passivity of staff

lack of initiative

waiting for others

department head's paralysis without the presence of their manager

This assumes the person doing he "acting" has the new "mindset" already (!!)We have numerous examples of "acting out" Scrum, leading to cargo-cult implementations.

"we say the Chiefs run the Navy. Is that really the case?"

Have an honest conversation about what the "chiefs" running the ship would mean

"When I think of delegating a decision, I worry about...."

He's describing the characteristics of an "altruistic leader" (Level 3 and above.) Sounds like it's a pre-requisite for establishing leader-leader structures.

We have lots of examples of this not happening in our organizations. Perhaps the difference is that all the other mechanisms also have to be present (?) How much of the effects described here are the result of the military environment, where the leader-follower structure is heavily enforced?

"Request permission" is disempowering

"I intent to" is empowering

"What do you think I am thinking about your intention?"

eventually, officers would outline their complete thought process and rationale for what they were about to do

The goal was for officers to give me a sufficiently complete report so that all I had to do was to give a simple approval

This caused them to think at the next higher level

take time to let others react to the situation as well

this requires to anticipate decisions and alert your team about the need to make one

How many times do issues that require decisions come up in short notice? If this is happening a lot, you have a reactive organization locked in a downward spiral

"we will keep track of you and your work, and monitor your performance": we will enforce (somehow) the performance of your job

this erodes a more powerful message: you are responsible for your job

don't preach and hope for ownership: instead implement mechanisms that actually give ownership

you want to avoid mechanisms where senior staff are determining what junior staff should be doing

I heard what the officers were thinking, making it easier for me to stay out and let them execute their plans

When the Captain thinks out loud, it imparts context and experience to the subordinates, as well as modeling that lack of certainty is strength and certainty is arrogance.

we would utilize the inspectors to disseminate our ideas throughout the squadron, to learn from others, and to document the issues of the ship

We viewed inspectors as advocates to share our good practices with, and as source of information and solutions for our problems.

Prior to any action, the operator would pause and vocalize and gesture towards what they were about to do

Only after taking a deliberate pause, they would execute the action. The intent was to eliminate the "automatic" mistakes

It also allows adjacent operators to step in and correct mistaken actions before they were taken

If all you do is to follow orders, then you don't really need to understand your craft

Training is passive

Learning is active, is what you do

The role of training is to increase technical competence, leading to increase delegation, resulting in more engagement, motivation and initiative

instead of looking at tasks as just a chore, look at it as the opportunity to learn more about the associated piece of equipment, the procedure, or if nothing else, about how to delegate or accomplish tasks.

Are people coming to be "briefed" or are they ready to present their portion of the event?

Make sure the team knows the meeting is a decision meeting about whether they are ready to perform the procedure

It puts more work on management than leader-follower does, because management needs not only to identify what near-term events will be accomplished, but also the role each member of the team will be fulfilling.

It's a mechanism that enforces intellectual engagement at every level

old habits die hard

it was difficult for them to create a picture of what they were trying to accomplish

taking care extends beyond their work life

taking care does not mean protecting them from the consequences of their actions; that's the path to irresponsibility

taking care means giving them every available tool and advantage to achieve their aims in life

If I were a crew member and faced with deciding between two different courses of action, which principles would provide me with the right criteria to make a decision?

guiding principles need to accurately represent the real organization, not the imagined one

Look at your structures for awards: do they pitch some employees against others? that structure will result in competition at every level

establish "man-vs-nature" rather than "man-vs-man" awards

Identify where excellence is created in your organization

Then, figure out what decisions the people the people responsible for the interfaces need to make

Finally, understand what it would take to get those employees to make those decisions

Do you have the stamina for long-term thinking?

we're recognizing the genious, energy, and creativity in all people, and allowing those talents to emerge

we realize that we don't have the power to use them, only to prevent them from coming out