When taking over a failed mission, job, or task, would you acknowledge the past or ignore it?

2016-08-03T07:10:05-04:00

More than a few times I've been passed off a failed mission job or tasking to complete where the previous leader simply couldn't make it happen or otherwise the tasking or mission just wasn't set for success
Today will be my first time to do it in the civilian setting

In the past I learned what worked for me was to acknowledge that something wasn't working in the past learn what can be discovered from that past, but suggest to the group let's start fresh and just move on from here... building on what works, not dwelling on what did not.

I felt that allowed their personal opinion of past transgressions to be "addressed" without getting into specifics and having decide if those things were imagined, perceived or real.
All the while letting them know that I was not ignoring that there were issues of the past.

Trying to decide if that's the correct path of travel in the civilian setting..for my specific situation. (EDIT: See later posts that detail why this is not a "normal" situation most will be familiar with...

Taking over for another instructor's class due to the students not progressing as expected, multiple voiced concerns with type method and level of instruction.

Knowing the recent issues and distant past history of the former instructor likely are the cause of the current issue, causation is with that person not the students, likley means their concerns are valid.

Response by COL Lee Flemming made Aug 3 at 2016 7:36 AM

2016-08-03T07:36:12-04:00

Fine line SGM...hard to ignore the past when you are changing the direction of an organization. That said there are a few "nevers" as you know. Nevers: never bad mouth the old regime, never disregard the circumstances that precipitated failed decisions, and never forget to consult with the old regime or ask their opinion about proposed changes.

Response by PO2 Steven Williams made Aug 3 at 2016 9:26 AM

2016-08-03T09:26:57-04:00

HI Erik,

I have been training civilians for over 20 years now. I have been put into a variety of "turn around" situations. I always try to spend time with the exiting team to try and understand there methodologies and what didn't work and of course what did work. There is always something to gain from paying attention to the past so that negative issues will not be repeated as you move forward with your class. I would also suggest learning from the class. What did they think was working? What was not working? Failure is rarely one sided so taking input from both the staff and the class and integrating that into a path to success is imperative. Good Luck!

Response by CAPT Kevin B. made Aug 3 at 2016 9:52 AM

2016-08-03T09:52:31-04:00

You better acknowledge and deal with how the team feels about it collectively and individually or you'll just be the next dumb A that management dropped in. Find out the things that they would do/feel which coincidently are part of your recovery plan and make sure they see it. They are leery of newbies jumping in, but like eating an elephant one bite at a time, you'll get there.

Another thing you can add to the mix is a focus on moving forward to success and not dwelling on the past. Acknowledge the small successes going forward and people will tend to shift their focus that way sooner. Also be aware of the past hot buttons and not do those yourself lest you encourage a backward shift in focus.

Response by MSG Private RallyPoint Member made Aug 3 at 2016 10:16 AM

2016-08-03T10:16:33-04:00

Acknowledge it for the lessons learned.

Response by CSM David Heidke made Aug 3 at 2016 10:21 AM

2016-08-03T10:21:27-04:00

If you haven't failed, you haven't tried.

We learn from our mistakes. It should be acknowledged, but you have to be careful not to highlight responsible parties. It can be political, but you didn't make E9 not knowing how to navigate political minefields.

Response by Cpl Justin Goolsby made Aug 3 at 2016 12:34 PM

2016-08-03T12:34:25-04:00

I've run into a similar situation where lack of leadership has allowed a shop to stagnate in their below par performances. I spoke with each member of the shop to see what their perceived discrepancies were. Then I evaluated the work quality of the shop and told them the mistakes that I was finding and the things that needed to be corrected. I explained to them that as a whole we needed to change the shop.

For the most part, they were on board but I'm still dealing with some pushback from the leadership. Personally, I think you're handling it fine. Sometimes it's best to start from a clean slate, as long as they don't fall into their previous funks. Otherwise you'll just keep needing a new clean slate.

Response by SGT David T. made Aug 3 at 2016 12:41 PM

2016-08-03T12:41:55-04:00

I find it's best to be up front about it. Candidly discussing the problems will help to bring about a resolution to get the project moving forward again.

Response by 1SG Private RallyPoint Member made Aug 3 at 2016 2:21 PM

2016-08-03T14:21:10-04:00

You have to acknowledge how you got to where you are, establish that as a team we are going to do better and solve this, and solicit ideas for what might work from the team you are taking over.
Share in the solutions, and you will have buy-in from those who know the problem best and whose efforts you will need in order to defeat the problem.
Share in the commendations and praise after the solution is implemented, and you will have a long-term and loyal team for the next challenge.

Response by SGM Erik Marquez made Aug 3 at 2016 5:01 PM

2016-08-03T17:01:43-04:00

Thank you all for the responses I'm absolutely unsurprised at the great advice and personal experience shared. It was pretty much how i've seen it done and done it myself before.

And as I found today when I went to work absolutely none of that applied to the current situation..lol
This with a short-term task 5 hours classroom, 2 ea 5 hour days on the range. I replaced a peer in a two-day class, the peer failed the students yesterday in that she did not provide quality, complete instruction. Nor communicate effectively, interact in a sane and professional manner.

Causing the students to not progress to the anticipated and required point in the program of instruction by days end

I was called in to take over the class and try to get them through the remaining exercises prior to the facility we use turning into a pumpkin.

The students were a mix this morning of not understanding anything was wrong yesterday ..thus not understanding why i was taking over... and those that had a physical and emotional interaction in a negative way with the instructor yesterday and were happy to see somebody else today.

The uniqueness of the situation was no time to observe prior to trianing starting, no time to do a Q&A with the students more than figuring out who was who. Zero extra time in the day to explain anything other than hello I'm Erik and were moving forward from here

Several of the students who didn't know how bad their training was yesterday were frustrated that their instructor the day before was not there today. As the training day progressed and they were given instruction on what they should have already known, they realized at that point what they had missed out on and then started to get angry at the level of instruction or lack thereof from the day prior.

Restarting the conversation and justification for why I was there...
It worked out in the end, but was way more stressful for those students than it needed to be.

Response by SSG Jeremy Sharp made Aug 4 at 2016 12:27 AM

2016-08-04T00:27:15-04:00

I have been that instructor more than once in my career. You can't ignore the past because you have to find out if the students were taught anything useful. Once you have evaluated their level of instruction, or lack thereof, you can reasonably evaluate where you need to begin your instruction and the method you are going to use to ramp up the learning curve so that the students will maximize learning opportunities and "get their monies worth". Unfortunately poor instructors usually fall into to categories. The first is the instructor who has the knowledge of what they are teaching but lacks the ability to effectively give that knowledge to students in a manner that allows them to actually learn the material or master the skill being taught. The second is far worse. This instructor has completed training in the past but lacks the knowledge to properly instruct the material and/or is void of the technical and tactical proficiency to properly teach a required skill. Good luck in your endeavor to save this experience for the students so thy do not view the course/training as a failure. You can be the best part of this experience for your student audience just display positive attitude and enthused work ethic to motivate student performance.

Response by TSgt Melissa Post made Aug 4 at 2016 7:05 AM

2016-08-04T07:05:54-04:00

I believe the saying goes something like "he who does not learn from history, tends to repeat it". Acknowledging what caused the failure of a project or mission, will help the new leadership eliminate those paths as possibilities and prevent them from repeating the same. I have been in a shop for two years and have gone through now 6 different leaders. Almost all came in wanting to make a name for themselves. When they looked at our systems that were struggling, they all wanted to repeat the same things we have done in the past, as if "this time it will work because I'm now in charge". The whole time all of our shop attempted to explain why these plans did not work in the past, and our leaders plowed forward toward yet another failure.