Bad News Doesn't Get Better With Age
"How hard it is to remember that bad news is often our best ally. But for the pain of bad news we might walk into certain disaster"
Unknown
-Lack of information puts you behind the power curve. It prevents you from being able to positively affect the situation at a time and place of your choice. Lost time always overcomes your ability to mitigate, or positively affect the outcome in your favor. You may have a great COA, but the best decision made too late is almost always a poor decision.
-Act on problems, don't react to them. Many times small, simple to solve problems become huge resource intensive problems causing a leader to devote significant time and energy toward damage control. Getting bad news puts you in a position to act on
problems. Incomplete or late information causes you to react to them.
-Don't kill the messenger! Chewing out the Marine who brings you the bad news will make you a less informed and less effective leader. You'll eventually shut off communications with your Marines making you less and less informed and effective. Nobody wants to give their boss bad news, but you should encourage your Marines to tell you like it is. Don't give your Marines a reason to distrust you because you constantly react negatively to them giving you bad news.
-Build trust with bad news. Nobody likes getting bad news, but you must create an environment that encourages 100% open and honest communication with the boss. Doing so means you're going to get bad news. Make sure your Marines tell you first, before you hear it from someone else. Someone has to tell you what happened and it should be your Marines beating down the door to tell you as quickly as possible.
-Respect Marines for having the guts to come directly to you. Bad news can help you build trust between you and your Marines.
Comments