The one phrase everyone in the Navy has heard at least once, and probably more times than they can count, is “we’re a family here.” Being part of a division, department, or command is in fact like being surrounded by relatives, because the other old aphorism is true: you can’t pick your family. In the private sector an executive, manager, or leader can hire his or her team. If an employee’s performance isn’t up to standards, the person in charge can fire them and pick someone new. Often, not so for the Navy.
While joining the Navy is obviously a choice, much of what happens after that point is not. Once an enlisted sailor gets there, he or she is assigned to a division to work with the people who already happened to be there. When a junior officer arrives at a command, he or she is similarly assigned to lead a division/department of people who also already happened to be there. With the exception of a few highly specialized commands and billets, members of the Navy pick neither their team, their teammates, nor their bosses. The mission must be executed, regardless of the qualities, abilities, or personalities of the people charged with doing so.
Speaking broadly, in the corporate world, the ability of a team to meet its goals can often be determined by controlling the composition of the team. If someone is failing to meet the standard or simply isn’t meshing well, they can be let go — and a better fit brought in as a replacement. Junior officers, on the other hand, are almost never able to either hire or fire people. Yet they must (and do) accomplish the mission anyway. Junior officers effectively lead in the military despite their lack of managerial control by practicing “fanatical care.”
Fanatical care has two tenets: (1) develop and care for people even at the expense of the mission; and (2) collectively pursue and care about the mission even at the expense of people. While potentially conflicting, these two tenets are critically related: the first is the main line of effort to achieving the second.
In the first case, the ‘fanatical’ aspect comes from the singular focus of care — that is, care without compromise, even if in the short term the mission may suffer. It is zealous, focused, and characterized by a ferocious pursuit of sailor welfare.
In the second tenet, the fanatical aspect refers to the intensity of effort applied to the mission — without compromise, even when in the short term the mission causes adversity to sailors. Fanatical care for the mission is crucial to organizational success, but it cannot be forced. It can only be won. That is, junior officers can demonstrate their own fanatical care of the mission, but to ensure collective, zealous, pursuit of mission success as a team, junior officers must take action to inspire it in those they lead.
Utilizing individual-focused care, junior officers overcome their almost total inability to change the composition of their team.
A lieutenant commander makes the department better at its job by aggressively pursuing individual development. A lieutenant practices empathy to figure out how to convince two ensigns to work together. A lieutenant junior grade fosters a culture of trust to ensure he or she is equipped to react when an airman is accused of misconduct. In each case, junior officers craft individual solutions: extra bridge simulator time, a sit-down airing of grievances, or a thorough investigation (as examples). This type of care-based problem solving is how junior officers do their job —and they do it extremely well.
In the face of a lack of traditional carrots and sticks (e.g. promotions or firings), junior officers are able to successfully lead and transform organizations by forming individual, caring relationships. Senior officers, on the other hand, have a few more carrot/stick tools at their disposal, although they too are limited by the nature of the Navy personnel system.
The fanatical care practiced by junior officers is fundamentally about understanding and being able to apply exceptions. Total adherence to the mission-first mentality does not solve the problems of a division filled with people who did not choose to be there or with each other.
Effective junior officers know when to make an exception, when to apply a specific solution, and do so. Senior officers would benefit from harnessing this model more often. While a major commander cannot be personally involved in the work and life of the hundreds of sailors under his or her command, he or she can apply fanatical care to the skippers who work for her and support their efforts to do the same for their people.
Similarly, senior Navy leadership should keep the model of fanatical care in mind when drafting policies — allowing leaders both the trade and decision space to craft individual-focused solutions. The result will be organizational transformation and mission accomplishment.
Lt. Cmdr. Josh “Minkus” Portzer is an active duty naval flight officer. He commissioned as an ensign in 2010 through the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps at the University of Virginia. Lt. Cmdr. Joelle C. Portzer is the assistant senior defense counsel for Defense Service Office North. She commissioned as an ensign in 2010 through the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps at the University of Virginia.
These opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not reflect the official position of the Department of the Navy or the Department of Defense.
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