CDR Shinego's Thoughts

I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to hear CDR Steve Shinego speak while in Newport. He is one of the most forward thinking creative leaders I have encountered in the Navy.

He has graciously allowed me permission to post an abridged copy of his "CO Thoughts".

• The ship will succeed. Make the ship’s game plan work. Getting credit isn’t the goal – a team win is.
  
  
• Respect the Chain of Command at every level and in both directions.
  
  
• Think Ahead, Plan Ahead, Stay Ahead of schedule. Who is looking 6-12 months down the road? It can’t just be the CO and XO. Pick another player and free them from the inside-the-lifelines “drudge” work. If it’s OPS, don’t let the CO hassle him about everyday Deck or Comm issues – we have Divos and CPO’s running these divisions.
  
  
• Work your best people at 50% - they’ll make the ship better with any free time (and do things you haven’t thought of).
  
  
• Work the worst people at 100% - they’ll waste any free time and distract others.
• Protect the best people from “drudge” work.
  
  
• Don’t make the best people ask for a special “bennie” – offer it unsolicited.
  
  
• Never hold a grudge if a slug becomes a star (and earns it).
  
  
• Trust is earned by consistent great work. Autonomy is earned by gaining trust. Everyone who is not autonomous should expect some level of XO oversight into their tasks. Don’t gripe – just do better work so I can trust you and give you autonomy (note – this reduces my workload, too!)
  
  
• Don’t confuse motion with action, or volume with effectiveness. There are people willing to work 15 hour days filling inboxes with admin – if it isn’t making the ship better stop them. This excess admin just slows down everyone who has to read it.
  
  
• Promote/favor those who elevate the team.
  
  
• Recognize “steady strain” is better than “heroics.”
  
  
• Remember the above at FITREP/Eval time – remember those who get great results without creating a crisis.
  
  
• Keep a sense of humor and have fun – promote camaraderie at appropriate levels.
  
  
• I don’t want to do your work; I don’t want credit for your good work. I’ll take the blame when it’s important for the good of the ship and Chain of Command.
  
  
• Deescalate arguments. Good rule for ships and marriages/relationships.
  
  
• Don’t game performance – reward the best always. The best will be motivated and the weaker ones will know what your true expectation of performance is. DO NOT feel compelled to give the people who work the longest hours the best fitrep. Are they the best? Why such long hours – are they inefficient/incompetent? Does their inefficiency hold back the rest of the team? Or crush morale? The goal is performance that elevates the ship, not hours per task.
  
  
• Rest/sleep is an important investment – ensure the CO and your DHs get sleep or take naps. XO should do the same. If there’s a major issue or, for example, JTFEX event, the oncoming watchteam must, must resist the urge to hang out in CIC just to be there. Go sleep so when the event is done you can assume the watch and the CO/XO won’t have to babysit because you’re operating on no sleep. Your value to the team in this instance is letting the rest of us sleep while you stand a taut watch.
  
  
• Be a good father/parent and husband/spouse. Let others be the same. Be aware of important events and let them go. But, as always, the best people ‘buy’ liberty time by getting ahead of sked. They deserve the most consideration.
  
  
• Figure out the Boss’ psychology and how to work with him. (Whoever the Boss is). A war of wills, even if you are ‘right’, doesn’t make life easier for the crew.
  
  
• Any ship can get great results – the real goal should be great results with good working hours. The best ships make success effortless, and a winning streak creates its own inertia.
  
  
• If you know the sked will be crunched or accelerated, consider pre-deployment leave periods that start months earlier – then let a portion of the crew take 15 – 20 days when they are not critical. This will reduce the amount of key manpower losses in the weeks before an accelerated deployment. Another comment on leave – leave policy shouldn’t be equal across the crew – slugs shouldn’t be given as much good grace as the best people. Leave consideration is equal across plateaus of performance, not across the entire crew.
  
  
• Keep a small greaseboard or dry erase board – keep notes about events (good and bad) in sailors’ lives. Quickly review it daily so if you see sailors in the P-way, gym, etc you can ask the appropriate question in an informal setting.
  
  
• Brief the crew on major events/exercises – review the messages and gameplan, the geography, the people, the goals. Pick a POC that will organize the CO, XO, CIC, Bridge, W/R and CPO Mess binders. Same POC reads every msg in detail, and briefs the crew to ensure we have a good grasp of what’s required. It works better if a couple of competent minds absorb the entire event package than to expect EVERYONE to read all the messages independently. Then ensure everyone reads the messages that apply to their watchstation.
  
  
• For upcoming events, start:

1. with the key players meeting,
2. the khaki briefing,
3. the watchteams involved (as applicable),
4. EVERYONE ELSE.

• Try to get every brain onboard driving the gameplan forward at their level in any situation.
  
  
• Don’t praise falsely. It is enough to thank the sailors for working hard without saying “we did great.” – if the command didn’t do great. Only say “we did great” if we really did great. They will trust your praise.
  
  
• Resist the urge to badmouth other ships, shore commands, BUPERS, etc. when something goes wrong.
  
  

1. What could we have done to figure this out ahead of time?
2. How do we fix the problem?
3. Don’t assume you have to talk about #1 immediately – wait until the problem is solved or you have a gameplan to solve it.

• Let people sleep. If you can put out a POD around dinnertime that is accurate, then give people a quick heads up with the 1MC in the morning… do you really need to do O Call and Quarters daily while underway? Or more than just a few times per week?
  
  
• If a well-intentioned idea has bad consequences, don’t:

1. Overreact,
2. Flay the originators of the idea,
3. Publicly second-guess or criticize the CoC involved.

• Set up the good subordinates with great ideas that make them important to the ship/command.
  

1. You’re increasing their clout with the JOs and the crew.
2. You’re training them how to think.
3. You’ve bought yourself liberty time – think about it – if the CO only trusts the XO then you will not be giving him the comfort margin to allow you to delegate – you’ll lose liberty time, holidays, ropeyarn, etc.

• JOs have got to see the XO enjoying good quality of life with his/her family or they won’t want to be an XO someday. Still gotta make the ship great, but a great ship with good working hours creates retention.
  
  
• 'Notice when things DON'T go wrong' - it must mean something is going right. Examples - Deck Seaman aren't going to NJP, the crew ISN'T griping about food, laundry, barbershop or ship's store hours, etc. This makes the assumption that you can see things are working as expected and there isn't phoniness like hiding violations of the UCMJ.
  
  
• The important thing to do with new sailors or 'dirtbag' sailors and/or dirtbag divisions is to find the things they do well and ensure they excel and get noticed. I.e. - set them up for a win. This will allow them to be respected in the mess line, berthing, etc. Once they feel respected they'll become part of the team and you can branch them out into new areas.
  
  
• The good ships never have to be 'territorial' or adversarial with inspection teams. If you’re really good, then after a day or so the inspectors respect the ship and they start genuinely teaching your people what they know from decades of experience, not just what they need to know to pass the inspection criteria.