Creating an Army of Winners

In 1988, the Detroit Pistons won the NBA Eastern Division and went on to play the Los Angelcs Lakers in the NBA Championship. After the divisional game, the Boston Cel-tics passed on some valuable advice, "Don't be content just making it to the Championship. Go out there to win!" The Pistons did not understand the value of the advice and lost in 1988. However, in 1989 when they faced the Lakers again for the championship, the words rang true, and they won. What was the difference between the two years? 111 1989, the Pistons had a hiintirig desire to win! We must instill this same burning desire to win in our soldiers. For the Army, the ultimate goal in war is to win, and in our profession, there may not be a next year to try again. As D. M. Malone puts it, in Small Unit Lcudcrship, "That's because the first battle oT that next come-as-you-are war, due to its intensity, could well be the only battle." We must adopt Vince Lombar-di's attitude, "Winning's not everything; it's the only thing!" We must make winners out of soldiers. The purpose of this article is to describe for you how a winning attitude can greatly enhance your unit and how to make winners out of your soldiers. A winning attitude in a unit gives three advantages. First, it raises the level of performance by the unit. Second. it builds esprit de corps. Finally, winning perpetuates winning. In their book, A Passion For EvceI-Icnce, Ton1 Peters and Nancy Austin say this about winners: "Winners... don't do onlv a parciit or t u 7 0 better tlinii rlie hioldreds of yer-cent better. '' 110n1t. do Soldiers who are trained as winners will raise the performance level in a unit. The basic reason for this is in the process of creating winners, which I will discuss later. Briefly, challenging goals are established. As lower goals are met, higher goals are established. By reaching and setting higher goals, standards of performance also increase. The other reason for increased performance is that soldiers with a winning attitude will want to do better. They will want to win! Winning in these terms means being successful or reaching the goal set for them. As all the soldiers strive to accomplish the goals set for them, esprit de corps develops in the unit. Unity is a logical product of soldiers faced with common goals, which can't always be reached without the help of a squad or platoon. By combining individual goals, the unit meets its goals. As the soldiers see their performance and that of thc unit increase, their enthusiasm will grow. Unity and enthusiasm in a unit is (*spit de corps. It is that simple. The final benefit of creating winners is that winning attitudes create more winners. The new soldier entering a company of winners sees many things that make him want to be a winner. He sees high standards of discipline, training, and performance that he must meet. He sees a system in place to help him reach those standards. He sees the esprit de corps the unit possesses. Most soldiers seek a unit like this. The soldier is like the new draft choice of the Detroit Pistons. He is happy to be on a championship team, and he will work harder to make the squad and not to let his teammates down. Now that we've seen the benefits of a winning organization, we must discuss the steps in developing the winning spirit. There are four steps in creating a winner. The first step is to show the soldier what a winner is. The second step is goal setting. The third step is his performance and feedback on the task. The final action is to reward his accomplishment of the goal. When developing a winning spirit in an individual, we must first show him what a winner is. Show your soldier how to walk, talk, and act like a winner. The best way to accomplish this is to lead by example. Reflcct a positive attitude, show pride in your 44 ARMOR - September-October 7989 work, and display responsibility for your actions. Establish high personal standards, but most important, treat others like successful people - like winners. Certain groups in the Army do a good job of teaching the winning attitude. The Airborne, Ranger. and Cavalry units come to mind immediately. When a private greets you with "Airborne!," he says more than "Good Morning." He tells you that he is part of a special organization and that he himself is special. However. all too often. units stop at this first step. They develop an attitude. but they fail to go on and develop winners. You must go beyond the attitude to the next step. which is goal setting. Leaders, down to the lowest level, should sit down with soldiers to list goals. The goal-setting session should be one-on-one. The leader and the individual must agree on the goals, and the leader should write the goals down to refer to them later. The leader should discuss professional goals, unit goals, and pcrsonal goals with the soldier. The professional goals are individual tasks the soldier should accomplish to help him be a better soldier. An example is scoring an 85 on the next SUT test. The unit goals show the soldier how his work fits in the organization. For example, he has a goal to qualify with his crew on Tank Table VIII. This helps the unit goal of qualifying every crew in tank gunnery. Finally the soldier should list some personal goals. These could include getting an associate's degree or taking his family to see Disneyworld. The soldier's personal goals are listed also because they play an important part in the soldier feeling of success. Every goal should be challenging and attainable. A goal which a soldier can accomplish immediately does little for him or the organization. Had the Pistons won the 1988 Championship by forfeit, it is doubtful they would have had the strong desire to win in 1989. Therefore, the soldier should have to work to achieve his goal, and the goal must be attainable. There is no reason to set a soldier up for failure. The purpose is to raise his level of performance through his training and instill in him the desire to win through his accomplishment of the goal. Success will encourage him to work for the next goal. Failure will only discourage him. Oncc goal-setting is complete, the blood. sweat. and tears of the winning process begins. This is when we train the soldier. The training is tough and realistic. The standards need to increase to evcntually reach the standards of the goal. Drills must be repeated again and again. The leader offers the soldier constant feedback during the training proccss. Feedback is essential because it hclps the soldier improve on his weaknesses. It also lets the soldier know where he stands in relation to his goal. Training without feedback is like thc Pistons playing the Lakers, and no one keeping score. The soldier never knows if hc won, lost, or how well he playcd the game. Focus the feedback on the task and not on the individual. When the leader tells a soldier. "You screwed up," the soldier becomes defensive. Once this happens, the lesson is lost. When the feedback focuses on the task, the soldier will concentrate on the lesson. Also, make feedback timely and constant. Telling the Pistons the score of the game after it's over does little to help their performance. Likewise, to critique a soldier on his marksmanship just before he goes to qualify is too late. Give the feedback when he is training so he can make improvements. The leader, by providing feedback, guides the soldier to goal accomplishment. When the soldier accomplishes the goal, he is a winner! However, the work of the leader is still not over. He must recognize the accomplishment and reward the soldier. The reward may be as simple as a pat on the back, a good counseling statement, or recognition at a formation, but the leader must provide a reward. Passiort for Escel-leitce calls this process "celebrating" winners. The celebration, no mattcr how big or small, builds pride in the soldier. It also shows other soldiers that there is value in winning. This pride and the knowledge that hc accomplished his goal givc the soldicr greater job satisfaction. The increased satisfaction makes it more likely for the soldier to work hard in the future. Now you have a winner, and the process of goal-setting starts again. What have you gained? Well you now have a better unit, because at the very least a single soldier improved himself. Combine the performance of all of the soldiers. and your unit's performance increases. The unit continues to develop esprit de corps as everyone joins the bandwagon to accomplish their goals and be celebrated as a winner. Finally, you instilled a desire to win - a desire to be successful - in the unit. The desire, once lit, will not easily disappear. And if the time ever arises when your men enter the battlefield where they must win, the desire and confidencc will be present in each of them to keep them going. They will be winners. First Lieutenant Jeff Swisher is a 1985 West Point graduate. He has served as a tank platoon leader, mortar platoon leader, and XO with 5-68 Armor. He is currently assigned to 24th Infantry Division, Ft. Stewart, Ga. ARMOR - September-October 7989 4 5