The Leader’s Book Shelf: ‘Turn the Ship Around! A True Story of Turning Followers Into Leaders’

Experienced Navy officer David Marquet was leading the crew on the USS Santa Fe when he unintentionally gave an impossible order. His crew tried to follow it anyway. Their reason? “Because you told us to.”As the captain of a nuclear-powered submarine, Marquet realized this kind of thinking was dangerous, so he looked for ways to change a culture of followers into a group of leaders at every level. He tells the story of how he achieved that goal in “Turn the Ship Around! A True Story of Turning Followers into Leaders,” one of our favorite leadership books.While the book is by a military officer, the lessons you can learn from it apply to just about any organization. “Turn the Ship Around!” shares the captain’s experiences of self-discovery and self-doubt while implementing change as well as deep insights into how we interact as people and what leadership really means.

Signs You’re Operating in a ‘Follower Culture’

When only top leaders make most of the decisions and the rest of the workforce simply puts them into effect, that’s a follower culture. The danger in this kind of thinking is evident on a nuclear submarine, but the risk is just as real in a business setting. When you have a workforce that carries out orders without thinking about the consequences, they may not challenge those orders when they don’t agree or understand. They may not be able to work independently and make decisions if leaders aren’t there to provide guidance.  This kind of culture can lead to stagnation. Employees may not feel the need to take advantage of training opportunities or set up goals to become experts in their fields. Follower culture can lead to breaches in safety, loss of production, compromised quality and poor customer service or experiences.



How to Build a Leader Culture

To turn followers into leaders, the people at the top must surrender some control while displaying competence and providing clarity. When you give control over to your team and allow them to work the way they want while meeting goals and requirements, they can help make meaningful decisions. Displaying confidence and providing clarity can help them trust their own decisions as they see how they fit in with the organization’s goals.Leaders can give up control by:

• Encouraging short, early conversations to make work more efficient.
• Resisting the urge to provide solutions.
• Eliminating top-down monitoring systems.
• Thinking out loud.

Leaders can boost employees’ perception of competence by:

• Taking deliberate actions.
• Continually and consistently repeating key messages.
• Specifying goals, not methods.

Leaders can ensure clarity by:

• Achieving excellence, rather than simply avoiding errors.
• Building trust and taking care of people.
• Using guiding principles when making decisions.
• Beginning with the end in mind.
• Encouraging a questioning attitude.

No matter what position you hold within your company, you can benefit from reading this book.  Leaders will be challenged to re-examine their leadership philosophies, and learn how they can leverage their team members’ intellectual capacities and energy. Individual contributors will learn ways to embrace decision-making, making it easier for managers to let go of control.Do you need help turning followers into leaders at your company? Contact us!Success Labs is a leadership development and management consulting firm in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. For more than 25 years, our expert team of consultants has worked with hundreds of companies to explore their business potential and improve their company and cultural performance. Contact us to get proactive about your people strategy.