The Boss Sets the Pace - Whether He/She Knows it or Not

This morning I learned a very valuable lesson in pace-setting.  Physical Training (PT) is a staple of military life.  This morning the commander of one of my subordinate elements invited me to participate in PT with his unit.  That’s one of those invitations that a commander really can’t easily refuse.  Since the session was based around a formation run of about 3.5 - 4 miles (you know, the ones where someone is singing “Jodies” and the unit repeats the lines) I used my status as a “guest” to run in different places of the formation and be seen by the personnel.  At one point I sprinted up to the front and ran next to the commander – the one who works directly for me.  Very soon I realized that we had picked up the pace significantly.  I had inadvertently become the pacesetter.  In my mind I was just trying to be with my subordinate and let him know that I was enjoying the invitation, but as I got to his pace, he wanted to make sure that he wasn’t running slower than I was, so he sped up a bit.  Simultaneously, I wanted to ensure that I didn’t fall behind his pace, so I sped up, too.  Pretty soon we had accelerated significantly -  much to the chagrin of the personnel behind us.  

 

I realized very quickly that my presence at the head of the formation had immediately resulted in a change of pace – and the pace was faster.  Even though I was the senior person there, I was an invited guest of my subordinate, and I did not want to overshadow his position.  It was a very poignant lesson on how the senior person out front sets the pace for an organization, and may inadvertently cause subordinates to toss aside plans that had been well-thought-out.  Sometimes, good leaders need to make radical changes in order to get subordinates out of inefficient or dangerous ruts.  However, things like that need to be done deliberately and with great forethought.  Getting out in front and making great changes, or implementing the “bright idea of the week,” can put an organization into terminal confusion.  I once had a commander who was a great man to work for, but had a different “bright, big idea” every week.  In August of 2000, after he came to my office and elaborated on his latest brainchild, I finally said, “Sir, I’m still working on your great ideas from April.  Can we slow down on the changes for a while?”  

 

Lesson:

• Leaders, good and bad, set the pace for their organizations, whether they realize it or not.  A good leader will regularly seek feedback as to the effect his/her pace is having on the organization, and then evaluate whether that effect is beneficial and how to maintain or alter the pace as necessary to meet the goals of the organization.  

 

Dirk