“Leadership is deliberate: You don’t accidentally have successful teams.”
This was one of the leadership tips retired Lt. Gen. Frank Kearney gave to executives at a recent West Point training. Lt. Gen. Kearney served as deputy commander for the US Special Operations Command, a 62,000 person global enterprise with a $10 billion budget.
In an interview with Business Insider last year, Lt. Gen. Kearney provided six leadership tips he feels business leaders can learn from the US military.
- You’re only as strong as your least experienced team member. “Everyone in the organization is responsible for building and sustaining your brand.”
- You have to know what right looks like for each role in the organization. “Ensuring that people truly fit in the role is one of the most difficult challenges leaders face.”
- You have to talk straight with your people. “You have a responsibility to everyone you bring into the organization…and that means having the courage to give candid feedback.”
- Shared challenges bond team members together. “One of the ways the military builds effective teams is by putting people in extremely challenging training situations together to give them a common shared experience.”
- Effective communication is a three-part process. “Communication in the military happens in three steps: The leader gives orders, the subordinate reflects those orders back, and then the leader clarifies what may have been misunderstood.” This is called “briefback” communication.
- You must preserve your force and their families. “To do your best work, you have to have strength of mind, body, spirit, and family…that’s true for leaders and their teams.”
Lt. Gen. Kearney’s leadership tips are spot on. I encourage everyone to click here to read the full article where Lt. Gen. Kearney provides further detail into why these 6 lessons are essential to effective leadership.
Leadership Tips: Communication “Briefback” Process
I want to focus briefly on point 5: effective communication is a three-part process and the idea behind briefback communication. In order to effectively utilize briefback communication, leaders must speak and listen. Kearney says, “if you listen at all levels of the business, you’ll know what’s being communicated.” And as we all know, most of the errors that happen at work happen because of a breakdown in communication.
While we can all be improving our verbal skills, most of us have more work to do when it comes to listening. That’s why active listening is a key part of our Approachable Leadership model. Without active listening there is no way to achieve understanding. Here are 5 leadership tips to make sure that employees not only feel that you’re listening, but feel that they are being understood.
- Pay attention. Make eye contact. Don’t sit there and think about your response. If you think about anything think about how you will summarize what you are hearing – that will keep you focused on them. Only respond when you have something valuable to say.
- Show the speaker you are listening. Be sure that your nonverbal communication is encouraging. Clarify what you’re hearing. Validate their feelings.
- Provide feedback. Restate what you’ve heard. Reflect on what you’ve heard. And then summarize.
- Don’t judge. Nobody wants to be judged. Do you disagree with something you are hearing? Ask questions to try and understand what you might be missing. People want to feel understood.
- Respond appropriately. Don’t let your feelings get in the way of your understanding or your actions thereafter. If you are tired or angry ask for some time to think things over before you respond. Always question your own understanding before you question someone else.
What do you think about Lt. Gen. Kearney’s advice? Do these military teamwork suggestions apply at work? What kind of listener are you? Do you have any tips and tricks you use to be a better listener that weren’t mentioned here? Let us know!
