Here are some key steps to getting “buy in”: Hearing them saying “you are best damn ship” is a start, but leaders need to support that goal, too. Sailors begin to act differently when they are part of something greater than they acted when they were just another sailor on just another ship. For example, when performing a task, it is no longer OK to be just “good enough” because the best damn ship does things excellently. Once people begin to believe they are part of something great, like the best damn ship in the Navy, they begin to see things differently. I repeated it to my sailors all of the time, and eventually they believed it themselves.” The path to “buy in” Abrashoff said, “I decided Benfold was going to be the best damn ship in that Navy. The same “team” that cheered wildly when the departing Captain left were the same people that would need to take Benfold from last to first. Remember, to achieve this goal, he couldn’t bring in new people. To that end, early in his tenure Captain Abrashoff decided that Benfold would be the best damn ship in the Navy. The command rotation is about 24 months, so Abrashoff knew that if Benfold was to improve, and his departing celebration was to be at least civil, he’d need to work fast.įor Abrashoff, it was excellence or bust. The cold relationship between the leader and the role players was also clearly reflected in Benfold’s performance scores, as it ranked near the bottom in most matrixes in the Pacific fleet. The attitude toward the ship’s departing captain was symbolic of his old fashion command-and-control style. I can still feel my face flushing with embarrassment.” “I had never seen such open disrespect in my entire military career. “They were jeering, blatantly relieved to get rid of him,” Abrashoff recalls. After kind but mostly untrue words spoken by an admiral, the public address system announced that the departing captain was walking from the ship and relinquishing command – and the ship erupted with applause. He was flanked by his wife, children and mother. The departing skipper looked happy to leave. On the afternoon of June 20, Captain Abrashoff boarded his new ship and watched the ceremony from a distance. Then, to overwhelming applause, the retiring captain will stroll into the sunset. The event is supposed to be upbeat and full of energy. At the ceremony, an admiral will give a speech about the great performance of the ship’s departing commander. If you have seen one of these arguably you have seen them all.
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