The U.S Army W.T.F! Moments Admin Team recently wrote a guest piece on Joe Byerly’s blog, From the Green Notebook, titled “The Leader’s Guide to Being Featured on U.S. Army W.T.F! Moments.” The team offered the 10 most common ways leaders find themselves featured on their forum. Like any list, this one is ripe for a few addenda. While they offer a great list, these 10 examples are the baseline; they are the minimum expectation of our leaders. Here are an additional 3 ways you can strive to create a command climate that avoids the dubious honor of a W.T.F! Feature.
U.S. Army WTF! Moments is a social media community,1.2 million people strong, spanning the mediums of Facebook, internet radio, a website, Instagram and Twitter. They are “a venue for soldiers to share some of the more absurd moments of Army life and vent a little. [They] give a voice to those in the formation who may typically be voiceless.” U.S. Army W.T.F! Moments also supports many great causes and raises awareness for charities, soldiers and families in need, and much more.
Before we continue, I offer a caveat eloquently stated on Twitter by @WTF_Judge:
There’s a BIG difference between us putting your unit on blast, and us just posting something funny that was sent in.
If your Joe got a ridiculous haircut, or funny tattoo, that’s just funny and not a reflection on you.
If we post day 6 of a lockdown? That’s a leadership fail.
— Judge, USAWTFM in-house counsel. (@WTF_Judge) June 4, 2019
Without further ado, here are 3 ways to instill a unit climate that avoids actions likely to land your unit “on blast.”
Build Credibility
When you and your leaders build trust through daily actions–following items 1-10 in this article–you deposit credibility in the bank. Sooner or later it will come time to withdraw on that credibility. At some point you will have to call on that credibility when required to do something “stupid” that you don’t get to veto (believe it or not, captains have less authority than they and their formations think…but they also have more influence than they often utilize).
Communicate Effectively
There are a lot of posts on USAWTFM! that are victim to perspective and lack of information…”a failure to communicate.” [Best Warden impression from Cool Hand Luke]. Do you have to keep soldiers late, have a unit lockdown, or execute some other otherwise “stupid” task? Well, it’s time to build on that credibility talked about in #1. Communicate the why, the “how we got here,” demonstrate a little empathy, and then make it as fun/common sense/painless as possible.
If “pain” is the purpose of the action, then it probably shouldn’t be mass punishment. “Pain” is for perpetrators only. Just talk to them! And, in times of stupid, talking directly to the whole formation tends to work better. Let them hear it from you, not through the telephone game that sometimes results when it travels down the chain of command. Sensitive times and topics call for direct communication–from the source.
Instill a Culture of Pride
You can’t do #3 without the first two. If you’ve built trust and credibility, and communicate effectively on a regular basis, you now have the opportunity to build a unit with a culture of pride. This is a unit that knows who they are (values), why they exist (purpose and vision), and what they are doing (mission). It’s a unit, with a singular goal, that is unwilling to distract from that goal with nonsense and division. It is a unit that views itself and its leaders as part of the same family all looking out for each other. They forgive mistakes, ask for clarification, and trust each other. And that is a unit that doesn’t feel the need to burn each other on social media.
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If you follow 1 through 10 from W.T.F! Moments’ article, and instill a culture founded on credibility, communication, and trust and pride, then you will be fine. Does that mean you will never end up on W.T.F! Moments? Nope, maybe you will anyway. But, chances are it will be for one of the “funny” posts that @WTF_Judge references. And when that happens, have a sense of humor and don’t take yourself too seriously! If it isn’t “funny,” and you end up on blast, then take a hard look in the mirror and correct your deficiency. We all make mistakes–how you respond to them will speak volumes to your character as a leader.