This posting on shared values and tradition within the military was very
insightful and spoke to me. I could identify many personal situations
where what Mr. Hobler wrote has been true to my experiences. Thanks so
much for writing.
A couple of comments:
1. Solomon Associates, the leading firm benchmarking the Process
Industries, has recently been promoting their "Shared Values Process"
based on the work of Scott LeBow, which fits very much with what you
wrote, and also my own understanding of the foundation of learning
organizations. The traditions accepted, and the values behind the
traditions often are not noticed or even articulated, as you mention, and
are as invisible as other key assumptions that build our mental models and
frame our decisions.
Recognizing this, we in our group have been working very hard to
understand this issue, and to try to create at least a local example of
how building shared values can energize and unite us. I think this is
part of building shared vision, because our values color and shape our
visions.
2. A problem for both the military and for business is that often we
cannot see the coral reef. A lot has been written in system dynamics
literature about the confounding impact of dynamic complexity and the
inability of managers to cope with this, and the tendency to misunderstand
system feedback loops or time delays. In the example given on the
submarine, the actions were appropriate and immediate. The ability of the
junior officer to learn from the senior officer was there, and trust and
control could be restored once the error was corrected. But in many
business examples (and some military I am sure) the time delays between
action and consequence are long (many years), leading to much more
difficulty in passing on lessons learned or even comprehending cause and
effect. This is where system dynamics models can both be a help--both in
visualizing the reef coming up, and in capturing the learning for the
organization in a permanent way. Creating and using system models, and in
many cases creating a microworld or simulator to teach the learning in a
kinesthetic way, seem to me to be essential to being able to succeed
today.
However, there are many cases when the boss could just do what was stated,
and avoid the coral reef. I have also observed where this has not
happened, even when there was knowledge, due to political considerations.
The desire to gain promotion and advance has been a powerful drug that
dulls people's values, and sometimes causes the ship to hit the reef.
I'll close with a quote I like by Douglas Mac Arthur, who wrote about the
five necessities for military success. We have used this as an example
within the plant I work at as a lesson for us from the military.
Five Necessities for Military Success
General Douglas Mac Arthur
1. Morale
The soldier must know what the mission is all about, and how he fits
into the mission.
2. Strength
The corps must be well trained and well equiped.
3. Supply
There must be adequate sources of supply, especially for those at the
end of the line.
4. Intelligence
There must be information about the enemy: "the ability to win is in
direct proportion to our knowledge of the enemy."
5. Communication
-- Paul Monus BP Oil Lima Refinery monuspa@olima.usaref.msnet.bp.com[...quote of prev msg snipped by your host...]