Leadership Secrets of the Australian Army: Learn from the best and inspire your team for great results

by Noel Turnbull

He projects empathy, composure and competence, leaving the audience with the implicit conviction that the right person is in charge; that the situation may be dire but there is a plan for dealing with it; that everybody’s needs will be addressed;

Professionalism: The skill and character displayed by leaders at all levels are expressed in the versatility and competence that are the basis for their inherent authority. • Teamwork: The military’s tight teamwork at both micro and macro levels not only builds individual and group engagement but is also an important factor in the adaptability with which units and larger formations organise and run operations. • Ethos: At the core of military leadership culture is an attitude of mind—a way of thinking about oneself and one’s duties, and a commitment to professionalism and service.

Representing (earning trust by being someone the team can believe in); Relating (building self-belief and team spirit through interpersonal leader–follower connections); and Running the team (making the process of working with you intrinsically satisfying as well as productive).

‘Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way’. That is, good leaders, whatever their context, tend to lead in similar ways and in accordance with similar principles, while poor ones are usually prone to a multitude of misguided and careless behaviours.

In a remarkably short time, Major General John Cantwell established himself as a leader the people of Marysville could believe in. He did so by personifying what the locals were looking for in someone who could lead the recovery. He projected both competence and concern for them as individuals and as a community. To cap it all off, he came across as an ordinary bloke: when the locals looked at him, they saw an idealised reflection of themselves.

• Leadership: a process by which a person or a small group pursues a goal by engaging the concerted efforts of willing followers, in conditions of risk or uncertainty. • Leaders: those who are able and willing to initiate and sustain leadership. • Followership: the willingness to follow a leader and contribute to the achievement of shared goals.

‘Values’ denote what matters to an organisation, whereas ‘ethics’ represent what matters to society as a whole.

Because ‘values’ represent the soul of an organisation, they help to ensure consistency of standards regardless of the circumstances.

Iteresting.. VAlues is the ghing that makes everyone do the same thing consistently

These evolutionary factors established a deep preference for identity leadership: for leaders who were not only technically competent but could also build a sense of shared identity and unity—a broader tribalism—that would drive the collaborative spirit that is key to survival and prosperity. We have evolved to prefer leaders who are patently ‘of us, for us, and with us’.

The only way to manage Australians and to get the best out of them is to take them fully into one’s confidence. ‘Here is the job,’ we [officers] would say; ‘when it is done we can go home’. Even though the work was triple, that calculated as a fair thing, and it would be completed ahead of schedule.

One of the study’s most important findings reflects the cultural factors outlined above. Australians prefer a leadership style that ACIS labelled the ‘Captain-Coach’: authoritative but affiliative and egalitarian; focused on the common interest; leading by example; and, ‘most importantly, sharing the pain’.

‘leadership’ as both a widely practised style of behaving and a distinctive way of thinking.

‘You know your local situation much better than I do,’ he told them, ‘so you’re more likely to come up with the right answers.’ Through their participation in this process, employees realised that a different approach would not only involve little more effort but would possibly be more fun and eventually more satisfying. And their very involvement helped to lift engagement and team spirit.

Once the season got going, Colin initiated various activities to make people feel part of ‘Team Blue Cow’. He ran a weekly staff social event in which milestones and personal events such as birthdays were celebrated, and where he presented and discussed weekly progress indicators as well as market-research feedback gathered from skiers. Colin would talk about positive incidents of customer service he had observed during the week (while doing what he called ‘management-by-skiing-around’). And during his daily interactions with the frontline, he would express his appreciation for what his employees were doing, and subtly reiterate the overall strategy in terms of the specific role of that given team. Morale at the resort had never been higher.

Expertise: Knowing their stuff, with knowledge, perspective and experience that ‘made us feel that they are always on top of things’. • Character: Being calm, steady and focused at all times, ‘not set back by setbacks’, and showing that ‘they trusted their teams to deal with whatever the situation threw at them’. • Intentions: Focusing attention on clear goals, and ‘making me feel part of something that really mattered, rather than just doing a job’. • Communication: Communicating their intentions in language that ‘makes sense to those at our level’. • Engagement: Generating trust by being ‘engaging and personal’, ‘open to ideas about improving tasking and processes’, ‘making team members feel that their views are valued’ and ‘bouncing ideas off their NCOs’. • Team management: Spreading the workload by appropriate delegation, so team members could ‘get on with the nitty-gritty while they concentrated on the bigger picture’, particularly in teams

officers and NCOs spoke of the importance of leaders who leave their team in better shape when they eventually move on to another appointment (as one put it, ‘a leader who doesn’t leave a legacy has worked at only half capacity’).

‘I can and I will’

She regards any leadership role in the military as ‘a privileged position that is bestowed on you by your followers’. It’s an ethos that impels her colleague Lieutenant Commander Alpha

‘People who are well trained to do their jobs do not require me to tell them how to do their work once they get started. What they need is clarity about the mission and the objectives, together with any support—material or moral—I can give them to help them perform their part of the task. That was my job as their leader.’

Representing the behaviours, attributes and values that a team expects to see in its leader; • Relating to members in order to make them believe in themselves, both as individuals and as a team; and • Running the team so as to make working with that leader intrinsically rewarding as well as productive.

Representing: The role model Personify what the team stands for and expects to see in its leader Component elements Examples of relevant behaviours Lead by example • Display a sense of professionalism, proficiency, character, integrity and enthusiasm. • Set an example of doing the ‘right thing’ in terms of ethics and in going beyond self-interest for the good of the group. Give direction and meaning • Frame organisational-level goals and issues in terms of what matters to the team. • Set clear short-term objectives that help members see their place in the bigger picture. Relating: The supportive people manager Build self-belief and team spirit Treat members as valued colleagues • Get out and about to talk face-to-face and share team activities. • Coach and counsel members individually and collectively. Develop individual and group identity • Express enthusiasm for the team and its members, and provide special recognition when people do exceptional work. • Talk about ‘we’/‘us’ rather than ‘I’/‘you’, and share the credit for achievement. Running the team: The engaging catalyst Make working with you intrinsically rewarding as well as productive Use team activities to build skills and work engagement • Allocate clear responsibilities for achieving targets, and give people the ‘elbow room’ and the resources they need to get on with it. • Keep the team informed on individual and group progress. Encourage open-mindedness and a spirit of continuous improvement • Encourage differin...

To lead us, a leader must relate to us in ways that make us feel as if our efforts matter. Your willingness as a leader to do this is the best way to demonstrate how much you value your group members and their contribution. Treating them as if their efforts matter will boost their belief in themselves and in their team. Such feelings matter—a lot—in tight situations or in circumstances where people need to dig deep to meet a challenge.

As a set of practices, the 3Rs tap into the full set of human needs. It provides a sense of security of being led by someone with authority and competence; it builds the satisfaction of social connection with the leader, with others in the group and with the larger entity to which that group belongs; it lifts self-confidence and self-esteem as a result of being treated as a respected colleague by a trusted leader; and establishes the self-actualisation and growth that come from doing good work in good company. The performance effects of such an approach are tellingly illustrated in a recent leadership experiment conducted in the Israel Defense Force (IDF). Platoon commanders involved in recruit training were randomly allocated to one of two groups. Those in the ‘experimental’ group were given 3Rs-type leadership instruction; those in the control group received no special preparation. All platoon teams then spent several months training a series of recruit courses in basic soldiering. At the end of each such course, the performance of the various recruit squads was measured by standard tests in weapon handling, speed over an obstacle course, physical fitness, performance in minor tactics and written tests of military knowledge. These showed not only that the platoons trained by those in the experimental group performed better on most of the relevant measures but, equally importantly, that their NCOs had gained in self-confidence and team identification, and were more likely...

For example, a number of studies have shown that 3Rs-type leadership triggers the release of neurochemicals such as oxytocin (the so-called ‘bonding molecule’), serotonin (‘confidence’) and adrenaline (‘energy’).

Regardless of whether we approve of what the gang does, the principles of effective leadership still apply. Leaders earn authority and trust by Representing what the team stands for, Relating to team members in ways that make them feel positive about themselves, and Running the team so as to strengthen both its processes and the positive feelings that result from being in it.

In Chapter 2’s summary of the leadership behaviours that mattered to NCOs, the two themes mentioned most frequently were professionalism (‘knowing their stuff ’, ‘making the right decisions’, ‘focusing attention on things that matter’, ‘communicating their intentions through language that makes sense to those at our level’) and team and people focus (‘rolling up their sleeves and joining in’, ‘spending time coaching and mentoring’).

Representing: The role model Personify what the team stands for and expects to see in its leader Component elements Examples of relevant behaviours Lead by example • Display a sense of professionalism, proficiency, character, integrity and enthusiasm. • Set an example of doing the ‘right thing’ in terms of ethics and in going beyond self-interest for the good of the group. Give direction and meaning • Frame organisational-level goals and issues in terms of what matters to the team. • Set clear short-term objectives that help members see their place in the bigger picture.

‘Even nowadays, I rarely face a problem where I do not explore its nuances and options thoroughly,’ says Earle. He tries ‘to stick to the principle of thoroughly examining the nature of the problem in the first place, before I start exploring options’. It has helped him to detect innovative ‘left field’ solutions on many occasions.

‘You probably think those specialist skills are pretty important,’ King said to his junior officers, ‘and they are. But that means nothing to a soldier. Your soldiers will be looking for the concrete: for the evidence of what you can do that is similar to what they can do.’

the standard you walk by is the standard you accept’).

Patrick Gowans is a former senior officer who pursued a business career after his military service. One of his junior colleagues, Milly Yeo, remembers an incident that, although minor, has stayed with her as a telling example of principled behaviour. It concerned the board that Gowans chaired and to which she was secretary. The external auditor had requested the minutes of one of the meetings in which, coincidentally, the board had been highly critical of that auditor. Given that those remarks were recorded in the minutes, some board members suggested that the offending paragraph should be removed, even though all knew that this would have been illegal. However, when Gowans declared without hesitation that the minutes would remain intact without any editing, the matter was ‘resolved without further discussion’. It was ‘just a little thing’, Millie recalls, but it meant a lot to those who were involved.

Good communication can’t be taken for granted. Wayne Jackson served in the Army for more than two decades and ‘never ceased to be both amused and bemused’ by how easy it was for an instruction given at a higher level to be corrupted by the time it reached the bottom. It was even worse when he went into business. Knowing the importance of clear and reliable communication, Jackson impressed on his subordinate managers the need to get accurate messages to the end of the communication chain, regardless of the time and effort required. He used a technique that military leaders call ‘back briefing’, by which a leader gives an instruction and then requires the recipient to repeat that instruction in his/her own words, thus confirming whether the recipient’s interpretation is consistent with the leader’s intended meaning. During his frequent visits to the operational levels of his business, Jackson would check on the extent to which this was happening by asking the frontline employees to give him their understanding of those messages. During these visits, he also ensured that each team had its own objectives and plan by requiring each local leader to tell him what these were, without reference to notes.

A wise leader takes every communication situation as an opportunity to influence and inform. And those who aspire to lead in the pragmatic, no-nonsense Australian context should be direct and engaging as well as comprehensive.

SMEAC (Situation, Mission, Execution, Administration and Logistics, Command and Communications—explained in Appendix 2

Thus the SMEAC protocol requires a leader to begin by placing the intended task in context, before going on to specifying the team’s mission and how it will be done. This ensures that everyone understands the ‘why’ before they are told the ‘what’.

The way that you communicate can and should ‘show that you are interested, enthusiastic, empathetic and concerned for them’, he

SMEAC will help you learn to speak on your feet, avoid hesitating or waffling, look people in the eyes when you are talking to them, put aside your notes and get away from the lectern.

The second quotation at the head of this chapter supports this empirically. It is from a Canadian study that investigated whether or not the traditional gender differences in leadership styles that had been observed in the private sector—with male managers generally more focused on tasks and females more focused on people—would be mirrored in the military. It found ‘surprisingly’ few discernible differences in gender-related leadership styles within the sample, not because women were leading in more masculine ways but rather the opposite: that is, male officers were leading in ‘more feminine’ (i.e., people-oriented) ways than their civilian counterparts. Those who were interviewed, regardless of gender, agreed that, without ‘knowing your troops’, a leader would be ‘in serious trouble’ in the extreme circumstances characteristic of military activities. Nontheless, all officers were prepared to be highly directive when necessary, with many seeing the emphasis on an inclusive style as an investment in building trust they could draw upon in those rare but critical extreme situations. Good people management doesn’t happen overnight, and it is not achieved with generous benefits, big speeches or splashy occasions, but by consistent attention to many comparatively small things that all add up to something big. Some of the main ways in which military leaders do this are shown in Table 7.1.

don’t send an email when you can make a phone call; and don’t phone when you can talk face-to-face.

Experienced military leaders stress the benefits of a constructive approach to coaching, as opposed to straight-out criticism. ‘Let’s examine what we can both do to help you do better’ usually works better than ‘You are not performing well and you must lift your game’.

Kyel and bobby

It’s important to appreciate the subtle but important difference between being supportive and being friendly. Former officers frequently speak of their application of the FFANF principles (Firm, Fair, Approachable but Not Friendly)

‘but it’s the seemingly little things—whose combined effects are potentially huge—that are going to be the breakthrough.’ She recalls one ship’s captain who was particularly diligent in this regard. He would frequently come onto the PA system and commend the ship’s company for an activity that had just been accomplished. Lima recounts one instance after the ship had provided assistance to a fishing boat that had been in trouble in a very heavy sea. Her captain spoke warmly of a small team of sailors who had played a particularly significant role in this action, but then concluded by stressing that this would not have been possible without the support of the whole ship’s company. He spoke of how this cohesion and skill were the result of both training and working together, a process by which a group of sailors had become a ‘crew’. It wasn’t long, she reports, before the whole ship’s company was feeling a sense of unity: the sense that ‘we can do anything’.

create a sense of ujnity through joint achievement

The best way you can motivate them is to help them feel that they are making a contribution to the best of their abilities.’

If a team member has expertise in fixing things, for example, it is highly likely that he/she will take pleasure in the opportunity to fix things. Moreover, if you have a team member with significant expertise in fixing things and another with a lesser level of expertise, you can often meet the intrinsic needs of both by getting them to work as a mini-team. When the ‘expert’ coaches the ‘novice’, each is likely to gain from the experience. The effect is doubled if you later acknowledge their joint accomplishments in terms of their contribution to the larger group.

His approach was to ensure the lines of authority and accountability were clear and straightforward. People need to know what their job is and what they will be held accountable for, he says, and leaders need to continually

In those early career years he will be particularly encouraged to take every opportunity to learn about leadership. His supervisors will make it clear to their young officers that ‘honest failure’ is acceptable, provided that they learn from the experience. This will encourage him to face challenges that he might otherwise dodge for fear of looking foolish or inadequate, and for which he will be mentored by his various company commanders and platoon sergeants. His skill and confidence will steadily and constructively expand.

Steadily but imperceptibly, his perspective of leadership will shift from a ‘me-as-rule-follower’ (appropriate to a young leader who is a cog in a much larger machine) into ‘me-as-rule-maker’ (appropriate to a unit leader who plays an important role within that machine). If he advances into the high levels of his profession, this will shift to the even broader perspective of ‘me-as-system-builder.’

We instinctively tend to behave in ways that are consistent with our sense of who we are and what we stand for. We seek opportunities to do things that confirm and strengthen our sense of self, and we are often uncomfortable when we are required to ‘act out of character’. By continually reminding us of our duties and obligations as a ‘leader’, a strong sense of identity keeps us focused in situations where physical fatigue or mental distraction would normally impede appropriate performance.

responsibility, integrity, confidence and resilience is when learners are still feeling their way in the world.

Do they have an ‘exploratory’ orientation, whereby they relish challenges as opportunities to learn and be stretched, even if they stumble a little in doing so? Or do they have a risk-averse or ‘protective’ orientation, whereby they see challenges as threats to their sense of competence? Research shows that those who have an exploratory perspective tend to grow and perform better in the long run, with their tendency to seek new challenges