Former Naval officer L. David Marquet transformed the nuclear-powered submarine Santa Fe by shifting from traditional 'know all-tell all' leadership to empowering his crew. He discusses the importance of embracing continuous improvement, empowering team members, and innovative leadership principles for creating a dynamic and motivated organization.
Empower team members to think and make decisions like leaders to transform organizations and foster a culture of competence and clarity.
Building trust within teams is essential for effective leadership, encouraging learning from mistakes, fostering innovation, and creating an empowered organization.
Deep dives
Empowering Team Members as Leaders
Turn the Ship Around by L. David Marquet challenges the traditional leader-follower model by advocating for empowering each team member to think and make decisions like leaders. This approach aims to transform organizations by fostering a culture of competence and clarity, where individuals can align their decisions with the organization's objectives. Instead of issuing orders, leaders are encouraged to provide intent, promoting an environment where team members think independently and proactively.
Building Trust and Encouraging Innovation
Marquet emphasizes the importance of building trust within teams, highlighting that trust is foundational for effective leadership. By embracing mistakes as learning opportunities and creating a learning environment, team members can openly share failures and lessons learned, fostering innovation and improvement. Furthermore, promoting empowerment, engagement, questioning the status quo, and role modeling behaviors contribute to creating a dynamic and empowered organization in even the most structured environments.
"Marquet was a Naval Academy graduate and an experienced officer when selected for submarine command. Trained to give orders in the traditional model of “know all–tell all” leadership, he faced a new wrinkle when he was shifted to the Santa Fe, a nuclear-powered submarine. Facing the high-stress environment of a sub where there’s little margin for error, he was determined to reverse the trends he found on the Santa Fe: poor morale, poor performance, and the worst retention rate in the fleet."
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