Leadership Style Question…
Well this isn’t really a political post. It’s a LEADERSHIP post.
I’m a big fan of “The Deadliest Catch” and I just watched the third episode of this seasons show. I have a few observations that I’d like to share with my friends. If you care to discuss it, by all means. If you are a liberal SOB and want to talk about “Feelings” just move on now. I’ll give you a second to click off.
My Job consists of leading a group of people to get a job done. I’m not an owner of the place I work. I get paid for my skills leading people as well as my ability to do the job I ask of my crew. My crew is ALWAYS at the top regarding all measures of which we are judged by my bosses. Now my job does not involve a risk of life anywhere near those on the bearing sea but our job can be dangerous, I have the scars to prove it.
I led this discussion off with MY story to get to what I see developing out there on the bering sea. I realize this show was filmed a little while ago and I really have no idea how it will end this season but the starting is very very bad. Bad for the boats, the skipper, the crew the entire film crews bad for all. I’m going to stick (for the most part) with one boat in this example of failure of leadership.
Cornelia Marie is the biggest disappointment so far. If you haven’t seen tonight’s episode and want to be surprised drop off now and come back when you have.
When Phil Harris passed away his kids made what I thought was a noble effort to carry on the legacy of the boat. They picked a guy to captain the vessel and made commitments. Well things got a bit difficult, crab was elusive and the crew turned on the captain. Now to be fair the show only uses snippets of what occurs on the boat so I’m doing a little assuming in my next statement. The Crew, Mostly the Harris boys did the captain a very major injustice. They got him out, committed to do a job and for whatever reason failed to honor their commitment. That is flat out wrong.
That being said, the captain appeared to be a very poor leader. He failed to understand his responsibility to LEAD. His job is to keep control of the boat, do it safely and productively. He failed because he allowed confidence in his leadership to disappear. He didn’t LEAD a crew through a tough spell. He FAILED to recognize what kind of leadership style was needed with that particular crew. You can’t step into Phil Harris’s chair and be MORE dictatorial than their dad. You can’t coddle them either. Picking “Blue Crab” as the goal might not have been a good call either. He ran himself away from any of the fleet that could have offered him some advice. ALL of that fleet was pulling for that boat to succeed.
The captain of the Cornelia Marie was the definition of a poor leader in my opinion. IF he smelled pot, had suspicions or whatever, the correct course of action out on the sea would be to WAIT till you had proof to ask questions. WAIT, be Patient and concentrate on doing your job. You start “Accusations” you put a crew on alert. From then on it’s down hill.
I stepped into a team 6 years ago that was very fragmented and they were more or less working as individuals for a job that requires an ungodly amount of team work to succeed. I filled the shoes of someone who failed at the job of leading them. He had a leadership style similar to the new captain of the CM. However; He did it without providing an example by his own work ethic. That leads to resentment when you aren’t willing to do what you ask of your team/crew. Now MY team is no longer MY team, We are OUR Team. We’ve become a family rather than a crew. And leaders have the ability to motivate without resentment developing.
One captain on a boat ran his deck boss off the deck for being an idiot. The deck boss spent a lot of time berating and belittling his crew. He was warned a couple times the captain removed him. GOOD MOVE.
There’s a place for leaders that are heavy handed and dictatorial, That place is boot camp.
Leadership is the ability to move people toward a common goal. You can do it several ways, true leaders have the ability to do it using all of them at the right time. I really hope the boys get their head together and do well in their lives. At this point I’m not real confident in them.