Turn this ship around is the true story of captain L. D. Marquet of a us navy nuclear submarine who allowed his fellow sailors to gain control by championing and thriving for leadership at every level. Under his command and even after he left, the submarine crew received best grades for inspection and battle readyness. He is now proving coaching and resources on intent-based leadership.

“A Sailor checks the ship’s hourly position on the voyage management system in the ship’s bridge.” by Official U.S. Navy Imagery is licensed with CC BY 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

control, competence & clarity

In order to have a healthy motivated team of engaging individuals, they need

• to have control over what they do,
• to have the necessary competence to do the task,
• and clarity on the goal they are trying to achive.

As a leader one must tune the level of control according to your team’s current level the competence and clarity. Otherwise, you end up with chaos or frustration in your team.

• control without competence and clarity leads to chaos
• competence and clarity without control leads to frustration

mechanisms

The book presents a set of mechanisms by which a leader empowers followers to become leaders in their domain of expertise as well as their area of responsibility. Check out the book for an indept list of mechanisms with examples. It is a fun read! Here are a selected few that all work in concert.

mechanisms to foster control

• think out loud
• resist the urge to provide solutions
• use ‘I intend to …’ phrase
• act your way to new thinking

mechanisms to foster competence

• take deliberate action
• don’t brief, certify
• specify goals, not methods
• consistently repeat the message

mechanisms to foster clarity

• achieve excellence - don’t avoid errors
• begin with the end in mind
• encourage questioning attitude

Guiding principles

D. Marquet followed the following set of guiding principles while commanding the submarine.

• Initiative - take action without direction from above - prepare, improve, etc
• Innovation - look at new ways to do things. Know your limits.
• intimate technical knowledge - make decisions on technical knowledge, not hope
• courage - admit mistakes, take the right action even when it is uncomfortable
• commitment - when you come to work you chose to. Be the best you can.
• continuous improvement - improve process, your self and the organization
• integrity - we tell the truth others and ourselves
• empowerment - encourage taking action, support when mistakes happen
• teamwork - back each other up, do not undercut each other
• openness - challenge your own thinking, support freedom to speak one’s mind
• timeliness - we do things on time