August 9, 2023 by Mike Manazir – (4-5 minutes)

We live in a world of ever increasing complexity. Today’s leaders are challenged with a diverse mix of complex issues that involve a high degree of uncertainty and ambiguity.

These issues include navigating the expectations of various stakeholders; operating in an interconnected world with diverse cultures and markets; rapid technological innovations and staying up to date with the latest tools and systems; diverse global markets; changing consumer preferences, competition and economic conditions; larger organizations tend to have more complex structures, processes and communication channels to manage; complying with an ever-changing regulatory environment; and having to make decisions based on incomplete or ambiguous information, making the future hard to predict.

Few things are more complex than having 5,000 people living together on a nuclear powered boat with a runway on top running flight operations day and night. As I mention in Chapter 29 of my book Learn How to Lead to Win, maintenance never ends on a big ship.

In 2008 we had completed two deployments almost back to back. We came back in the spring of 2008 and set up for six months of maintenance that was to end on December 14, 2008. The date is important. That date was my vision.

The maintenance project was assigned a Puget Sound Shipyard Project Superintendent whom I was to hold accountable for getting it done on time. The Supe and his crew were temporarily assigned to San Diego where Nimitz was home ported as we conducted this maintenance period.

No aircraft carrier had gotten out of the maintenance period on time for the last several years. It was critical to national security to get out on time and return to flight operations. There were approximately 10,000 major line items of maintenance with smaller associated jobs due for the ship during that six-month availability. Some were relatively simple like replacing the bearing on the fire pump. Some were extremely large like nuclear reactor component work. Some took hours. Some took weeks or months.

Our task list was a daunting 10,000 maintenance items. We had eighteen departments with approximately 800 officers and supervisors who were tasked with leading different teams. Between the maintenance crew and the ship’s crew, we had approximately 4,500 personnel working on the ship at the peak. That’s an average of 556 maintenance items per department; 12.5 per officer and supervisor; and 2.2 maintenance items per person.

A goal only becomes achievable when it is clear to everyone what it is; the simpler to understand and repeat, the better. So I made it my audacious goal to get the ship out on time:, on December 14, 2008, and I made sure my crew and the shipyard workforce bought in. The goal was audacious because no carrier had successfully completed maintenance on time in years. We were going to be different.

Proper scheduling and integration was critical. The integrated master schedule ruled everything. It included each item that needed to be done. Everything had a scheduled time frame to completion. The schedule had to be followed meticulously to go to sea for trials on December 14, 2008. If somebody found some additional maintenance that had to be done, they had to come to me and get it approved. I personally controlled the scope of work growth.

We got underway on the morning tide on December 14, 2008. All maintenance items had been accomplished. As we started operating the ship, it became apparent that the repairs were excellent and the ship performed beautifully.

So, how does a leader manage such a daunting complex task? I share more detail of how we did it in Chapter 29 of the book. My ten-step process for taming big complex goals is below.

1.   Clarify the goal. It must be crystal clear. We had to complete our maintenance checklist and be underway by December 14, 2008. It was written where everyone could see it. It was repeated daily. The mission was clear. Keep it alive in the team’s mind. Keep relating everything you have to do to achieving that goal. At all times.
   
2.  Quantify requirements to achieve the goal. You have to identify, confirm and control the scope of the task. Ours was 10,000 maintenance items.
   
3.  Assemble the team. We had eighteen departments with approximately 800 officers and supervisors who were tasked with leading different teams. Between the maintenance crew and the ship’s crew, we had approximately 4,500 personnel working on the ship at the peak. That’s an average of 556 maintenance items per department; 12.5 per officer and supervisor; and 2.2 maintenance items per person. It’s not so daunting now. Many hands make light work.
   
4.  Communication is essential. Identify needed resources and ensure those resources get to the teams when they are needed. Identify and close resource gaps immediately. Communication is essential.
   
5.  Plan for disruptions. Review your assumptions. Inevitably weak links are going to appear or already exist in the chain to success. When a link breaks, who owns the fix? Establish positive accountability. Ask and expect your leaders to step up and own it. Reward those who take accountability; those who own it.
   
6.  Crush barriers. We started with two teams with potentially competing scopes of authority. We intentionally built one a single unified team. That required strong leadership at all levels motivated by doing what was required to achieve the goal.
   
7.  Set the schedule and keep it. If something isn’t working or is off schedule, you need to know it immediately. Do not wait for delays to build up before they are illuminated to the team leads. Ask, “What must we be done now to make up the lost time and still meet our goal? Do we improvise? Adapt?…” Eisenhower famously quipped, “Plans are nothing, planning is everything.” Your plans will If the plan fails at some point, so be agile. Shift and move around the barriers. Find ways to make up the lost time. Learn from the failure. Most importantly, do not accept the schedule slip until you have exhausted every feasible plan to recover the time lost.
   
8.  Manage the scope of work creep. Don’t let the task list creep out of control. I routinely asked if doing [whatever was being proposed] would get us underway before or after December 14, 2008.
   
9.  Lead. The essential role of the leader is to champion the goal, keep the tasks from creeping out of control, ensure communication lines stay open, give guidance when needed, break down barriers, and applaud positive performance. Elevate and empower your team.
   
10. Teamwork makes the dream work. Look for near-term wins. Celebrate every one. Then, celebrate achieving the goal with the team when done. Applaud and award outstanding performers publicly. Actually, remember to celebrate during the project by applauding outstanding performers and motivating them to go further. Make them your champions.
    

To this day, I use this ten step process to tackle any challenge, regardless of how complex and formidable it might seem. Set the goal, get the right experts in the room and map out a plan. Passionately execute that plan until the goal is achieved. And, be ready to change the plan at the slightest indication that it may be off-track.

When the world presents us with intricate challenges,
great leaders rise to the occasion
turning complexity into a canvas of possibilities.

-Simon Sinek

Lead from your heart. Lead to Win.

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