When I was building my organization, I had a lot of young people working for me who had tremendous potential but were not yet seasoned.
Occasionally, some would come to me with a tale of woe, such as
- how tough the market is, or
- how difficult the project is, or
- how rough things are going
…and would I please
- amend their financial plan, or
- allow them to renege on their goals, or
- somehow make things easier for them by lowering the bar.
While I am always happy to be a sounding board, and my full resources of advice and counsel are always there in my role as mentor, I have never been comfortable lowering the performance expectation bar.
Our mortgage holders have a decided preference for cash over tales of woe, our vendors are more interested in timely payment than in stories about how tough the market, and our customers expect us to deliver the quality housing we promise no matter how rough things are.
One day I found this quote from legendary football coach Lou Holtz: “Don’t tell me how rocky the sea is, just bring the darn ship in.”
I like the logic of it. Once you have embarked on a journey, you really have no choice but to complete it. You’ve got to bring your ship into harbor. Drowning is the only other option and not a very popular one.
Ranting and railing about weather or any other factor you can’t control is a waste of energy. Just deal with it and get on getting on.
I bought a paperweight embossed with “Don’t tell me how rocky the sea is, just bring the darn ship in.” When anyone started to go beyond seeking advice and began asking me to move the goal posts closer together or give them 5 downs, I’d start playing with the paperweight. People got the idea pretty fast.
Most of them turned out to be better sailors than they ever thought they could be, once they realized there was no other option.
I AGREE WITH THE PREMISE OF YOUR ARGUMENT,
BUT SOME TIMES THE SAILOR NEEDS THAT EXTRA PUSH
FROM THE CHIEF EVEN IF ITS JUST AN EAR TO LISTEN
AND THE SAILOR WILL LEAVE THE CAPATINS OFFICE
AND BRING IN THE SHIP.
Priceless point and perfect timing. …speaking of ships and rough seas…. and drifts.
good point re motivation effect!
As a 14 year veteran of the Navy (8 of which as a ship driver), I will say that we do not bring the ship into port in rough seas. It’s simply too dangerous. It’s not that the Navy is risk averse. Rather, it’s just good and prudent seamanship. In fact, we will often get underway from port and head out to sea if rough weather is approaching.
While I understand the point you’re making, I think the message lacks continuity when compared to the ‘Three Steps into the Fog’ post. On one hand it seems as if you’re saying it’s ok to not know where you’re going (the goal) so long as you make some movement forward (even if it’s only perceived) to some arbitrary point in time and space, and then adjust along the way and hope you end up where you want. With this post, the message I get is that goals and the paths one takes to achieve those goals can not be adjusted based on the surrounding environmentals (rocks, rough seas, etc).
Forgive me, but I don’t see the logical reasoning behind that kind of rationale. If a wall is in your way, don’t try to move the wall. That would be an exercise in futility. Instead, walk around it but understand that doing so may mean a departure from the expected outcome in terms of time and resources (gas, money, personnel, etc). You may be able to go over the wall depending on the size, but again, this will likely have an impact on the outcome, even if everything after goes as planned.
I don’t think of it in terms of moving the yard stick or the goal posts. I think of it in terms of what’s working and what’s not and adjust from there.
On several occassions as Officer of the Deck, I’ve had the “pleasure” of getting a ship underway from port in the fog with zero visability. This is not something to be done lightly nor with only a vague idea of where you want to end up. The course(s) we take are precicesly measured, and all along the way we continually compare our actual postion with what we want and then make any necessary adjustments. Maybe this is a little too rigid for doing things, but it’s hightly effective.
Steve!
Any metaphor, any analogy breaks down when carried too far!
As a 14 yr veteran of the Navy you are seasoned and experienced. You will note that the first line of the blog refers to working with young, inexperienced TMs.
The point of the blog was that the job has to get done, the mission must be accomplished, the customer must be taken care of, the roof must be fixed etc