[April 29, 2020] Senior leaders are experienced in resolving vague, uncertain, complex problems. Solving such issues will inevitably get supported or disagreement on its effectiveness, reliability, and appropriateness. When problems are highly complex, and there is time available, one way to overcome resistance is by socializing the new idea.
One of the most significant decisions in the Iraq War will illustrate how socializing a new idea works. In 2006 and 2007, the U.S. military and the coalition fighting in Iraq saw a dramatic increase in insurgent activity, causing a jump in casualties among coalition troops and civilians. How to resolve this developing problem required new thinking about the Iraq War.
Senior staff officers presented many ideas in large forums at the Al Faw Palace (Baghdad), giving us several courses of action. Senior officials from the White House the Pentagon were present on secure video teleconferencing. There seemed to be a never-ending stream of ideas that produced more forums and meetings. By late 2006, we weren’t getting anywhere.
In early 2007, a young man from General Petraeus’ “brain trust” staff had the idea of a surge in troops to be used in a new counterinsurgency strategy. He called a number of his friends in the Department of State, at the White House, U.S.-based senior staffers, the FBI, CIA, and other “interagency actors.” Slowly and patiently he worked his social skills throughout the bureaucracy.
Weeks went by when all stakeholders were contacted and his idea examined inside and out. There were informal gatherings and small forums of a dozen or so people that eventually grew into more extensive, formal conferences. Gen. Petraeus encouraged this effort. While it took several months to socialize this new idea of a troop surge, its initial success in planning was not guaranteed. These were anxious times. Eventually, the strategy saw approval by the U.S. president.
Socializing new ideas at any level in any bureaucracy comes with great difficulty. Large, resource-rich solutions are risky where failure means a terrible price is paid. In war, that price is the lives of troops and local civilians. Without this idea of a “surge” being socialized, it might never have been approved or, if approved, would it have met resistance from the many government agencies.
Socializing a new idea must involve all stakeholders, overseen by senior leaders, be executable with on-hand resources, and have the buy-in of nearly everyone. Hundreds of thousands of working hours were consumed in the pursuit of this new Petraeus strategy. Fortunately, it worked and the insurgency collapsed. We can disagree with the war or why it occurred, but no one can deny that the surge worked and that the unknown socialization of this new strategy worked.
Gen. Satterfield, you have hit on a very important point that deserves more attention. This is like setting expectations and explaining what is going on BEFORE it happens. Socializing new ideas is crucial for long-term success in any leader’s endeavor. Make no mistake about it, if you are any kind of leader (or person who wants things done), then make sure your ideas are informally circulated first.
Socializing ideas can come at a highly detrimental cost if not done with integrity, discipline, and responsibility. The boundaries of socializing and then normalizing something need to be established well before the initialization of the task.
This article is a great example of what “responsible” looks like, but take into account the socialization of immoral or unethical ideas on a mass scale (ie, the lack of boundaries in social and mass media).
The boundary line that ought to be established is an individual’s dedication and responsibility to moral and ethical decision making. But that line of discipline has been distorted by the extreme degradation of social maturity by means of incentivizing the sensationalization of the immoral or unethical actions and ideas of immature people. This encourages the socialization and normalization of things that our conscience tells us is wrong until it’s hard to tell what wrong is anymore.
To sum up my conclusion, it takes morally and ethically straight leaders to implement the socialization of good ideas with integrity. The philosophy of the socialization of ideas seems to have been placed in immature hands, globally, and eventually will cause more harm than good due to the connectivity of the world, unless morals and ethics becomes the next socialized thing to spread.
I have a great boss at work. Not only does he treat us with respect and dignity but he also does exactly as advised by Gen. Satterfield. He ‘socializes” ideas that are new to our company. He does that by talking informally and then in meetings as the new idea(s) spread. He takes his time and works thru problems that come up during that time. By the time the process is formalized, everyone mostly has already bought in on the new idea. Much smoother and less stress.
If only all our bosses were that respectful and thoughtful. ?
Alas, I wish we all could learn how to do this. Time and money are a factor however and so let’s not forget that important restraint on our ability to execute the mission. Thanks for the note and I’m happy for you Jonnie that your boss is smarter than most.
Good point, Scotty. I always say that it must be a balance between resources and mission planning.
Excellent senior leader advice today.
You may get interesting feedback that assists in refining and strengthening your ideas. Either way, socializing the idea of the change before implementing the change makes the whole process smoother.
Very good, you have my thanks. I enjoyed the idea you have today.
Hello Mr. Kim. It has been a long time since you commented. Your ideas are always welcome. I hear that South Korea has made some great progress against the COVID-19 pandemic. You are to be congratulated for all that was done to prevent many deaths in your country.
I like the way you integrate the story about the ‘surge’ in Iraq into the idea of socializing an idea. While it is certainly something we all do, unless we are antisocial, it has its greatest impact on large, complex ideas. Just like the idea that the Earth was round and not flat. That got a lot of attention early on but what happened was that it made for new advancements in understanding the universe well before we could launch satellites into orbit.
During this socializing process, hopefully someone will tell you if you are about to jump off a cliff you can’t see because of your position.
Right, it’s all about communication ….. effective communication. That is why developing our social skills is such an important idea. Without good commo, you will screw up for sure.
And too many of us are just too narcissistic to realize that.
Gen. Satterfield has written about this idea of narcissism several times. In fact, he once outright asked the question “Leader Trends: Are We Narcissists?” https://www.theleadermaker.com/leadership-trends-are-we-narcissists/ His conclusion was that, yes, too many leaders are narcissistic and that alone prevents us from moving ahead and helping others.
Funny how that works.
Socializing a new idea will get you to see things from other people’s perspective that you would never see on your own.
Good points today, Gen Satterfield. Like some of the others here, I never really gave this much thought. But we do this every day but just don’t think of it that way. If you want to buy a new car, it is a good idea to talk with your spouse about it. Or, if you want to get a new job, the same thing should be done. We are socializing an idea by discussing it with others. It would be a great idea if more senior leaders did the same.
Frankly, I never thought of it this way. An overall plan to just socialize an idea. This is very much unlike our politicians today who just want to cram it down our throats. They are, of course in their minds, intellectually and morally superior to the rest of us.
The idea that socializing an idea is best is a good thing but “time” is often not available for it. Just think of the military officer who must make a quick decision to fight the enemy. There is little time to gather everyone around for a pow wow.
Good comment again, Max. Thanks. Your note on politicians extends to dictators in particular. I find that some of our socialist politicians would like to be a dictator. That way, the US Constitution would not have to get in the way of making the world a “paradise” where everyone is happy, paid the same, and are the same.
A little humor today I see. Well said.
One way to gather this critical feedback on your repositioning (or other major change initiative) is to socialize the idea. Toss the idea out during hallway conversations, before or after meetings with key people you trust. Find a way to informally get feedback, responses and additional ideas about the change you want to make.