A Leadership
Primer
for
FS Doctrine
Tom Harbour
April 2006
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“It is insanity to continue
doing the same thing over
and over and expect the
results to be different...”
Albert Einstein
Questions About Doctrine
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Explain the intent in simple terms
Where are we in the process?
What are impacts on training?
How do we implement without revising
existing policy?
How does it affect Safety, vulnerability and
liability?
What’s different from existing principles?
What about our partners?
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Intent
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An organization guided by well stated
principles that clearly represent our
work, the environment, and the
mission.
Principles are intended to develop the
ability to make good choices.
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We will Assimilate
Doctrine in Three Phases
Phase I : educates the workforce.
Phase II: validates doctrine in the mission
Phase III: implements Doctrinal principles into action
in the workforce
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Phase I: Education and
Understanding
Pulaski Conferences identified a core set of
principles that define the mission
•Communicate our Intent
• Develop trust and understanding
• Gain acceptance
• Foster support
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How do we implement
without revising existing
policy?
This is one of the early steps in validating
the concept of doctrine.
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Policy is viewed as that combination of
principles and rules that guide practices and
behaviors of the organization and it’s
members.
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Phase II. Validation
Step 1
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Making the Paradigm Shift:
– Assessing what documents we need to
change
– Placing policy and doctrine together
– Placing rules and procedure into guides
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Phase II: Validation
“What is necessary to change a person is to
change his awareness of himself”.
A. Maslow
Step 2
 Evaluating
 Learning
 Modifying
 Communicating
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Phase III. Action &
Implementation
Step 1
 Change in Organization
– Risk Management
– Human Performance and Development
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Phase III. Action &
Implementation
STEP 2
 Comprehensive overhaul of training
materials
 Train the trainers
 Train the Leadership
 Train the militia
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Phase III. Action &
Implementation
Step 3
 Change in management systems
– Communicate leaders intent
– Demonstrated behaviors
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Peer Review
– Our wrong choices and our right choices,
handled correctly, become a learning
experience for ourselves and others.
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What’s different from
existing principles?
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Return to foundational doctrine as the
cornerstone of our philosophy about
our mission and purpose
It is easier to act our way into a new
way of thinking than think our way
into a new way of acting
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In a rules-driven culture the injured
person was at fault
“ACTS
OF GOD”
Poor Leadership”
HUMAN
ERRORS
Poor
Safety
Systems
A NATURAL SIDE EFFECT OF
RISK TAKING
ACCIDENTS
The variability paradox
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Human Error is implicated in 70-80% of
accidents.
With Doctrine in place we strive for
greater consistency of human action.
Making good choices involves the
application of principles and obedience
to rules along with learning from
mistakes
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Individual &
Organizational Failures
Failures of multiple
systems
Individual
Accidents
Failure of
personal protection
against error
OrgAx
Common ground:
Inadequate Doctrine
Poor safety culture
Operational pressure
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Restating the Problem with
“Failures in Performance”
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Choice implies the ability to choose. Some
choices will be wrong. People make
mistakes. People must have the ability to
improvise, adapt, and overcome obstacles.
We must learn from those experiences, right
or wrong.
Rules do not overcome human nature
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Between true science and
erroneous Doctrines,
ignorance is in the middle.
Hobbes, Leviathan
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What does doctrine do?
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Doctrine Guides How we Think
– Rules begat mindless rules begat
mindless behavior
– Mindless rules are those without a direct
link to a key principle.
– Principles begat mindful philosophy begat
doctrine to guide thinking and behavior
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What does Doctrine do for
me ?
–Doctrine is taught as “right”
behavior
– It teaches you how to take risk
successfully as opposed to
restricting action considered to be
risky thru rules & checklists.
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How does Doctrine Affect
Safety, Vulnerability and
Liability?
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Good and bad outcomes are directly related
to actions and behaviors, and individual
adherence to a clearer and more meaningful
set of rules results in better performance.
Our challenge is to develop leaders who
match the wide variety of situations that we
face.
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What about our partners?
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Through the understanding of doctrine
employees and leaders alike are provided
with a means to avoid both risk aversion
and recklessness.
There is nothing exclusive in our doctrines
that precludes partners from joining with
us.
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“Those who are possessed of a
definitive body of doctrine and
deeply rooted convictions will be in a
much better position to deal with the
shifts and surprises of daily affairs
than those who are merely taking
short views”
Sir Winston Churchill
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DISCUSSION ?
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