by Aidan Looney
As a West Point Cadet, I often hear that the academy is a leadership laboratory. Cadets are given the space and opportunities to experiment in leadership and learn how they want to lead before going out to the operational Army.
In this leadership laboratory, I had several formative experiences both as a trainee and a trainer in West Point’s version of basic training. Afterwards, a mentor recommended I read Kim Scott’s Just Work: Get Shit Done Fast and Fair. Reading this book helped me organize my thoughts on building a cohesive and effective team. From it I learned a great deal about creating more equitable work environments by working to eliminate bias, prejudice, and bullying in the units I lead at West Point.
In Just Work, Scott provides a practical guide on how to create a more just working environment through identifying workplace harm, taking personal responsibility to address it, and understanding what happens to the workplace culture when harm is left unaddressed. While her book is directed toward the corporate setting, it is still very applicable in all leadership settings, especially in the military.
Identification
In order to assess workplace culture, Scott argues that one must first be open to change. The book’s beginning explains that to create a change-mindset, it’s important to recognize how we’ve wronged others and been wronged ourselves. I was recommended this book after some failings as a platoon sergeant during cadet basic training, so this step was particularly important for me. I had yet to acknowledge how those leadership failures had perpetuated an inequitable training environment; Scott helped me change my perspective, forcing me to think about the results of my actions on others.
Next, Scott identifies and defines three gradations of work-place harm—bias, prejudice, and bullying. She offers strategies to prevent and reconcile workplace injustice for all involved, including those harmed, upstanders (bystanders that stand up), those harming, and workplace leaders.
First, she provides definitions and examples of bias, prejudice, and bullying in the workplace. For example, Scott defines bias as being unaware of one’s own stereotypes. She provides an example situation in which a woman is always asked to take notes at meetings. Then she offers active statements as a straightforward, low-cost method for addressing workplace harm. To redress the above example of bias, Scott offers this active statement: “I can’t contribute substantively to the conversation if I always have to take notes. Can someone else take notes this week?” Scott uses examples from female executives leading male-dominated executive teams (including herself), providing examples of how to properly respond both as the one harming and the one harmed.
Personal Responsibility
The active statements to address bias, prejudice, and bullying that Scott offers are one of the most applicable lessons from the military standpoint. They teach us how to change the all too common dynamic of vulgar and hurtful speech into something that will build team cohesion. While Scott recommends redresses specifically for the people harmed, it can apply to all people in an organization. If leaders take personal responsibility for the bias, prejudice, and bullying in their organization, they can build a climate that emphasizes just work. When bystanders or leaders recognize an inequitable work environment, they should also feel comfortable to speak up, making the organization better from all sides.
After identifying specific tools to help after some wrong has been committed, Scott provides helpful tips for leaders in the organization. She preaches quantifying the bias in your organization through looking at hiring practices, retention, and compensation. She also provides helpful tips about developing heterogeneous hiring committees to offer jobs to a diverse field of truly qualified applicants.
I have seen how simply quantifying bias in your organization and being aware of it can positively impact the organization. When I was going through West Point’s basic training as a trainee, we had an all-male cadre team. I remember the female trainees complaining about how the all-male cadre were not aware of certain responsibilities. For example, in the field, they failed to set up a separate female hygiene area. Later, when I was leading the same training, we too had an all-male cadre team—but we made sure to be educated on certain situations that may arise for female soldiers. We consulted other women in adjacent platoons, and made decisions aware of their effects on everyone in the platoon. At the end of the detail, we communicated the inequitable environment an all-male cadre team can develop, and this year, our unit now has two female cadre for the basic training platoon this coming summer. While we were not initially able to change the demographics of our organization to be more equitable, by recognizing and quantifying our bias, we were able to make basic training more equitable in our iteration of basic training as well as improve it for future iterations.
The Cost
Organizations that fail to respond to bias, prejudice, and bullying on individual and organizational levels, can become what Scott dubs a “coercive environment”. My summer leadership detail provides a great example of how easy it is to create a coercive environment. I was a platoon sergeant in West Point’s basic training alongside four squad leaders. We had different perspectives on what leadership should look like, and instead of allowing them to lead their squads independently on relatively trivial issues, I forced them to conform to my vision for our platoon. I created a coercive environment by barking orders and not taking any feedback, which ultimately led to me not only being unproductive, but also being blind to issues brewing in the platoon.
Just Work helped me see that the way I led over that summer failed to properly respond to bias, prejudice, and bullying, and also caused a coercive environment in my organization that led to unsuccessful leadership as a whole. In future leadership roles, I will strive to create a climate where individuals “just work”, meaning that they both enjoy their work and improve their performance while building long-lasting relationships.
This book was incredibly beneficial for my leadership development, as it provided practical examples and applications that individual soldiers can implement today to make an impact in their units. Scott’s examples highlight how building more diverse teams and having an equitable culture can be truly transformational for team satisfaction and team productivity. Learning how to eliminate workplace harm enables your team to focus on the mission set and Just Work. I encourage you to read this book yourselves as Kim Scott presents the information in a way that is unique, interesting, and easy to read.
Aidan Looney is a cadet at the United States Military Academy, where he majors in Operations Research. He plans to branch Cyber, attending Basic Officer Leaders Course (BOLC) after graduate school.
