Traing Those Who Would Replace You

I am not sure where this idea came from.  I believe I may have picked it up from one of the authors I have mentioned here.  However, throughout the years, it has stuck, and continues to make sense with me; having a sense of reality that eventually you’ll move on and you must Care & Feed those that follow you, your team, and yourself while you’re there.  1LT Frank Lumia thinks of it like this, a “single-point of failure”, meaning, there is only one person in a position and no one is trained or accountable when needed.  None the less, this idea just “clicks” with me in a leadership sense, especially when I ponder what John Maxwell says, “He who thinketh he leadeth and hath no one following him, is only taking a walk.”  (Developing the Leader Within You, p. 1)  And being ever mindful that leadership is not a lone profession, that it involves more than yourself, and that “As a leader, your first and greatest responsibility is to the organization and its highest good” (Developing, p. 193), let’s turn our thoughts to Training Those Who Would Replace You.  

Over these past two years, I have had the opportunity to attend the Chiefs Pinning ceremony at the local Reserve Center.  This is the most wonderful Navy ceremony I have ever attended!  I love Chiefs!  Pride, professionalism, ceremony and emotion have come through each time.  This past September I saw three of the people I have worked for over the years pinned: CTAC Tonya Boser, CTRC Cindy LaBrie, and CTAC Craig Jenneke.  I could have not been prouder of these shipmates!  Each, and each of my teammates before them, has developed over the years to reach this turning point in their careers.  I believe their success has a lot to do with the idea of Training Those Who Would Replace You.  Let’s note what’s said in The Chief Petty Officer’s Pledge: I am charged with a leadership role like no other in the world; I develop junior officers and mold my sailors; These sailors are the seeds of future Chief Petty Officers; My sailors are students and I am the teacher; In the final analysis, I will determine the quality of these sailors; Because they need a leader, I am there for them; I set the example.  Think about it: they PLEDGE this!  This is their CREED; they Care & Feed themselves, their sailors, and their officers all at the same time.  They are awesome leadership-weapons!  They take it upon themselves to ensure they set the course for those that follow them.  What an honor to work for these professionals!

 

First and foremost I believe this thought about Training Those Who Would Replace You has quite a bit to do with what Max DePree talks about in Leadership Jazz when he says that, “Senior leaders are the future”.  He believes they affect organizations by shaping vision, values, strategic thinking and planning.  He continues, “Unconsciously and consciously, senior people leave their marks on an organization’s culture and legacy”.  (p. 209)  In preparing for these leaders, as the Chiefs do, we, as leaders, must “Pave the way for new people or people who are to be promoted”.  (p. 213)

 

The second thought would be to think in terms of what John W. Gardner discusses in On Leadership regarding Leadership Development: Lifelong Growth.  He says, “Leadership development is a process that extends over many years.”  He continues, “Leadership development calls for repeated assessments and repeated opportunities for training … All talent develops through an interplay—sometimes over many years—between native gifts on one hand and opportunities and challenges on the other.”  (p. 171)  In our business, we may not exactly be able to oversee “lifelong growth” due to the part time events we deal with; however, what we can be mindful of is ensuring we take the time to cultivate native gifts and offer those who follow us the freedom to take advantage of the opportunities and challenges afforded us in our roles as leaders.  “But where leadership development is the goal, the most effective arena for growth continues to be the workplace.”  The emphasis here is a quote by Norman Douglass, “There are some things you can’t learn from others.  You have to pass through the fire.” (p. 173)

 

The next thought deals with thinking in terms of what John Maxwell says is the highest calling of leadership: staff development.  I’ll admit that this sounds like a bit of a “selfish-selfless” thought.  What I mean is that is that we must at times think in terms of what’s best for us, and for our team; we must think win-win.  Again, Maxwell: “…the most important leadership lesson I’ve ever learned … Those Closest To The Leader Will Determine The Level of Success For That Leader”.  Now I know what you’re saying, “Grant!  Mr. Care & Feeding of the Troops!  What gives?  Being selfish, are we?”  No, not at all.  I am thinking in terms of the team; now I’m Mr. Teamwork; “…other people can help you do a better job than you can do alone.”  As Maxwell quotes this Chinese proverb, I will state it here to underline my point: “If you are planning for one year, grow rice.  If you are planning for twenty years, grow trees.  If you are planning for centuries, grow men.”  (Developing the Leader Within You, p. 179-180)

 

I’ve pretty much laid the foundation of why this idea is so important.  Finally, I’d like to leave you with the practical application of how.  As a basis, laying foundational values is a very important part in Training Those Who Would Replace You.  Steven Covey in Seven Habits of Highly Effective People talks about a True North, or a compass by which your leadership style can be guided, thus the title of this column.  He says values and principles guide leaders as a foundation from which flows their leadership actions.  The second application is developing a coaching element of your leadership style.  Coaching helps in the day-to-day development and mentoring of followers.  The results can then be seen in personal motivation and action for change, and achievement of overall objectives for the organization.  The third practical application is in giving followers gifts.  Here I mean that in order to be a good servant-leader (we as leaders serve those who follow us) a person must be able to teach and exemplify the following gifts.  Dreaming—sponsoring creativity.  Being able to deal with failure—it’s O.K.  Asking questions—learning; thinking “big picture”—to think of what’s in other people’s worlds, and see it through their eyes.  Teaching the value of “changed thinking”—“Our thoughts determine our destiny.  Our destiny determines our legacy.” (Developing, p. xvii)  We can control our thinking, thus our feelings, actions and life.  And dealing with your Inner Child (another idea from my wife)—you must take care of the child-like nature of your inner being first in order for you to take care of others, “…connecting our Adult thoughts with our instinctual gut feelings, the feelings of our ‘Inner Child’, so that we can live free of conflict within ourselves.” (Inner Bonding, Becoming a Loving Adult To Your Inner Child, p. 4)  And finally, fostering the “teachable spirit”, as John Maxwell puts it.  “Teachability is an attitude, a mind-set that says, ‘No matter how much I know (or think I know), I can learn from this situation.”  He believes this turns adversity into an advantage, and well worth giving as a gift to a follower.  (Thinking For A Change, p. 71)

 

Training Those Who Would Replace You is founded squarely in the Care & Feeding of people who you work for, and for the success of the organizations you lead.  Chief Petty Officers Set the Example for us; they develop, they mold, they plant seeds, they teach.  It just makes good sense to walk together with our Shipmates in whatever we do, to think “win-win” and to plan for the future of all we influence, and to give gifts.  As we talked about before, everything rises and falls on leadership, and, leadership is influence … nothing more; nothing less.  Let’s choose to determine our legacy by taking care of the people who follow us, the people we work for, our organizations, ourselves, and our future.