David is one of the world’s most in-demand leadership speakers and the bestselling author of Turn the Ship Around. He transformed the demoralized crew into an empowered, motivated fighting force in just a year by replacing the military’s traditional “leader-follower” or command-and-control structure with a “leader-leader” model that gave crew members control over their work. There was an oil leak the crew couldn’t fix at sea and the submarine was running out of oil. Marquet explains how to implement leader-leader and how to use his “deliberate action” and “I intend to” management strategies. As a result, team members see themselves as leaders instead of followers. The Navy’s attitude about leadership – like the approach of the typical boss – can also foster disenchantment. He decided not to replace anyone on the crew, to send the message that he believed Santa Fe had a leadership problem, not an incompetent crew. Scientific – You’ll get facts and figures grounded in scientific research. In the process, Marquet learned two more lessons about decentralizing control. Marquet believed that the department heads should use check-out to report what they’d accomplished and planned to do, thereby taking ownership. It presents a different approach to leadership, using a “leader-leader” model instead of a “leader-follower” … Repeat the message of change until it fully sinks in. For instance, a sailor made a mistake in the torpedo room that deliberate action didn’t prevent—the problem occurred because he didn’t understand the effects of what he was doing and how certain systems worked together. How can you tell? With scant decision-making ability, they have little motivation to contribute their ingenuity and energy. In 1999, Commander L. David Marquet assumed command of the Santa Fe and developed an innovative management system known as “leader-leader.” This transformed the Santa Fe into a top-performing sub. I finally got around to reading it, and I’m glad I did! Turn the Ship Around! In the book Turn the Ship Around, Captain L. David Marquet describes how he took the submarine, the USS Santa Fe, from “worst to first” in the United States fleet by transforming the leadership structure from “leader-follower” to “leader-leader.” Summary The author divides the book into four sections. The executive officer (XO) on Santa Fe required department heads to check out with him before leaving for the day, so he could go over tasks he had given them to do and ensure they weren’t leaving with something major undone. Well structured – You’ll find this to be particularly well organized to support its reception or application. In the months before deployment, there would be an escalating series of inspections, starting in eight days when Commodore Kenny and squadron staff would ride on the submarine and observe. Cdr. The US Navy operates with a traditional “leader-follower” management structure. When he took over as commander, Marquet had six months to get the submarine ready for deployment. The Navy divides people into “leaders and followers,” the traditional leadership model. Supervisors should build trust and motivation by putting the team’s interests first. He started in the middle of the operation with the 12 chiefs, the senior enlisted personnel equivalent to middle managers, who supervised the crew members responsible for day-to-day maintenance and operation of the submarine. Turn The Ship Around! The leader-follower model doesn’t manage cognitive work effectively. Take “deliberate action”: Officers and crew pause before acting and state their intentions to prevent acting without thinking. In a year, he turned the crew into one of the best by replacing the military’s traditional “leader-follower” or command-and-control structure with a “leader-leader” organizational model. Decentralizing control under a leader-leader system only works when the people receiving increased control have the technical competence or knowledge to make decisions. Here is a brief summary of ‘Turn the Ship Around” by David Marquet – a great leadership book which talks about how great leaders follow a “Leader-Leader” structure instead of a “Leader-Follower” structure by giving up control, by being competent by pushing decision making to the lower levels of the organization and providing a clarity of purpose. Turn the Ship Around! is the story of how he did it. Turn the Ship Around! This frustrates both bosses and followers. As a former commanding officer in the US Navy’s submarine fleet, Captain L. David Marquet has firsthand experience with disenchanted employees who perform at substandard levels. In charting the route out to sea, they focused on the procedures for avoiding buoys, shallows, boats, and other hazards rather than on determining a route that would take them to where the enemy submarine was likely to be. Corporations call this command and control. His Naval Academy training reinforced the assumption people are either leaders or followers. There was also a lot of work ahead. He activated breakers on the pier when he knew it was safe to do so, but without getting clearance to do it. This drains energy and initiative and results in mediocre performance. Besides being ineffective, the system meant that the officers were taking responsibility for the work of others below them. Such top-down direction destroys initiative and turns motivated, positive employees into depressed cynics who go through the motions. Here are the mechanisms Santa Fe adopted to ensure clarity: Santa Fe was ready to deploy, two weeks early. They spotted a navy resupply (combat support) ship, USS Rainier , several miles away and decided to ask for oil. No matter your business or position, you can apply Marquet's radical guidelines to turn your own ship around. How have you responded? tells the story of how Captain David Marquet successfully transformed the USS Santa Fe in less than a year, from the worst-performing submarine in its fleet to the best. Leggatt asks the Captain to maroon him on a nearby shore, since he will not return to England to be tried and hung. is the consummate book on leadership for the Information Age--where unleashing knowledge workers' intellectual capital is pivotal in optimizing organizational performance: from maximizing market share and minimizing customer churn to improving margins. Be inspired by your organization’s legacy. The leader-leader model treats employees as valued assets, which increases individual motivation and organizational success. However, the crew ignored the bureaucratic process, which was unheard of, and simply contacted the... Santa Fe’s achievements and innovations under Marquet’s leadership lasted long after his departure and spread throughout the submarine force. Learn constantly: Officers and crew approached every activity as a chance to learn and improve. Your highlights will appear here. Turn the Ship Around Summary is a groundbreaking investigation into modern practices of leadership. With little room for error, a nuclear submarine is an unlikely setting for trying out a new leadership model. Further, typical fire drills were aimed at practicing techniques, which made crews focus on process. Summary Although some of the concepts presented in Turn The Ship Around might seem like common sense, being able to implement those concepts is quite another story. In short, the “leader-leader” model allows staff to take responsibility for problems and solutions rather than waiting to be told what to do. ISBN: 9781591846406. Read full summary of Turn the Ship Around. At getAbstract, we summarize books* that help people understand the world and make it better. In a letter on September 5, Walton says that his crew have demanded that he turn the ship around and head for home as soon as the ice frees them. The watch team had been derailed by responding to contacts and navigational challenges rather than moving to the best tactical position. The exercise was designed to send a message of deterrence to potential U.S. adversaries. Turn the Ship Around! In many organizations, managers and employees are focused on avoiding errors rather than on achieving excellence. Such disengagement costs US firms $300 billion annually. Marquet attended the officers’ next meeting, where they discussed how to turn the system around to ensure that department heads were responsible for the work of their departments. The submarine’s crew decided it would be safest to follow closely behind an empty tanker, which other vessels would avoid. Turn the Ship Around! However, based on several frustrating early experiences, Marquet began questioning this model of leadership and ultimately rejected it. Upon inspection, he found that bolts on a seawater heat exchanger had been improperly installed to save time.... Marquet was assigned to command USS Santa Fe. Get people to act differently and they’ll begin thinking differently (starting with the “three-name rule.”). The crew had to locate and fix the problem, then restart the reactor. To... To reduce errors made by people acting on autopilot, Santa Fe used a procedure called taking “deliberate action.” Before acting, a crew member would pause and verbally state what he intended to do. Also, the improvements that come with the leader-leader model are lasting because they’re not dependent on one leader’s skill or personality. Leaders develop throughout the organization. The key personnel on the 135-person crew were: During Christmas break, Marquet wandered around the ship, where a skeleton watch crew was performing routine duties. Concrete Examples – You’ll get practical advice illustrated with examples of real-world applications or anecdotes. Being on deployment gave Santa Fe’s officers the opportunity to finalize a set of guiding principles. The primary one was a lack of informal verbal communication—for instance, no one gave a heads up that the time to download the radio broadcast was approaching. While many leaders claim they want managers and employees to take ownership of their work, the company’s top-down systems of controlling and monitoring work prevent this. It’s the story of how he commanded a U.S. nuclear submarine and took it from one of the poor performers to one of the top performers in the fleet. Turn the Ship Around! Turn the Ship Around! Jan Hagen is an Associate Professor at ESMT Berlin, Germany. Control: Decentralize decision-making to increase the crew’s initiative and motivation. Taking over the dissatisfied nuclear submarine crew as Captain, Marquet transformed them into one of the most respected teams in the US Navy. So they charted the... During an engineering propulsion drill, Marquet learned how a passive leader-follower mindset on Santa Fe could lead everyone off course. is the consummate book on leadership for the Information Age—where unleashing knowledge workers' intellectual capital is pivotal in optimizing organizational performance: from maximizing market share and minimizing customer churn to improving margins. Victor speaks up in his defense, telling the rebellious crew members they should "be men," for they had set out to be the "benefactors of [their] species." This Turn the Ship Around Summary, based on a book by L. David Marquet is a fantastic start. Leaders in any organization—business, nonprofit, or government—can apply them as well. Demonstrate readiness: Instead of listening to a briefing or review of instructions, crew members demonstrate they’re prepared to proceed. It’s responsible for successes ranging from the construction of the pyramids in ancient Egypt to the factories of the Industrial Revolution. Does your organization follow a top-down, leader-follower model or a leader-leader model? Bold – You’ll find arguments that may break with predominant views. former U.S. Navy Captain David Marquet introduced a bold new approach to leadership, based on his experiences turning around the troubled submarine USS Santa Fe. The engineering drill involved a simulated problem that shut down the submarine’s reactor. Santa Fe was to join a battle group for a torpedo exercise in the Arabian Gulf intended to demonstrate combat effectiveness. But it also encapsulated the problem and the attitude pervasive among the crew. Officers would think out loud about concerns. The exercise torpedo scored a hit, which Marquet announced... Marquet and his officers had read and discussed Stephen Covey’s book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, so he was pleased when Covey, who had sought Navy permission to ride a submarine, was assigned to Santa Fe. Along with competence, a leader-leader model that decentralizes control also requires clarity. Intrigued by his compelling story, I linked over to his book, Turn the Ship Around! by L. David Marquet is the story of how a captain turned the U.S. Navy’s worst-performing nuclear submarine crew into one of the best. Pages: 272. View a full … However, he didn’t realize that Santa Fe’sbackup engine differed from those of other submarines in his experience and lacked a speed-up function. They missed deadlines and fell behind schedule. They learned to think and act proactively, determining what needed to be done and the best way to do it, rather than waiting for direction. Marquet was driving the submarine from the... Marquet decided to have a one-hour mentoring session with a key supervisor each day focused on long-term issues and goals. Do the SWOT analysis of the Turn the Ship Around! : A True Story of Turning Followers into Leaders by L. David Marquet. After beginning his career as a junior officer on USS Sunfish, Marquet was assigned as an engineer on USS Will Rogers, a nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine known as a boomer, armed with 16 Poseidon missiles. While observing the torpedo exercise, the inspection team also reviewed Santa Fe’s administrative procedures and found that officers hadn’t responded to several messages and requests from higher authorities. In a year, he turned the crew into one of the best by replacing the military’s traditional “leader-follower” or command-and-control structure with a “leader-leader” organizational model. Author of Turn The Ship Around Consistently and regularly the Top Rated speaker at conferences. Capt. The traditional leader-follower model practiced in the U.S. Navy and most companies and organizations assumes there are two types of people: leaders who make decisions and followers who implement them. One of the best examples of a veteran-penned volume is Turn the Ship Around! It was an insulting comment to a commander (implying that the leadership was incompetent). As the crew got ready to submerge the ship, it seemed to be taking a long time—they were out of practice on submerging rapidly, which was a key combat skill. If crews only have to do what they’re told, they don’t need a deep understanding of how things work—they just follow procedures. But things went badly—the crew made mistakes in maintenance that required redoing work. : How to Create Leadership at Every Level is a leadership book by David Marquet. Marquet discovered that the underlying problem was that Sled Dog and the other quartermasters were being overworked.... At sea again, Santa Fe was heading back to San Diego. The case is based on the personal account of co-author L David Marquet, Captain, US Navy (Ret.) 041614 1. Marquet needed to radically change the way officers and crew operated. getAbstract recommends his hard-earned, applicable lessons to executives, HR managers, entrepreneurs, business students and professors, and anyone at sea. Marquet supervised one of two 60-person crews operating the control room and nuclear reactor. Marquet called a surprise drill and it went poorly. It’s responsible for successes ranging from the construction of the pyramids in ancient Egypt to the factories of the Industrial Revol… While deliberate action reduces errors, it's not enough, by itself, to build competence. Besides pushing authority downward to the chiefs, here are the other mechanisms or methods Marquet used to spread control throughout the organization: Unlock the full book summary of Turn the Ship Around by signing up for Shortform. It promotes the new "leader-leader" philosophy. *getAbstract is summarizing much more than books. A quartermaster is a naval petty officer with responsibility for steering the submarine and charting its course. e Jan.Hagen@esmt.org . When he assumed command, Marquet’s goal was to create a leader-leader structure by pushing control—the authority to decide what to do and how—downward to the officers and crew. Marquet decided to involve the entire crew by instituting a behavior change that he hoped would lead to changed... Read on the go with our iOS and Android App. A photo of the control room crew carrying on instead of paying attention had gone viral the previous year. David Marquet. The department heads decided to actively encourage greater communication and call it “thinking out loud.” When the captain made a decision, he’d go through his thought processes and reasons out loud. Home > Book Summary – Turn the Ship Around! He asked supervisors to identify the end-of-tour awards they were striving for, or write their own personnel evaluation for the next year, indicating what they would accomplish. They identified several possible reasons for the insufficient initiative. parallels the structure of the main book. What are the signs indicating it’s one or the other? In the Arabian Gulf exercise, Santa Fe was assigned to attack another sub, the USS Olympia, which was playing the role of an enemy diesel boat. The leader-follower model promotes rote followership. This inspirational tale is now available as a Soundview Executive Book Summary. He is the former captain of the USS Santa Fe and a highly requested global keynote speaker. While waiting for the final inspection report, he discussed his concerns with department heads. In discussing the torpedo exercise, in which Santa Fe needed to intercept and sink an enemy submarine, Marquet pointed to the chart and said, “We need to be at 0600,” based on where he thought the enemy would be. He went to grab some sleep and when he woke up, he found the ship was several miles off position and headed away from the enemy. Each chapter in the workbook emphasizes a key leadership principle, references specific pages in the original book for the reader to review, then asks a series of questions or (in some cases) proposes an activity, exercise, or “to do” with your organization. Eye opening – You’ll be offered highly surprising insights. Books we rate below 5 won’t be summarized. In Turn the Ship Around! Would you say that your managers and employees have a sense of ownership for their work? That if you want people to think, you need to "give control, create leaders" not "take control, attract followers." The typical leader-follower structure is designed to push information up the chain of command to the people who make the decisions. When Santa Fe arrived in port, the crew needed to hook up four shore power cables so it could shut down its reactor. The book is full of great insights and advice on how to slowly incorporate these leadership concepts into your organization without too much dramatic change all at once. Immediately recognize excellent performance. Marquet’s goal was to create a leader-leader structure by pushing control—the authority to decide what to do and how—downward to the officers and crew. is the consummate book on leadership for the Information Age–where unleashing knowledge workers’ intellectual capital is pivotal in optimizing organizational performance: from maximizing market share and minimizing customer churn to improving margins. Final certification for deployment would happen when they reached San Diego. 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