Are You a Routine Leader?

Routines are an important part of our work lives, especially in professions like the military and the law.

Routines provide leaders with stability and predictability that is essential to interactions and success in organizations and professions. During my early years as a naval aviator, my world was consumed by routines that were designed to improve my knowledge, skills and abilities as a pilot and as a tactician.

My work was strictly guided by manuals and checklists, pre-flight briefs and in-flight procedures, as well as post-flight debriefings and analyses.

Those routines helped me master technical skills and important knowledge that I could apply in a dynamic and challenging environment. Routines were good for me and for the Navy, because it provided a sense of shared accountability among the entire flight crew.

It enabled me and other junior crewmembers to more effectively contribute to mission accomplishment. I knew exactly what I was supposed to do.

As a pilot, I practiced and practiced the behaviors and modeled the principles that aviators were expected to master. I became good at my routines and, over time, I considered myself a highly disciplined and effective pilot.

Not surprisingly, discipline is one of the most valued attributes of military culture, and disciplined performance is considered the professional standard to emulate. However, by linking military discipline to pilot routines I traveled down the primrose path of faulty assumptions. 

Here’s how it works: routines promote predictability, which generates trust and security; the security of routines also creates comfort (a false sense of security), which conditions us to miss or pass over important things. I learned this lesson the hard way as a new pilot in command of a helicopter operating from a ship in the western Pacific Ocean. The routines I followed while flying across the Pacific created a comfort with my environment — a lot of open, blue water with the same mission over and over provided a sense of security with being a pilot in command.

Then, in the middle of that expansive and comfortable environment, my crew and I encountered a little spec of an island. It was nothing much on radar and little more than a rock rising from the white coral reef around it. The island was picturesque and unique enough for a low fly-by to see if there was anything alive on it — and we saw nothing.

The rest of the flight was, well, pretty much routine. It wasn’t until we returned to the ship that I learned I had piloted my helicopter over the sovereign territory of Japan.

Thankfully for me, Japan is a close ally. However, I violated their airspace and my action had the potential to cause an international incident. I substituted my routine and security for the vigilance of military discipline and became so comfortable with my role as pilot in command that I missed an important sign.

Are you a disciplined leader, or are you a leader who sees your routines as discipline? Regardless of the industry or profession, discipline is frequently found among the lists of most important leader attributes. The essence of discipline is the consistent, even vigilant, ability to remain focused and committed to the most important responsibilities and values of leadership.

However, in a world dominated by practices and procedures, it’s a short trip to the comfort zone of leading through routines. Leaders are accountable to their routines, but they must stay focused and committed to the discipline and values of leadership — even when a comfortable Pacific island appears on the horizon.

Capt. Steve Trainor (U.S. Navy, retired) holds a Ph.D. in sociology and serves as director of research for The Soderquist Center in Siloam Springs. He contributes to the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal on topics of leadership, ethics and values.