How far can you bend?

Are you bendable? 

The Marine Corps has an official motto:  Semper Fidelis - Always Faithful.  Marines have an unofficial motto: Semper Gumby - Always Flexible.  (If you are under 30 and do not know who Gumby is, his picture is over there ===>, or you can ask your parents about him!)

This unofficial motto is a sarcastic take on the fact that things are constantly changing in the Marine Corps - formation is here, not it's there, it is a this time, nope we moved it to that time.  Marines could allow these types of changes to drive them crazy, or they can learn to roll with the punches -- hence, Semper Gumby.

However, in the big picture, learning to be flexible in the small things allows you to be flexible in the big things.  When you learn to roll with it, you learn to not panic when plans have to change.

I thought about the great lesson in flexibility and adaptability I receive in the Marine Corps when I had to make an audible to my plans this morning.  I was driving into D.C. for a 9:00 meeting that I could not be late for.  Those of you who know D.C. traffic know that that is a bad time.  Traffic was horrible and I was not going to make my meeting.  Instead of panicking, I looked at my options, realized I could park near the Pentagon, hop on the Metro and make head to my meeting.  I walked into my meeting at 9:01 - not ideal, but a lot better than if I had stayed with my original plan.

Now, this story is not about how smart and savvy I am, it is about how when I was faced with the fact that my plan was blowing up, I stayed calm, considered my options, and made an informed decision.  The Marine Corps taught me that skill.

In the Marines, you train your leaders to be flexible on the battlefield - often, if you stay married to a plan, people will die and other bad things with happen.  You need to be able to be adaptable and flexible and willing to change your plan as required.

This often requires you to look at the problem and the solution from different angles.  For instance, when I was driving in to D.C. today, I realize that my plan would not work, so I had to consider another angle - the Metro.

Similarly, when you are a Leader and you come up with a plan, you have to be flexible enough to adjust when things are not working.


Click through for a discussion on some tools that will help you stay flexible in your decision-making and execution.



There are a handful of tools a Leader can use to help him remain flexible:

1) Understand that no plan is final.  Marines have a great saying on this: No plan survives first contact with the enemy (actually stolen from an old Prussian Field Marshall).  This means that you can draw up the best battle plan in the history of warfare, and the minute you encounter the enemy, you realize he is doing something else, so you have to change your entire plan.

Here is a real life example for you.  In March 2003, the First Marine Division had a plan for the invasion of Iraq.  We were practicing and walking through that plan for a couple of weeks.  Then when intelligence led to an early strike in an attempt to kill Saddam Hussein, the entire plan was altered on the fly.  We executed the new plan flawlessly and were in Baghdad in a few weeks time.

If a plan of that magnitude can be changed, any plan can be changed.  So, when you make a plan, do not wash your hands and walk away.  There will ALWAYS be a need to make some time of adjustment to your plan.


2) Do not fall in love with you plan.  This is always a challenge.  We spend so much time developing a plan, we believe it is the perfect plan and do not want to change it.  Avoid these thoughts.  You have to understand that making changes to your plan does not mean that the original plan was bad.  It means that circumstances have changed.  Do not take offense to suggestions that you need to change you plan - realize that things change, so your plan has to as well.

3) Don't be Stubborn.  If there is one trait a Leader cannot afford, it is stubbornness.  Being stubborn not only hurts your relationship with your subordinates, it prevents you from being flexible.  You cannot view change or adjustments as a bad thing.  You need to be locked in on your goals and vision, but you cannot be married to the path that gets you there.  Being willing to take a detour when you need to.

4) Listen to Your People. Your people will be the first ones who realize that the plan needs to be adjusted.  They are usually the ones doing the executing.  Those on the front lines usually have the most recent and relevant information.  If they come to you and suggest a change in plans, listen to them.  Of course, you need to be able to discern whining from the presentation of a legitimate issue.  However, you can't do that if you do not listen to what your subordinates are saying.

As the Leader, you should know your people well enough to know what is a legitimate issue and what is complaining.  If they bring you a problem, listen to them and take a second look at your plan.  Some of the best ideas I have gotten in the Marine Corps came from very junior Marines.  They were living where the decision met action, and they gave me great feedback.  Your people will do the same for you.

Embrace these ideas, and you too will be Semper Gumby!