My wife Jenn and I, along with every person on this planet, have been watching the heart-wrenching reports coming out of Ukraine daily. Can we pull any positive principles from this devastation? Always.
Two learning opportunities come to mind. 1- Many of you have experienced our leadership training agree with our philosophy that we either win or learn. Losing only happens when we don’t see the loss through a learning frame. 2- Robert Cialdini says in his brilliant book Influence: “It is what we do, before what we do, that counts.”
This week I read an article by Michael Lee that illustrates these two powerful principles, embedded within the current war we are watching. Lee interviewed retired Green Beret Sgt Maj Martin Moore about the impact that the US Army’s Special Forces Green Berets training is having on Ukraine's fight to defend itself from the Russian invasion.
“After Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014, a move that faced minimal resistance, the Ukrainian military began an effort to modernize its forces to prepare for possible further Russian incursions into the country. The U.S. military also quickly stepped in to help, with the Army's Green Berets taking on a critical role in training Ukrainian forces.
They immediately set upon a great effort to protect Ukraine, to provide training," Moore said. "There's nobody better at training than Green Berets. These are people that can teach."
Moore continues: “The Green Berets are a "force multiplier," improving the combat capability of the international forces they work with.” He stresses that they are not about "raids and ambushes," but about having an "unparalleled understanding of the place" where they are operating.
“Green Berets are required to learn a foreign language as part of their training and are constantly trained in the political, economic, and cultural complexities of the regions in which they are assigned to operate. This unique skill set allows them to partner with foreign forces for training and at times to fight alongside them.
Those skills have been put to use in Ukraine since 2014, with Green Berets and members of the Army's National Guard advising and training Ukrainian forces at Yavoriv Combat Training Center in western Ukraine. It's the same facility Russia attacked with rockets on March 13, killing 35. The Americans had already left, vacating the facility and moving troops deployed there to Germany in February.
Part of the job Green Berets did at Yavoriv was to train their Ukrainian counterparts to set up militia units that could wage guerrilla warfare against an invading force. The Ukrainian military can now put those lessons to use, with the government actively encouraging its citizens to join the fight against Russian forces.”
Enough focus on the current war that is waging and driving news ratings. How do these principles play out in your business and your people? What if the Ukrainian military had said in 2014, "We have nothing to learn from this terrible incursion," and “We don’t have the budget to train our people for what might be coming,” hoping that things would work out?
You know that Jenn and I love our clients and many of you have become our long-term friends. This week we trained the 131 leaders at JANA, an amazing high-growth company. JANA's executive and teams have become deeply important to us. We love this company’s business model, but ownership's strong desire to grow and build the leadership capacity of every person within the JANA family is what is propelling them forward.
Personal growth is embedded in the JANA Way, and it has been our great pleasure to add leadership and team development value to our JANA friends over the past 5 years. This company is on our minds today because we just finished 4 half-day training sessions with their teams and another 2 full days facilitating their executive, retreat, where they brilliantly banged out their next 3-year vision and strategic plan. JANA has increased its revenue over these past 5 years and now has solidified the company's future-focus.
Our two key principles made practical;
1- It’s what you do before what you do that counts. Personally, and culturally, we must continually learn from our past and plan to meet the challenges of our future.
2- Training ourselves and our people may not always be currently convenient, but it is always critical in order to accomplish our desired growth, goals and to protect our future.
Many of us are looking out 3 to 36 months in our businesses and see some bumpy waters emerging. Is leadership training one of the force multipliers in your business? Are your people ready to navigate these waters and surf the next waves?
Today is the time to plan/prepare for your future-positive tomorrow.
Today is the time to grow your future-conquering people.
Many of our corporate clients are engaging our services to energize their teams, focus their cultural mindset, and brainstorm processes around how to maximize their team COMMUNICATION.
Reference
The US Army's Green Berets quietly helped tilt the battlefield a little bit more toward Ukraine
By Michael Lee