I Give You Permission
During my 12 years in law enforcement, I completed multiple elite leadership courses and held several leadership positions. As a SWAT Team Leader, flawless execution as a team was table stakes. The only option aside from 100% success was a casualty.
On one specific mission, my team was tasked with entering the residence and apprehending a known domestic abuser and drug dealer who had a track record longer than my arm. On my team were three guys who had (fortunately) all been on separate calls to this home within the past few months. The reason this was important is because they all knew the layout of the home, which helped us plan strategically for the right entry and coverage points: in depth tactical knowledge teams are not always afforded pre-operation.
On the day of the warrant execution, we came together for a mission brief over every detail and team member responsibility immediately prior to heading out. You see, there could be no room for error. Even the smallest mistake could result in injury or death of one of my men. That was not going to happen under my leadership.
Of the three men who had been in the home recently, one of them was brand new to the team. As green as it gets, he had been in “active status” on the team for under a month. We’ll call him ‘Paul.’ As we were all coming together to review plans, timing, and roles for every team member, I received a text from Paul saying he was running a bit late coming from another call and would be there soon. While waiting for him, the team and I began reviewing every step of the mission one final time. There were two entrances to the home. With two of the members of my team present who had been in the home agreeing that entering from the front was the best option, we laid our plans of execution from there. We’d have to be swift, because the master bedroom was at the back of the house, a straight line from the front door. If he was in that room and armed, we had seconds to get through the door and detain him.
I turned around from our whiteboard to see Paul joining us at the back of the group. I welcomed him, and quickly reviewed the plan so he could come up to speed.
As the newest member of the team, Paul didn’t know what to expect in the final briefing. New team members and employees often operate in a ‘gray area’ as they get to know their place as low man on the totem pole, and the organization’s culture. As a leader, it is important to make sure that your rookies are empowered to speak up. Here’s why.
One of the cornerstones of my leadership philosophy for the SWAT team was that I expected each team member to provide complete and accurate information when I asked for it - or when they knew it was missing. This applied to everyone - including rookies.
I could see Paul tentatively looking around and cautiously raising his hand from the back of the group. This was his first mission. He was clearly the rookie among a team of highly experienced SWAT operators. I needed to put him at ease and make sure he felt empowered to contribute any bit of knowledge or intel he might have without feeling like ‘the rookie.’
What we discovered is that Paul had been in the residence most recently- within that past week. Our plan of entry wouldn’t work. The suspect had moved the living room and master bedroom, putting the master bedroom nearer the current point of entry and using a dresser and a couch to barricade the front door entry making a different living room for himself. We would have to enter through the second point of entry at the rear of the home. I hit the pause button, called Paul into my office and completely drew up new plans.
We executed the mission successfully apprehending the suspect and getting him in cuffs within seconds. If Paul had not felt comfortable telling us what he knew about the new arrangement inside the home, we would have spent precious time punching through a barricaded front entry, likely to find our armed suspect fully prepared and peppering us with gunfire from the other side. It turned out the suspect’s new arrangements put him in direct line of sight with the old front door and he had a handgun within reach in his new room. Lives would have been lost.
Your new employees, your rookies, must have permission to operate in the gray area.
People need to know and feel confident that they have permission to raise their hands and speak up without feeling that they haven’t earned the right to do so because they are new.
Set a clear statement of expectation with every person you lead. Expect every person on your team to provide complete and accurate information when asked for it…OR when they know it’s missing. Help them understand they have permission to speak, and that everyone on the team is obligated to provide missing information if they have it and you or the team might need it.
In our accounting firm, our clients work with several members of our team. They get the advantage of multiple disciplines of expertise to help them make smart business decisions, minimize their tax liability, and achieve business growth goals. This requires every person on the team speaking up and communicating key information that will help us help our clients win and get where they want to go.
Giving permission happens in more areas than just speaking up, it happens with initiative in sales, tackling projects, reaching out to clients, chasing down new opportunities, and even having permission to make mistakes. Most people don’t act in one way or the other, positively or negatively, because they are unaware of the permissions they have or don’t have. Articulate permission to your team and free them up to maximize their potential all while knowing how to stay within the boundaries.
Had I never given my rookie permission to speak up, we would have almost certainly lost lives that day. In business, when you give new team members (and every team member) permission to speak up, you empower your team to work together, educate each other, change direction when needed, and achieve success for themselves and your clients.
By Ryan Conn