In his book, It's Your Ship, Captain Michael Abrashoff recalls how he dealth with one of his first disciplinary cases aboard the USS Benfold. "A young sailor had stayed out late the night before we were to sail. He had forgotten to set his alarm, and we left without him. That’s a serious offense, leaving a ship shorthanded in what might be a crisis—and it is obviously embarrassing to the captain. "At the time, the young man could have gone either way, could have become either a good sailor or a chronic misfit. In the end, I took a big chance on him. My trust was a calculated risk that I hoped would pay off. "First we had to handle the offense. We called him at his home in San Diego and told him to report to the commodore, who had him flown out to the ship on a helicopter. I wanted to show the crew that, unlike many other COs, I wasn’t going to let such cases fester for months before acting. So the minute the copter touched down, we announced his arrival on the public-address system and told him to report for discipline. The rest of the crew noticed. "He was very up front and honest. He told me that he had stayed out too late, overslept, and was sorry. He took full responsibility for his actions. Personal accountability is a declining character trait in the United States today, so I took notice when he made no effort to shift the blame. I asked him how he thought I should penalize him. He recited the maximum penalty a captain can impose, fully expecting to be hit with it. I gave him about half of that, including thirty days’ restriction to the ship, thirty days’ extra duties, reduced rank, and half pay for two months. "I also made him write a letter of apology to his shipmates, acknowledging that he had let them down—that if the ship had needed him in an emergency or in combat, he would not have been there to be counted on. Recognizing that had a big impact on him. To this day, he still feels bad—not that he missed the ship’s departure, but that he let down his shipmates. The letter appeared in the Plan of the Day, a daily newsletter that everyone reads." Ultimately, Captain Abrashoff's practice of combining fairness and firmness paid off, and helped the young sailor to grow into a valuable member of the ship's crew. "He trained himself to operate a very demanding watch station, monitoring the computer systems that handle secure transmission of enemy data between ships. This is one of the toughest positions for enlisted sailors in the combat information center. He became the best at it, not only on the ship, but in the whole battle group. I was so impressed by his performance that I reinstated him to his third-class petty officer rank." (Abrashoff, It's Your Ship, ch. 8)
In his book, It's Your Ship, Captain Michael Abrashoff of the US Navy recounts how he dealt with a serious altercation between members of his crew. "Some of my sailors were returning on a Navy bus from an evening of drinking on the base. Two black sailors were singing a loud rap song that included the word 'nigger.' Two white sailors yelled at them to shut up because, according to the white sailors and others on the bus, they were annoying everyone. They didn’t stop. When they all got off the bus, hot words were exchanged all the way back to the ship, with one of the white sailors using the N-word. Then a big fight broke out in quarters, during which one sailor threatened to kill another. Eventually, thirteen people were involved in trying to break up the brawl. The two black and one white sailor were charged with assault." Dealing with this episode would challenge Captain Abrashoff to follow the golden mean in exercising the virtue of punishment. "The question, of course, is whether a captain can use this power in ways that win the crew’s respect and trust. Neither tyrants nor pushovers have a chance. The best skippers blend fairness and strength, and they learn from life, not just from a book. "In this case, the two black sailors had been in trouble before. Earlier in my career, multiple disciplinary proceedings would have been enough reason to throw them out of the Navy immediately. This time, however, I asked Master Chief Scheeler what he could tell me about these sailors to help me understand why they acted this way. "I learned that they were both from the inner city of Detroit. One had a father in prison, and the other had never met his father. Both their mothers were on welfare. That didn’t excuse them, but it put events in another light—and gave me an opportunity. I thought of my own childhood, growing up with two caring parents in a small town in Pennsylvania. It seemed clear that neither of these young men had a positive male role model, and I started to wonder if I could handle this situation in a way that offered them a different experience. This would depend on their behavior and what I learned and did in the initial hearing. "Thus far, everyone involved had been lying. The white sailors didn’t want to admit that one of them had muttered the word 'nigger' in the confrontation, and the black sailors didn’t want to admit they had used the word, too, as part of their rap song. I needed the truth, so I sweated it out of them—literally. "The hearing was in a room much too small for the sixty witnesses who were crammed into it. I turned off the air-conditioning and started asking questions. It got hot, and then hotter. Three hours later, one sailor cracked and told me exactly what had happened. Once the dam broke, everyone turned honest. I asked the two black sailors if they wanted to stay in the Navy. (Abrashoff, It's Your Ship, ch. 11)
"'Yes, definitely,' each of them answered. "'Okay,' I said. 'I’m going to throw the book at you, only if you want to stay. One more violation, though, gets you an e-ticket out of the Navy.' The white sailor was a punk, and I startled the entire room by calling him such. All by himself, he could have avoided this whole sorry drama, and I wanted everyone on that ship to know that I knew that. I wanted them to know that I expect people to walk away if they can. I sentenced them and the white sailor who had been involved in the fight to the maximum punishment, short of dishonorable discharge: I restricted all three to the ship for forty-five days, gave them forty-five days of extra duty, and put them on half pay for two months. "The whole process was draining. Nothing in my training had ever prepared me for this. I was in totally uncharted territory and I knew that this one case could make or break my tour as CO. I walked back up to my cabin, completely exhausted and drenched in sweat. I felt we had just successfully navigated through a minefield. Much like many black people in civilian society, the black members of the crew felt they were being discriminated against. Unbeknownst to me at the time, this would be the last disciplinary proceeding involving a young black male for the next twenty-seven months, making a dramatic decline in offenses. Did we have a policy that said 'turn a blind eye toward any violations by black males'? Hardly. In fact, we tightened the standards for everyone. "What explains the dramatic decline? Unity and the fact that our values determined how we led. Those young black men on Benfold were also here prior to my arrival. Only now did they have as level a playing field as possible. Instead of restraining people, we strengthened them. And we provided a positive model for all to emulate." (Abrashoff, It's Your Ship, ch. 11)
Carly Fiorina offers an example of the need to stand firm when dispensing just punishment in her book, Tough Choices. "An executive cannot be permitted to do what an employee would be fired for. One of the newest members of my executive council was a talented young executive from Compaq. He had a great future, and I liked his energy, his spirit and his intellect. Asking him to leave was the hardest personnel decision I’ve ever made. He was having a relationship with another HP executive; while this in itself wasn’t a business problem, the abuse of his position and the company’s resources to further this relationship was. When a whistle-blower brought these executives’ actions to the attention of Bob Wayman, we had no choice. I informed the Board of their behavior, and they were unanimous that both individuals would have to leave. It was the only time I was tearful in the boardroom. It was the right decision, but I was deeply distressed nonetheless. "Michael’s behavior had become counterproductive. He set the wrong example for the organization. I had truly hoped for a different outcome, but over time it became clear to the entire Board that a change had to be made. Once again, the decision was unanimous and painful." (Fiorina, Tough Choices, ch. 27)
Case Study
ReplyDeleteIn his book, It's Your Ship, Captain Michael Abrashoff recalls how he dealth with one of his first disciplinary cases aboard the USS Benfold. "A young sailor had stayed out late the night before we were to sail. He had forgotten to set his alarm, and we left without him. That’s a serious offense, leaving a ship shorthanded in what might be a crisis—and it is obviously embarrassing to the captain.
"At the time, the young man could have gone either way, could have become either a good sailor or a chronic misfit. In the end, I took a big chance on him. My trust was a calculated risk that I hoped would pay off.
"First we had to handle the offense. We called him at his home in San Diego and told him to report to the commodore, who had him flown out to the ship on a helicopter. I wanted to show the crew that, unlike many other COs, I wasn’t going to let such cases fester for months before acting. So the minute the copter touched down, we announced his arrival on the public-address system and told him to report for discipline. The rest of the crew noticed.
"He was very up front and honest. He told me that he had stayed out too late, overslept, and was sorry. He took full responsibility for his actions. Personal accountability is a declining character trait in the United States today, so I took notice when he made no effort to shift the blame. I asked him how he thought I should penalize him. He recited the maximum penalty a captain can impose, fully expecting to be hit with it. I gave him about half of that, including thirty days’ restriction to the ship, thirty days’ extra duties, reduced rank, and half pay for two months.
"I also made him write a letter of apology to his shipmates, acknowledging that he had let them down—that if the ship had needed him in an emergency or in combat, he would not have been there to be counted on. Recognizing that had a big impact on him. To this day, he still feels bad—not that he missed the ship’s departure, but that he let down his shipmates. The letter appeared in the Plan of the Day, a daily newsletter that everyone reads."
Ultimately, Captain Abrashoff's practice of combining fairness and firmness paid off, and helped the young sailor to grow into a valuable member of the ship's crew. "He trained himself to operate a very demanding watch station, monitoring the computer systems that handle secure transmission of enemy data between ships. This is one of the toughest positions for enlisted sailors in the combat information center. He became the best at it, not only on the ship, but in the whole battle group. I was so impressed by his performance that I reinstated him to his third-class petty officer rank." (Abrashoff, It's Your Ship, ch. 8)
Case Study (Part 1 of 2)
ReplyDeleteIn his book, It's Your Ship, Captain Michael Abrashoff of the US Navy recounts how he dealt with a serious altercation between members of his crew. "Some of my sailors were returning on a Navy bus from an evening of drinking on the base. Two black sailors were singing a loud rap song that included the word 'nigger.' Two white sailors yelled at them to shut up because, according to the white sailors and others on the bus, they were annoying everyone. They didn’t stop. When they all got off the bus, hot words were exchanged all the way back to the ship, with one of the white sailors using the N-word. Then a big fight broke out in quarters, during which one sailor threatened to kill another. Eventually, thirteen people were involved in trying to break up the brawl. The two black and one white sailor were charged with assault."
Dealing with this episode would challenge Captain Abrashoff to follow the golden mean in exercising the virtue of punishment. "The question, of course, is whether a captain can use this power in ways that win the crew’s respect and trust. Neither tyrants nor pushovers have a chance. The best skippers blend fairness and strength, and they learn from life, not just from a book.
"In this case, the two black sailors had been in trouble before. Earlier in my career, multiple disciplinary proceedings would have been enough reason to throw them out of the Navy immediately. This time, however, I asked Master Chief Scheeler what he could tell me about these sailors to help me understand why they acted this way.
"I learned that they were both from the inner city of Detroit. One had a father in prison, and the other had never met his father. Both their mothers were on welfare. That didn’t excuse them, but it put events in another light—and gave me an opportunity. I thought of my own childhood, growing up with two caring parents in a small town in Pennsylvania. It seemed clear that neither of these young men had a positive male role model, and I started to wonder if I could handle this situation in a way that offered them a different experience. This would depend on their behavior and what I learned and did in the initial hearing.
"Thus far, everyone involved had been lying. The white sailors didn’t want to admit that one of them had muttered the word 'nigger' in the confrontation, and the black sailors didn’t want to admit they had used the word, too, as part of their rap song. I needed the truth, so I sweated it out of them—literally.
"The hearing was in a room much too small for the sixty witnesses who were crammed into it. I turned off the air-conditioning and started asking questions. It got hot, and then hotter. Three hours later, one sailor cracked and told me exactly what had happened. Once the dam broke, everyone turned honest. I asked the two black sailors if they wanted to stay in the Navy.
(Abrashoff, It's Your Ship, ch. 11)
Case Study (Part 2 of 2)
ReplyDelete"'Yes, definitely,' each of them answered.
"'Okay,' I said. 'I’m going to throw the book at you, only if you want to stay. One more violation, though, gets you an e-ticket out of the Navy.' The white sailor was a punk, and I startled the entire room by calling him such. All by himself, he could have avoided this whole sorry drama, and I wanted everyone on that ship to know that I knew that. I wanted them to know that I expect people to walk away if they can. I sentenced them and the white sailor who had been involved in the fight to the maximum punishment, short of dishonorable discharge: I restricted all three to the ship for forty-five days, gave them forty-five days of extra duty, and put them on half pay for two months.
"The whole process was draining. Nothing in my training had ever prepared me for this. I was in totally uncharted territory and I knew that this one case could make or break my tour as CO. I walked back up to my cabin, completely exhausted and drenched in sweat. I felt we had just successfully navigated through a minefield. Much like many black people in civilian society, the black members of the crew felt they were being discriminated against. Unbeknownst to me at the time, this would be the last disciplinary proceeding involving a young black male for the next twenty-seven months, making a dramatic decline in offenses. Did we have a policy that said 'turn a blind eye toward any violations by black males'? Hardly. In fact, we tightened the standards for everyone.
"What explains the dramatic decline? Unity and the fact that our values determined how we led. Those young black men on Benfold were also here prior to my arrival. Only now did they have as level a playing field as possible. Instead of restraining people, we strengthened them. And we provided a positive model for all to emulate." (Abrashoff, It's Your Ship, ch. 11)
Carly Fiorina offers an example of the need to stand firm when dispensing just punishment in her book, Tough Choices. "An executive cannot be permitted to do what an employee would be fired for. One of the newest members of my executive council was a talented young executive from Compaq. He had a great future, and I liked his energy, his spirit and his intellect. Asking him to leave was the hardest personnel decision I’ve ever made. He was having a relationship with another HP executive; while this in itself wasn’t a business problem, the abuse of his position and the company’s resources to further this relationship was. When a whistle-blower brought these executives’ actions to the attention of Bob Wayman, we had no choice. I informed the Board of their behavior, and they were unanimous that both individuals would have to leave. It was the only time I was tearful in the boardroom. It was the right decision, but I was deeply distressed nonetheless.
ReplyDelete"Michael’s behavior had become counterproductive. He set the wrong example for the organization. I had truly hoped for a different outcome, but over time it became clear to the entire Board that a change had to be made. Once again, the decision was unanimous and painful." (Fiorina, Tough Choices, ch. 27)