I’m currently in the second year of LeadNY, a leadership development program for those in the agriculture and food sectors of New York. We recently completed a session in Washington DC that ended with a visit to Gettysburg, PA. In Gettysburg we had the opportunity to spend the day not only learning about the history of that battle but being led through a leadership workshop led by several folks from “Diamond6 Leadership and Strategy”. Diamond6 was founded by retired U.S. Army Colonel Dr. Jeffrey McCausland, and we were led through the workshop by Dennis Volpe from the Leadership Research Institute and Tom Vosler, a Licensed Battlefield Guide and retired U.S. Army Colonel. The leaders of this workshop are all very experienced and I found it to be one of the most interesting days we’ve had in the program to date. I wasn’t expecting to be able to take away so much from an event that occurred 161 years ago in the U.S. Civil War. However, as they stated during the workshop, a crisis brings out both the best and worst in leaders and we can still learn from them today.
I won’t get into many of the details of the battle, as I won’t do it justice compared to Tom Vosler, but I hoped to capture some of my leadership take-homes from the day. We started out by being asked to consider the following four things in each exercise we went through: time, resources, risk, and space. These should be considered in any decisions being made.
Mission. The first take-home for me was how important it is to have a clear mission and vision. If the overall objective has been clearly communicated across the institution/farm/company etc., then there is no question of what the task at hand is. As a result, there is little room for interpretation and people can work within the priorities and expectations that have been set to accomplish the task at hand. They have something they are working toward. Added onto this is knowing what is at risk. Certainly, with the example of Gettysburg a battle, life and the fate of a country were at risk. However, this is likely not the case in everyday life, but is something to consider. In your own work do you and your team have a clear mission? Have you set your expectations and outlined the priorities your team should work with?
Communication. Clear, concise, compelling, and complete. How do you promote communication across your team? It is important to keep in mind that communication is not one directional. Information should be communicated up, down, and across the hierarchy. Some issues to be aware of- Is there room for interpretation in your request? Is there any information asymmetry? Maybe there are certain people that hold information to themselves and hinder the common goal. Whereas, if that information were to be shared, it could help the common collective. How do you encourage more input from those around you and make people feel heard? A large component of communication is listening. Are people being heard? You will likely get more buy in from across the team if their input and concerns have been heard.
Trust. Trust is the glue that makes everything happen. Do you have buy-in from across your team? Trust will be likely gained when both mission and communication are implemented well but it needs to be the foundation in which every team should be built. Have you trained your replacements and taken on that mentorship role to facilitate someone to take the lead if needed? Being able to have communicated the mission and mentored others to be able to continue that goal, even if the intended people are taken out of action.
Change. What is the ability of you and your team to adapt to change? The example given at the battlefield was the evolution of weapons they were using. The soldiers were using rifles during the battle but were still using military tactics from when muskets were used. This led to a high number of casualties because the rifles were more accurate, but soldiers were ordered to line up in formations that were shoulder to shoulder in open ground. Technology innovations are great but are we adjusting our tactics to effectively use them and adjust our strategy in response to changes?
Hopefully some of these topics are things that you have found important for your organization and that you find ways to promote them. If not, now would be a great opportunity to work on them!
— Sarah Morrison