Ship, Shipmate, Self
Do more with less. Suck it up. Be tough or resilient…a team player. We even like to dress it up in some sort of hero worship laced image of a selfless, honorable sacrifice made by an ideal we all strive for. What we selectively acknowledge is the disparity between cost of effort and impact of output. We’re making simple things difficult by systemically under manning the entire force, while simultaneously demanding we maintain current output while adding functionality. It’s unsustainable and doing visible damage to our people.
About ten years ago, I was running a schoolhouse. We were responsible for training around 1,500 people annually and were asked to do so while maintaining an average instructor manning level of 75%. Didn’t matter what we did, who I called, or how I advocated. So somehow, we had to find a way – do more with less. That meant one person routinely doing two jobs, to say nothing of tertiary responsibilities (collateral duties). Logically, this extends working hours beyond a standard eight-hour workday (for example, physical training starts at 0530 and instruction ends at 1600, at which point you find time to catch up on what you couldn’t do while you were on the podium all day, so you’re walking out the door at 1800). If that’s an average day, you’re working 60-hour average weeks not including duty days, which yes, sometimes fall on weekends.
This is the military’s idea of a break from a deploying unit. I’m supposed to be resting, recuperating, and refocusing. I’m supposed to be spending time with my family and working on my physical and mental health. In truth, we’re all red lining non-stop, no matter the duty station, and it’s showing. Military mental health is the easiest indicator to point at as a big, terrifying red flag. Not just the rising suicide statistics, but the overwhelming of our mental health resources routinely delaying access to care.
A quick internet search will yield results postulating on all the ways in which you can hack doing more with less, as if it’s a virtue anyone should be striving to achieve. Framed within the context of avoiding waste and maximizing profit in the civilian sector, the idea has merit in running a business. At best, based on this logic, we could make the case that this is a management tactic that, when there is actual waste present, can enhance organizational efficiency. However, what you are more likely to find, is its willful abuse. Much like the case of the military abusing the capacity of human capital, the greed driven systems in place for profit driven models will inevitably lead to the abuse of this idea everywhere and does…also a yield of said internet search.
Even more telling is the focus of our values and core attributes. They paint the picture of an admirable ideal, one that you can easily find an emotional attachment to and subsequently devote your effort toward achieving. However, when you explore these systems of value you quickly realize they are all output focused. Each and every core value (honor, courage, and commitment) and attribute (integrity, accountability, initiative, and toughness) are built on top of you and your capacity for output. On top of you and your team’s ability to give to the organization and sustain the organization taking from you.
“Ship, shipmate, self” is illogical and destructive. The idea, or others like it, are an attempt to create a bite-sized set of core values or value system driven priorities for its members, but without any actual explanation or context allowing for the prioritization of human capital, it provides a false bottom out of which to fall when trying to adhere to the perceived priorities of the organization. This is not how you lead, it’s simply a warped and deceptive mantra containing important pillars that have primacy at different times when considering the entire context of your situation. Trying to strictly adhere to these, in order of listed importance, will only lead to destructive behavior by the person and the organization.
Reorganizing these value systems, to include our core values and attributes, creed, and ethos; into a more in-depth model explaining that taking care of yourself first, will allow you the capacity to help take care of your shipmates, which then adds value to the whole (ship) and will directly and profoundly impact successful mission accomplishment – which is the purpose for which the organization is built and the goal of the senior leadership building these malfunctioning systems.
References:
Department of the Navy, (2022). Our Core Attributes. Retrieved at https://www.navy.mil/About/Our-Core-Attributes/
Department of the Navy, (2022). Our Core Values. Retrieved at https://www.navy.mil/About/Our-Core-Values/