The WAY to WOW Shows
Empower All Your Teammates
March 19, 2024
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[0:00] lessons from the military I'm your host Kevin bemel and we're here every day or I'm sorry not every day every Tuesday at 10: a.m. Pacific time and we talk about military Doctrine military history the practices of great military leaders all by way of distilling from them lessons we can use to improve how we run our businesses um whether it's a a for-profit business or a non profit really doesn't make any difference um we we have many of the same management

[0:35] issues and and um other types of uh situations that we need to deal with so what I'm going to talk about today and and if you saw any of the social media posts is is empowering your team so one one of the I I think big misconceptions about the military is that the way is the way Authority works so we've we've talked in past shows about the uh chain of command and and and the the different ranks in the military

[1:12] enlisted um warrant officers commissioned officers and and you know watching movies and such um it always seems like okay well so you know the person with the higher rank gives the orders and that's what happens and and while in General that that in general in Admiral in general um that's how Authority works in the military that's just one type of authority okay the so-called command structure there's another type of

[1:47] authority that gets used daily um that belies this notion of the higher rank um getting to do what whatever wants and this is something called positional Authority okay now in civilian life we don't really see this since there's no rank in civilian life um there there's no need for so-called positional authority to override it so I want I'm going to tell you a little story that I

[2:22] think uh emphasizes positional Authority and then I'm going to show you um um a video and then finish telling the story so um when I was deployed back in um what was it 2011 I believe so I had a young sailor come to talk to me um she had been in the Navy less than a year um she was an E3 which is an Airman she was she was in aviation okay and she was incredibly

[2:57] upset um really to the point of almost crying now I I knew this sailor um we um she intended a a class that I gave on a regular basis and so I was pretty surprised because she was a really well putut together sailor and all that kind of stuff now her job uh was she was a what's called a plane Captain okay and I'm going to show you now a short video of what a plane what being a plane Captain is is all about okay so let's

[3:35] see we're going to go ahead and here it is share screen and share okay so this is a two minute and 18c video and this this explains you what a a plane Captain is does you see here a plane getting this is a fa8 there's there's the LOD so it just took off from a carrier right see the cap talking about

[4:28] PL e

[5:28] e now you're going to see it the jet is with calling recovering it's Landing back on the carrier tail hook catches the resting here okay so G to go ahead and stop

[6:06] sharing okay so you see what a plane Captain does and and look she's she's crawling into the intakes she's you know she was actually feeling the skin of the aircraft um feeling the skin of the aircraft and and and constantly looking over the plane that's what a plane Captain does by the way notice she was wearing what looked like a brown sweatshirt okay we call those jerseys and that's how you identifi that's how you identified her job on the plane so

[6:42] plane captains wear brown jerseys now um the the plane Captain you saw in that video was was a senior plane captain in the sense that she was already a petty officer third class so the typically the first job a sailor gets when when um we're talking she's in this case when she gets to a squadron is planing Captain for an that's the first job an enlisted sailor will get she's probably an Airman when she gets there an E3 and at some point while she's a playing Captain she's probably going to advance

[7:18] to E4 okay so you can see how critical the job is that a plane Captain has now this sailor is probably maybe 18 19 years old maybe 20 years old okay most plane captains are not more than 21 years old and most of them are 19 or 20 okay you will see some 18 that that are that young and they and they were able to move into that role very quickly so they're in charge in in

[7:55] the in the the plane that you saw in the video was in fa18 those sell for $67 million that's what the US Navy paid per plane for those and I guess they're they're buying a few and now the price has gone up to $110 million it's not clear why um but but nonetheless we're talking you know a lot of money now um a lot of squadrons today are equipped with the new um the newer I should say F35 the carrier version that's the Navy version of The Joint Strike Fighter and I did a show about

[8:31] the the um the JSF a few weeks ago if you want to know more about it that plane sells for I have the figure here $12 million okay so you have a 19-year-old sailor E3 in charge of the welfare of of a pilot or maybe two if it's a two-seater there are some fa1 18s that seat two that's worth somewhere in the neighborhood of $67 million if it's a

[9:06] fa18 or $102 million if it's an F35 okay that's a tremendous amount of responsibility but that that only speaks to their basic job so let's I'm going to go back now to the story of of this uh plane Captain who came to see me very upset so seeing how upset she was I I my typical question so what's what what's going on shipmate she said I I I feel terrible why said

[9:42] well I couldn't let Commander such and such take off again no so commander such and such he was Lieutenant Commander in the Squadron and officers in the Navy the the people who fly are officers typically lieutenants Lieutenant commanders and then the the Squadron Co will typically be a commander in ' 05 okay so a lieutenant commander is a fairly senior individual in the um Squadron okay now you may be wondering

[10:17] wait a minute how can an E3 tell a lieutenant commander in 04 that he couldn't fly okay now it wasn't really that he couldn't fly it's that he wasn't allowed to leave the deck in his aircraft that's what she told him he couldn't do she cancelled what's called his hop his flight for that time slot and she had the sole authority to do that that's her positional Authority

[10:54] right there was nothing this 04 officer could do if the E3 said you're not leaving the deck he's not leaving the deck he couldn't say to her I'm a lieutenant commander see see right here my my gold oak leaves I'm overriding your order and I'm leaving the deck would not have happened okay they would not have launched him when that brown shirted plane Captain says you know Nicks that's it okay the next thing that happens is if he's already attached

[11:29] to the Catapult they detach his plane from the Catapult they get the little tractor in there and they pull that plane back away from the Catapult so the next launch can take place that's what happens he can be screaming I order you to let me take off doesn't matter in fact by the way if he were to scream that he'd get in big trouble okay so she she was upset because not only had she had to do that to him that particular particular time not long before she came to see me it had that was the third time in a row

[12:06] that she had had to tell him nope not leaving the deck okay and she thought that he was he had to be furious with her because she had in essence cancelled three of his flights so I asked her why she thought that that was the case I said did Lieutenant Commander such and such or Commander such and such say something to you she said no no he didn't I said did he like give you a dirty look no I said

[12:42] what happened she said well he got out of the plane you know and he went on about his business I said so why do you think he's mad at you and she said well because I wouldn't let him fly so I said well have you spoken to him about this she said oh no no uhuh I said well I know I know Commander such and such I said I doubt he's mad at you as a matter of fact I suspect he's

[13:20] actually pretty thankful for you she said why would he be thankful for me I said because if you didn't think the aircraft was ready to leave the deck that dramatically raised the situation or the possibility that when he left that deck he wasn't going to be coming back on it either he was going to end up in the water or possibly worse said so it's entirely possible that you saved his life and after all

[13:57] that's your job that's why you have the positional Authority so this very Junior sailor in fact the most Junior member of a of a squadron okay Squadron has roughly 150 people in it has the positional authority to determine not only if an airplane is going to leave the carrier or I mean the ground as well although Landing the water is much worse than having to land an emergency on the

[14:33] ground not only that plane but has the pilots wellbeing in her charge too okay and that's that's far more Authority I think than any individual any you know teenager gets in civilian life now why I mean what why would that be the case why can't we give that level of responsibility to young people in the

[15:09] civilian business world now you might say well you know she's in the Navy she's a lot more responsible well I don't know about that I mean I've seen young Sailors do some pretty irresponsible things maybe not while they're on duty um but when they're at Liberty um they'll drink too much they'll you know get involved with the wrong people they'll get tattoos when they got drunk that they regret I mean same kind of

[15:45] stuff that young people in college do okay because they're the same age right so you might say well maybe it you know they they get a lot of training well that's true they they get a lot of training um they have to right in order to know whether that plane is is fit to fly but but can't we give young people in the civilian World a comparable amount of training for the kind of responsibility that we want them to take

[16:20] on I I think the answer is yes right and in today's business world I think one of you know there there's a tendency to to certainly for people of my generation to take this attitude that well young people are irresponsible they just they're just not like we were in our day right I I hear this from you know from gen xers I hear it from even from Millennials putting gen zers down it's like oh you know when I when I was a teenager I was much more respons it's

[16:56] like no think back to what you did when you were a young person if you're an old guy like me okay I don't I don't think teenagers have changed that much yes there are some teenagers who are irresponsible um grossly so and you know they should not be allowed to become a plane captain in the Navy and decide whether a pilot gets to leave the deck of an airplane right I mean deck of an aircraft carrier but given the opportunity and having the responsibility explained

[17:35] to them right and given proper supervision okay um and and you know the plane Captain she's not acting all on her own there's a whole group there's a whole team on the deck who's who's helping her out and supporting her right and she may by the way she the first time she tells a pilot you're not leaving the deck she may not make that on her own she may call her Chief over and say chief here's what I found I'm not sure should I let him go and the chief may look at him go hey you know good catch shipmate no this plane should not leave the deck okay

[18:10] chief we tell him he can't go Chief's gonna go nope shipmate it's your job to tell him you don't go because you're the one who has the authority I don't have any authority to say he can't fly I I'm here I'm here to advise you and train you um but but the authority lies with you right we can do the same thing right how many of our businesses you know generate $67 million a year right let alone one item worth $67 million right so um I I think we we have a a narrow

[18:47] view of what our um most Junior teammates can do and they they really want an opportunity to show off what they can not show off in a in in a negative sense but to show what they can do to to have responsibility to have an opportunity to exercise it in in a in in the right way and so we need to give them that opportunity okay and and give them as as much of it as as as you know they'll

[19:22] they'll take as as much as they'll um learn the skills to exercise and and develop the judgment to use right now I use the example of a plane captain in talking about this but you you see this kind of positional Authority in many other places in the military another place very very common is when you're looking to go go access on to a military facility so there'll be guards there those guards are usually the among the most Junior whatever it is

[19:57] Sailors Marines soldiers Airmen um that that are around and yet if a general drives up and for whatever reason access to that base is restricted and the general let's say the general doesn't have his identification card okay that E3 guard gate gate guard I should say um is required to say to that General sorry sir I can't let you on on

[20:32] base the general does not have the authority to say I'm General such and such let me on okay because how does this young Soldier or whatever know that this is you know General such and such without his ID card and the answer is he does not know and so he is not permitted and he has the positional authority to deny that General access to the base now the general can get on his cell phone and call his Aid and say I forgot my cat

[21:07] card get over here now because the guard won't let me in okay and and the general can sit there scowling if he's a jerk um until his Aid comes with his ID hands it to the guard and the guard scans it and then he lets the General on and salutes him okay hope that General wouldn't be a jerk though he would realize that that Soldier is not denying him access just to be you know um snarky or whatever he's denying him access

[21:42] because he's been given authority to make sure that the base is kept safe by all only allowing people on it who are authorized to enter and if that general made a mistake and didn't bring his ID that's on the general it's not on the soldier guarding that gate or the Marine guarding that gate okay so again now now in that case you know we're not talking about a100 million aircraft okay

[22:17] still what if that General had something extremely important to do at least in the General's mind okay that E3 is saying to to the general sir I'm not you're not permitted on the base without proper identification I've got a meeting with Colonel such and such I understand sir I you're not permitted on the base without proper identification no one is okay if the general were to just

[22:53] break through he'd be subject to arrest and well he should be okay he's supposed to be the model of acting according to duly authorized personnel and so although as a general he's an' 07 eight or nine something like that that E3 is the duly constituted Authority about who gets on the base okay now you know it may be difficult that General Megan really mad and start

[23:29] screaming at that Soldier Marine so he's probably going to call his company Commander um hey lieutenant Captain um I I have General such and such here he doesn't have his ID card I've denied him access and he's pretty upset now if his company Commander is worth his his you know his rank um he should he should immediately go out there and explain to the general that that my my Soldier here is doing his job and he's doing it correctly and that sir with due respect

[24:06] if you didn't bring your ID card that is on you that is not on the soldier Okay because that Captain too as an 03 and responsible for making sure that the Personnel keeping the base secure are doing their job he too has positional authority over that General so the general can't say to the captain either I'm an' 08 you're an' 03 I order you to let me on this base no no sir no sir not gonna happen Okay that's

[24:43] just that's just how it is so I I I I encourage you to think about how can you empower the youngest me I I don't want to call them youngest the most junior members on on your team to have real authority to help accomplish your mission in some way okay not some madeup thing that you know makes them feel good or or some you know title that doesn't mean anything I I think I think Young younger

[25:18] people they see through all that stuff these days I don't think they care if they're an assistant vice president but they have no authority to do anything I think it's the op it's the opposite you you can call them you know Junior first class or whatever um but what they want is the ability to really do something sink their teeth into meeting the mission of the company in some real way okay so um you you can see this so take take a property management company for

[25:53] example that's the business I was in before I joined the Navy right so you know even the most Junior person on your team should have the authority to authorize certain types of um repairs and and and maintenance and such um in order to keep buildings operating properly okay so um if if um you know there's an and if there's an emergency they should be authorized to handle that emergency now that may require some training

[26:29] okay and so you may have to make sure that they they understand the various issues that come into play in exercising their Authority but they should be given the opportunity to do so they shouldn't have to call you let's say you're the owner of the property management company and something happens you know at night and and and they're s they're the sort of you know Point person to be called they should be able to oh you got a broken pipe okay um I'm going to call the plumber and send him over there and have him you know send us the bill right he should just be able he should be able

[27:04] to do that there's no reason why he shouldn't I mean it's obvious if there's a leaky pipe and it's Dam it's going to damage the building we need to get the leak fixed okay so give your people the authority and and look for ways to give them more Authority we're very fond of giving junior members responsibility okay and respons responsibility is is fine they need to they need to have responsibility as well but responsibility without the authority to fulfill their responsibilities is very frustrating I

[27:41] remember my first job I was working for a lawyer and I had tremendous responsibility and I had zero Authority when it came to fulfilling my responsibilities and it was it was really really upsetting sometimes because I'd be called on the carpet for not having fulfilled my responsibility and I would say but you know Mr I don't want to name his name but I I have no authority to to actually do this why don't you come talk to me well you you were busy or you were out

[28:18] of the office well you still have the responsibility what do I do I don't have the authority to F to to take care of what needed to be taken care of in this case it was um you know making sure some things were done for clients um I didn't have the authority to act on my own I had to clear everything with with you know the lawyer but but somehow I was still responsible for these things not getting done right in the face of him being busy and not around and inaccessible this is before

[28:53] the days of cell phones by the way right so there's there's there's no easier way to chase away especially a good employee by telling them you have to make sure these things happen but not giving them the ability to make the decisions in order to make those things happen Authority and responsibility go hand inand okay and so again I I encourage you to think about this think about how can you craft positions throughout out

[29:29] your team at every level appropriate levels of responsibility matched with authority that then can grow okay this this ties into the um the show we did I think it was last week where we talked about having a career a clear um you know path for uh career progression right so so along with that should be clear sense of responsibility matched with authority and that's one of the things that the

[30:04] military is so good at and it's it's I think it's one of the key reasons why veterans are highly sought after um because they do have the ability to carry resp carry Authority comfortably because they're used to doing it from the very beginning of their careers so that's our show for today I hope you found something useful here encourage you to take action in your organizations based on what we talked about today so tomorrow at 10: amm

[30:40] Pacific time is my show people making money my guest is Vanessa Donaldson and she's gonna talk about her her journey if you will from being a mill spouse a military spouse to being a Civ spouse a civilian spouse and and what she's doing to help other who are transitioning from military to civilian life I think you will find her her story quite interesting um and uh I I I I was on Vanessa's show a few weeks ago we had a blast and I I'm I'm looking forward to talking to her tomorrow as

[31:16] well so please do tune in and then next week on Monday at 10: am Pacific is the next uh episode of trust and Estates weekly and then seven days from today is the next episode of business lessons from the military so again thanks for joining me wishing you a wonderful rest of the day and signing off Marie you are my bell all the best folks