Are you running a cruise ship or a battleship?
Recently, one of our CEO members was talking about the culture of his business. He was trying to figure out why it appeared he couldn’t get his team to get things done. There was always a reason some initiative, commitment, or task went uncompleted. His comment to himself was:
I want a battleship, not a cruise ship! How do I get that?
That made me think whether, as an owner, do you ever want your company to resemble a cruise ship or when is a cruise ship mentality appropriate and nice to have?
I am not entirely sure, but my instinct immediately was I want a battleship. Who doesn’t? Why wouldn’t you? A battleship to me means the company is ready for anything. You have a strategy, a mission. You are out to win, to conquer the competition, to always be prepared for the unknown or the known challenges of the day. It means change and innovation. The mindset is not of defeat but of a positive outlook, one of survival of the fittest mentality.
A cruise ship makes me think of just getting by, status quo, excuses, complacency. But does it have to mean that? Is there a positive scenario for a company to be a cruise ship? I actually don’t think so. With today’s work climate, you have to be on your toes, constantly changing, adapting, and moving forward.
If you are cruising and the team is cruising, a battleship is going to overtake you, pass you by, and probably take you out of commission. I don’t think in today’s world any of us can “cruise” even though we might long for the days where we could have, to just catch our breath. That underscores the need for quality time off for maintenance and repair. Your battleship can’t be in the fight without some downtime to access and regroup. Don’t confuse regrouping as cruising.
But, what does it take to be a battleship organization that can change and adapts quickly and effectively?
Relationships - Build and maintain them daily. Leaders with strong, trusting, and authentic relationships with their teams know that investing time in building these bonds makes them more effective overall. When employees have a high level of engagement and trust in their leadership, this has a significant, measurable, and transformational impact on the company's performance.
Transparency - Informed people are happy people. Keep communications open and transparent. Make sure everyone from top to bottom has a mutual understanding of your respective drivers, preferences, motivators, and demotivators for high performance at work, and to understand not only what you are trying to achieve as an organization, but also why, and the expectations you can have to support each other in achieving these outcomes.
Evaluate frequently - Create a culture of respectful and healthy evaluation and feedback. The military prides itself on constant evaluation and continuous course correction. When those you lead are already in the habit of evaluating on a constant basis it makes change much easier.
Foster Longevity - yes, we have to move fast in a fast pace world. But real change does not happen overnight. It takes time and dedication to build a battleship and train them to steer the ship. Leaders can make surface changes today that will increase the numbers, but it takes longevity for lasting shifts to take place. You must hang in there through the ups and the downs, the trials, and the triumphs. Once those you lead see the care and dedication, then they will follow you wherever you feel led to go.
So, what do you have? What kind of company do you want?
Being in a peer group gives the downtime that a battleship needs to develop strategy and tactics from your peers to beat the competition, read more about how to join a CEO peer group, or how to become a license partner and start one.
