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A colonel at my job shared this video about a submarine commander who just joined a new ship. He didn't have time to learn a whole new vessel, so he switched fr

A colonel at my job shared this video about a submarine commander who just joined a new ship. He didn't have time to learn a whole new vessel, so he switched from giving orders to expressing intents. He found that all the way down to the lowest level, everyone was more aware and invested in what was going on. The tl;dr is, one thinking person can't compete with an entire thinking crew. https://youtube.com/watch?v=HYXH2XUfhfo https://youtube.com/watch?v=HYXH2XUfhfo

lazide 5y ago
That works once everyone is already a cohesive, functioning group. If you can get that culture on a ship going, and keep it going? Yes, that is far far better. What happens if you are handed a group who isn’t already disciplined, knows their jobs well, works together/has the sharp interpersonal bits ground off, etc? The whole orders, strong command authority, etc. thing is because that is the minimum functional level that is shown to work in combat situations, not because it is the maximum possible or the ideal. It provides the tools to deal with a lot of common brokenness in groups. It means ‘easy’ breaking of ties or deadlocks in a well known way, avoids most of the confusing ambiguity about what to do when no one is able to process what is going on or things are changing very rapidly, it provides a scalable and field expedient way to deal with bad actors or sudden unexpected personnel issues while also keeping at least the possibility of clear accountability (chain of command), and it formalizes a set of explicit interdependencies and expectations between those who are giving orders (officers) and those doing most of the dangerous or shitty work (enlisted). it also has negative side effects, and rarely is anyone actually happy with it, but it has generally worked for what it has been required to do and be.

lazide 5y ago

That works once everyone is already a cohesive, functioning group. If you can get that culture on a ship going, and keep it going? Yes, that is far far better. What happens if you are handed a group who isn’t already disciplined, knows their jobs well, works together/has the sharp interpersonal bits ground off, etc? The whole orders, strong command authority, etc. thing is because that is the minimum functional level that is shown to work in combat situations, not because it is the maximum possible or the ideal. It provides the tools to deal with a lot of common brokenness in groups. It means ‘easy’ breaking of ties or deadlocks in a well known way, avoids most of the confusing ambiguity about what to do when no one is able to process what is going on or things are changing very rapidly, it provides a scalable and field expedient way to deal with bad actors or sudden unexpected personnel issues while also keeping at least the possibility of clear accountability (chain of command), and it formalizes a set of explicit interdependencies and expectations between those who are giving orders (officers) and those doing most of the dangerous or shitty work (enlisted). it also has negative side effects, and rarely is anyone actually happy with it, but it has generally worked for what it has been required to do and be.