Few things inspire less intellectual stimulation or motivation than a typical Army safety brief. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Five years ago, while attending the Captain’s Career Course, I experienced one of the most memorable safety briefs of my career. Although, some colorfully verbose senior NCOs have given it a run for its money. An Australian Major, an exchange officer serving as the course chief, delivered the brief. He was bright, direct, and known for his candor. He didn’t insult our intelligence with directives to not smoke drugs and drive too fast, or with asinine platitudes (“take a battle buddy, hooah”). Rather, he gave an outsider’s perspective on one of the Army’s more pervasive traditions. In short, this Aussie wasn’t impressed by our weekend safety briefs and mine have never been the same since.
I’m ashamed to admit that I hadn’t previously considered an alternative to the traditional weekend safety brief. In my brief experience, safety briefs were an irksome necessity. A “good” safety brief was one that was humorous enough to keep soldiers’ attention (cue senior NCOs) or brief enough to feel like the commander was doing everyone a favor. I had a minor epiphany that day– the safety brief, as commonly practiced, flies in the face of mission command philosophy. Furthermore, it lacks efficacy and it fails to capitalize on opportunities for organizational growth.
A Lack of Trust
Traditional weekend safety briefs send a loud and clear message to our formations. They say, “We don’t trust you”. Consider the absurdity of lecturing a professional soldier on the crimes that you forbid them to commit over the weekend. Your soldiers have surely considered it. Like fitness, tactical communication, and so many other skills, mission command will fail if practiced only in training environments. Mission command must be operationalized consistently in our daily duties and interactions to be effective.
ADP 6-0 is unambiguous in describing the critical nature of practicing mission command regardless of environment. “Employing the mission command approach during all garrison activities and training events is essential to creating the cultural foundation for its employment in high-risk environments”. Our overly-prescriptive directives undermine trust between leaders and subordinates, discourage disciplined initiative, and are antithetical to the concept of mission orders. If we are to embrace mission command philosophy universally, we must demonstrate trust in those that we expect to trust us.
But Do They Work?
Soldiers understand the ugly truth about our Friday afternoon ritual. They snicker about it around smoke pits and dark corners of the motor pool. Those of us with the ability to do something about it rarely acknowledge this truth- they don’t work. Introspective leaders will likely conclude that traditional safety briefs do little to curb unsafe activities. They are primarily an exercise in covering one’s own butt (more on that later). A cursory review of Army risk management doctrine illustrates the wide margin by which we are missing the mark.
Safety briefings are a legitimate and appropriate tool for leaders to disseminate guidance and directed controls. Doctrinally supported tools include educational controls, physical controls, and hazard elimination controls (ATP 5-19 Risk Management). Safety briefs, when used properly as educational controls, ensure universal awareness of identified hazards and controls. This is especially true for specific events (i.e., hazard controls developed for a specific live fire exercise or to ensure awareness of a unique off-post hazard, like a weather event, rally or demonstration). Do leaders believe that soldiers don’t understand the hazards associated with abusing their spouses or doing drugs? If not, their recitation of Friday afternoon commandments fails to meet the Army’s standard for developing and implementing hazard controls.
A Better Use of Your Time
Command teams have too few opportunities to bring their formations together and communicate directly with soldiers. Consider how to optimize those valuable experiences. Initial counseling creates shared understanding by explaining common hazards, expectations of soldiers’ conduct, and potential repercussions. Immediate supervisors conduct risk mitigation counseling in accordance with AR 385-10 prior to holidays and long weekends. This frees up the commander and 1SG’s “safety brief” time for more pertinent, and less redundant, topics. Reinforce your vision, guidance, and organizational goals/values- or just hold story time.
Rather than forbidding professional soldiers from doing things that are explicitly illegal, take an approach that reinforces mission command philosophy. Foster progress towards your organizational goals. Tell your troops that you’re proud of their accomplishments, that you trust them on and off duty, and that they are a testament to your organization’s values. Take the opportunity to highlight (shamelessly plug) other command programs. Ask the FRG leader or B.O.S.S. representative to build support for upcoming events. Finally, consider going over the highlights of your training schedule for the next few weeks. You might be surprised at how many of your soldiers are not “in the know.” What better way to get informed than hearing it directly from the commander?
CYA?
These efforts are all in vain if leaders within the formation lack the trust of their superiors. Mission command requires trust at echelon. Stories abound of chains of command called before absurdly high-ranking individuals to explain the independent actions of a junior Soldier. This phenomenon may or may not be a reality in your organization. For the sake of candor, and your soldiers’ time, broach the subject with your boss. Ask your commander(s), directly, to describe their expectations for weekly safety briefs. Discuss their expectations for if/when a soldier has a serious incident that violates the organizations values, regulations, or laws.
Of course, leaders need to operate within the policies of their organizations and the intent of their commanders. Some units have prescriptive guidance concerning weekend safety briefs. Those that do not should begin a dialogue within their leadership teams about realistic techniques to reduce off-duty risk that do not undermine mutual trust. There is an opportunity to improve this facet of military life that builds trust, increases effectiveness of risk mitigation, and makes better use of everyone’s time.
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