“Sometimes, Chip, all you can do is just give an order.”  the Admiral said as he gave me his best piece of advice before I shipped off to Officer Candidate School.

Really?  That was it?  That was the best piece of advice he could give me?  Confused, I asked him to explain.

He then told me the story about when he was the Commanding Officer of a ship out of Norfolk, Virginia.  He explained that they had been out to sea for a while and that the ship’s fresh water generator went out, the crew had no water to drink or to shower with  and that he (not being an engineer) didn’t know what to do.

He then asked me, “Do you know what I did?”   Shaking my head no, he replied, “I told the Chief Engineer, ‘GET FRESH WATER!’”

He then asked me, “Do you know what happened?”  Again, shaking my head no, he said, “We got fresh water!”

He ended the lesson with, “You see, Chip, sometimes as leaders we don’t know what to do but we have to trust that our people do.  If you’re clear on what needs to be done, give the order and let your people go….they’ll get you there.”

Now that made sense and, quite possibly, was the best advice I ever have gotten in leadership.

How many times have you been in the same position?  Stuck….not knowing what to do but knowing you’ve got to get there?  Just “giving the order” empowers the team to get creative, get it done, and move forward.

How do we get there without being oppressive or appearing militant?

Be clear on what the target is.
When I state clear, I mean clear.  Not only where we want to be but also when we want to be there.  Deadlines spur creativity.

Let them go.
Don’t give the order and then micro-manage the process.  Check in periodically if you need to but give your team full reign to get the job done…unencumbered by you or other organizational barriers.  Allow them to ask for forgiveness after and not permission during if a rule or two need to be bent.  (As long as it’s not illegal, immoral or dangerous…most is forgivable).

Party on!
Celebrate the win after!  Celebrate the team’s ingenuity, creativity and dedication to getting it done.  If you want to see innovation in action again, you have to recognize that it happened and celebrate it.  If you don’t, it’s doubtful you’ll see it again.

I’ll freely admit that I’m not as smart as a lot of people are.  It’s not that I’m not bright but there are just a lot of things I don’t know how to do.  Just “giving the order” has served me well throughout my career because all of us are much smarter than one of us.

Do you want more creativity?  Give your team the order, step aside, and put innovation into action.