Leadership Insights from Retired Senior Naval Officers
We were extremely fortunate last week to have Brett Dowsing, Scott Brown, and Ivan Ingham, retired senior Naval Officers, share their leadership experiences after distinguished careers in senior roles with the Australian Defence Force. Some of my notes from the discussion that were of particular value, that you may also appreciate:
1. The Essence of Command and Leadership:
The discussion began with an exploration of “command” and its interplay with leadership and management. They highlighted the differences between ‘trained’ and ‘educated’ leadership learnings and the important of experience as well as textbook development frameworks. They emphasised that leadership in the Defence Force demands an extreme level of consistency and structure, given the dire consequences of things coming unstuck, compared to private enterprise. The challenge as it is with any enterprise is enable innovation and progressive thinking while balancing the need for a tried and tested mode of operation.
2. Evolution of Leadership Strategies:
Traditionally ‘rank’, or ‘title’ were the main requirement to command respect and receive committed action from teams. More contemporary and effective leadership styles now prioritises trust, respect, relationships, and emotional intelligence to ensure buy in and action from people within all types of organisations. They discussed the transformation of leadership roles through three tiers from bottom-up task-oriented, to then higher level operational, and then at the most upper level of organisations and Boards, strategic decision-making.
3. Building Resilient Teams:
Scott shared insights from studies within the Navy, identifying key areas that contribute to team resilience. He highlighted the importance of everyone within a team understanding their purpose, or role, and being prepared for challenging situations. Enhanced training regimes, incorporating better health and mental conditioning, and coping mechanisms for stress, were crucial for improving resilience within teams.
4. The Role of Pride and Motivation:
Maintaining high levels of performance requires instilling pride in one’s work. The discussion acknowledged the growing reliance on AI but emphasised that the human touch, care, and concern for output will be the critical differentiating edge in business. Relying on machines and not being personally committed into outcomes won’t deliver a better, more differentiated outcome than your peers.
Brett, then brought the discussion to Culture. How critical it is to strive for a positive and generative culture across an organisation – it is the mechanism by which pride and motivation are consistently achieved and maintained that, in turn, counter the natural tendency of an organisation to drift downwards away from standards (the “normalisation of deviance”, or “slippery slope”).
5. The Four P’s of Leadership:
Ivan shared his belief on crucial steps to ensure effective leadership, known as the four “P’s”:
- Policy: Firstly, have a deep understanding the framework and rules that govern the business environment.
- Process: Then ensure you have a pathway taking into account the rules to generate desired outcomes, including timelines and procedures.
- Prose (Narrative): Ensure there is an effective communication strategy on the direction and strategic intent of decisions. Most importantly that the tone and positioning of this is appropriate to engage it’s audience.
- People: Ensuring demonstrated effort and commitment with people using emotional intelligence and establishing the right relationships to build trust, motivate and achieve goals.
These were amazing insights from Brett, Scott, and Ivan, and we thank them so much for sharing these messages with the team. They will have a long-lasting impact in how we progress as individuals and a collective here at Vantage.
About the Author:
Ben Devenish – Managing Director – Vantage Wealth Management
Ben, commenced work in the financial services industry in 1993 and has held Executive Director, Private Client Adviser, and Responsible Manager (RM) positions since that time. Key responsibilities as Managing Director at Vantage are to manage operational functions to achieve group strategic objectives, stakeholders are engaged to ensure aligned objectives are achieved, and most critically a team-oriented culture is fostered. Read more about Ben here.
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