, which the Navy called “Get Real, Get Better,” isn’t about creating a new task for leaders — it’s about delivering their work more effectively and unleashing the power of their teams with recurring, focused barrier removal.
. . .
The Navy’s original goal was to increase the number of mission-ready F/A-18s from 260 to 341 within a year. Contrary to almost all expectations, that goal was achieved and has been sustained. When new mission-driven analysis recently increased the target to 360 ready jets, the naval aviation team quickly achieved and sustained this performance.
The Navy continues to build on this momentum, implementing the Get Real, Get Better standards and learning culture across the entire Navy. Many private and public sector organizations face a similarly urgent strategic challenge and the same imperative to advance their learning culture in order to achieve their full potential. The Navy experience offers a proven path and structure to generate this powerful learning culture."
..."Lead, don’t manage.
Broad performance improvement and behavior changes must be inspired and led, not managed. Navy leaders devoted significant effort to the transformation and set a consistent tone emphasizing learning through collaborative problem-solving rather than assigning blame.
Regular operating reviews were essential forums to foster this mindset. These reviews were designed for leaders to hold each other accountable in stride, using key tools such as driver tree analysis and predictive models. The discussion in these forums centered on learning and barrier removal, not blame. Leaders routinely asked five key questions: Where did we predict we would be now? Where are we actually? What did we learn from any gap between the two? What are the most consequential barriers to meeting the goal (and how do we know)? Who owns the decision rights on them? Over time, these conversations became psychologically safe as leaders kept the focus on collaborative problem-solving – what are the biggest barriers we face today, how do we know, and how do we solve them?
The Navy also learned that as gap-closure plans are refined, senior leaders must simplify and streamline activity. The tendency in many change initiatives is for everything new to be additive, overwhelming people and confusing priorities. Instead, leaders must reprioritize effort based on what has been learned, allocating effort to the most consequential and reducing or eliminating lower-value activities. The overall transformation, which the Navy called “Get Real, Get Better,” isn’t about creating a new task for leaders — it’s about delivering their work more effectively and unleashing the power of their teams with recurring, focused barrier removal.
. . .
The Navy’s original goal was to increase the number of mission-ready F/A-18s from 260 to 341 within a year. Contrary to almost all expectations, that goal was achieved and has been sustained. When new mission-driven analysis recently increased the target to 360 ready jets, the naval aviation team quickly achieved and sustained this performance.
The Navy continues to build on this momentum, implementing the Get Real, Get Better standards and learning culture across the entire Navy. Many private and public sector organizations face a similarly urgent strategic challenge and the same imperative to advance their learning culture in order to achieve their full potential. The Navy experience offers a proven path and structure to generate this powerful learning culture."
(1)
(0)
Read This Next
Continue with Facebook 
Continue with Google