Now, in almost sixteen years in the United States Navy, I've seen participatory leadership, autocratic leadership, even a few instances of democratic leadership. But never, until this last week, have I ever heard of intrusive leadership.
From what I've been able to gather from the emails and the one live reference I've heard regarding this new leadership style, intrusive leadership is as negative a concept and philosophy as there could be in any organization. It's not being involved in your people's professional lives. It's not even being involved in your people's personal lives. It's running their lives.
Ever since Tailhook and the fallout from it in the early 90s, the Navy as an institution has been running scared from anything that remotely looks like negative publicity. The problem is that the Navy now looks on everything as negative publicity unless it generated the story itself. So now, it is looking to head off any and all embarrassing incidents by developing this concept of intrusive leadership.
The Navy is famous for bureaucracy, rules and regulations, listing requirements in painstaking detail for how to do everything from tying one's shoes to how to go aloft on the mast. Obviously, the real, practical importance of an action is irrelevant. The point is to make thought unnecessary, even to make it an obstacle to the goals of the Navy.
The longer I stay in, the worse it gets, and I, for one, refuse to participate in it.
The whole idea of intrusive leadership denies the spirit, individuality, and intelligence of every sailor in the Navy. It's micromanagement at its worst.
At its root, the problem is that the Navy has a severe lack of faith in its people. The presumption behind an idea like intrusive leadership, no matter what the literature and schools say, is that we sailors, especially blueshirts, are little better than children who need constant supervision, no matter the age, experience, or knowledge that we have. It is a direct consequence of the "no deficiencies" mentality that the Navy has. A person can never make a mistake. Ever. If a sailor does make a mistake, that sailor can kiss any sort of advancement goodbye. The idea is ludicrous, of course. We all make mistakes, even the officers and chiefs who make these inane policies. Not being allowed to make mistakes, to fail or be flawed only creates anger or timidity. Neither makes for good sailors.
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