6 minute read
Load Pad Leadership
by Michael Rutledge
PART 1
A thirty-year military career allowed me to learn from some of our nation’s most intuitive leaders and more importantly provided examples of what not to do. Leadership and team building in the military is relatively straightforward because it’s necessary to accomplish the mission; small groups operating in dynamic and highly stressful environments with catastrophic consequences for failure. Sounds like an overly technical description of every day in an average aerial application operation. The military doesn’t always get it right, but they provide doctrinal theories and an architecture to work from until a young soldier develops his or her own leadership style. Our industry provides leadership opportunities at the corporate level to guide and project our positive image outward, but individual operators lead or manage using whatever techniques our previous experiences have taught us. Ag aviation has some of the best people I’ve ever met in my life - passionate, innovative, hard-working and resourceful. I’ve found those who lack these qualities don’t last long. This series is intended to provide various techniques to become a better small group leader, inspire and build strong small teams.
I’ve never been a fan of contaminating my beloved industry with the rigid military doctrine I left behind, after all, if it was so star spangled awesome I would’ve stayed in. However, it didn’t take long after my first season as an ag-pilot to realize some very similar parallels between the high intensity, small, special operation units I operated in and what we have to accomplish as ag-operations during the season. We have a very specific mission; treat as many acres as precisely and efficiently as possible in a narrowly defined application period, while preserving all our personnel and equipment to work another day. We don’t historically develop a Leader’s Intent or Company Mission Statement like a corporation, but if we did, I suspect ours would all say something similar. We just make it happen. We run successful, high grossing businesses without the benefit of mentorship and specialized training corporate and military leaders receive throughout their careers. I attribute the success and durability of our industry to the type of people we attract rather than technology or economic trends. Much like a special operations unit, our impact to national and global dynamics is grossly disproportionate to our numbers. As such, our pilots, loaders, office and support staff have earned our best efforts, if they were in it for a paycheck there’s easier ways to earn one.
They’ve enabled our prosperity and deserve our loyalty along with quality and compassionate leadership. I know there’s some eye rolling at the mere thought of leadership training, but there’s a quantitative payoff to be had for embracing the concept; when team members start working for something other than a paycheck, when they feel an employer makes decisions with their best interest in mind, when they’re more concerned with falling short of your expectations rather than fearing your wrath, you’ve earned their trust and loyalty. When that takes place, you’ve developed a team in which everyone is vested and you’ll be shocked at how it positively affects morale, productivity and in the end profitability.
Before we learn how to be better, more effective leaders you have to acknowledge what technique you’re currently using. It’s not as ambiguous as it seems. Influencing people can be broken down into two categories to be used as a diagnostic;
• Leadership: “Providing purpose, direction and motivation to inspire a group to act in unison toward achieving a common goal”
• Management: “The process of planning, organizing and controlling people in order to achieve goals.”
I’ll leave it up to you to determine which category you occupy. To make it easy, do you expect maximum effort and productivity because you’re signing their paycheck, or do you make an attempt to find out what motivates your employees to enable their own successes along with yours? Neither is wrong, just different approaches to the same problem. In the course of developing your own leadership style we should remember a few key points along the journey.
1. You have to choose to learn; We’re all creatures of habit; it’s painful to deviate from whatever technique we’ve been using for years. If we approach it as we do when we’re integrating new technology, it’s less cumbersome. When new equipment is introduced to our operations we do it in increments and not during peak periods. Use the same technique with leadership behaviors, don’t attempt to change your company’s entire culture in a week. Select a relevant and manageable amount of changes you want to make and implement them as the opportunities arise. Like parenting, much of your success will rely on sincerity and consistency to affect a shift in behaviors.
2. Leaders are not born; This is the most common misconception. Nobody is a “born leader”, it’s a skill learned over a period of time coupled with experience. Certain charismatic personalities may encourage people to gravitate toward them, but it’s not the same thing as being a skilled leader. I thought I was going to be the victim of a mutiny before I figured out what worked and what didn’t.
3. Learning leadership techniques is a developmental process; It’s not going to happen over-night, or during the course of a season. It takes time to learn how to inspire people.
4. You will fail; We rarely master anything on the first attempt; don’t get discouraged. Your team will appreciate the effort and your company will be a better place to be even if it’s a work in progress.
5. Goal attainment doesn’t necessarily reflect good leadership; Too many folks think they’re good leaders because all the tasks were completed on time; that’s managing, not leading. Occasionally it’s the case, but usually it’s the product of running your people into the ground. The term dictatorship usually brings up thoughts of a hard line, abusive ruler concerned only with his or her goal attainment. Keep in mind a dictatorship is actually the most effective and efficient form of leadership, there’s no discussion, no negotiations, or concern for how it affects those charged with carrying out the orders. The problem with dictatorships is they’re short lived, they have a very defined shelf life because folks won’t put up with it for the long haul. In practical terms, if your operation has a high turnover rate this may be a contributing factor.
Leadership and building strong teams is a moving target. There’s no single technique which will solve every problem, but the benefits of exploring methods to motivate and inspire your team members will far exceed the investment. Next issue we’ll talk about qualities of effective leaders. Until then, be safe, and pat yourselves on the back for persevering through a tough and unpredictable season.
Author: Michael Rutledge is a current ag-pilot and operator in Indiana having served 30 years on active duty in several leadership roles as a Navy SEAL and Army Special Operations Aviator culminating with commanding and teaching Leadership and Character Development at the United States Military Academy at West Point
