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Writer's pictureD. Mark McCoy

D-Day and Disagree and commit


Shortly before the D-Day invasion, General Ike Eisenhower visited with paratroopers of the 101st Airborne, minutes before they boarded planes for France.



We just celebrated the 80th Anniversary of D-Day this week. From our vantage point, it is hard to fully realize all of the courage and sacrifice of that day. Lessons from The Greatest Generation abound.


It is hard for us to imagine conflict of that scale and just as hard for us to recognize the role of conflict in our organization and in our teams.

I know of no successful team that does not have healthy freedom around conflict--and it is not freedom FROM conflict--it is freedom TO conflict.

To be successful, we must always speak truth to power. We can disagree without being disagreeable. When the decision is to be made, we can either agree and commit or disagree and commit. The variable is in the agreement, not the commitment.


Just a few days before the invasion, the British air chief marshal Trafford Leigh-Mallory strongly disagreed with the planned D-Day landings on Omaha and Utah beaches. He warned Eisenhower that Germany was expecting an attack and reinforcing these areas. He was certain the airborne troops would meet heavy resistance and ultimate slaughter. He predicted that half of the paratroopers and 70% of the gilder forces would be lost, leaving those that survived without power or support. The Allies would be walking into trap.

 

Eisenhower said he needed two hours to reflect on this input. He asked Leigh-Mallory to put his disagreement in writing so as to protect the marshal should Eisenhower fail if he chose to go forward as planned. Two hours later, he called Leigh-Mallory and then confirmed in writing his decision to go forward. It was a consultative decision. Leigh-Mallory clicked his heels and saluted. He was now on the record: disagree and commit. Leigh-Mallory went on to execute the plan as if he had written it himself. He didn't complain, he didn't tell others he thought this was a mistake. He committed fully and executed brilliantly.


Eisenhower, still building trust, took time from his unfathomable pressures to visit the troops personally. He shouldered the difficult decision and pressed ahead.


In the end, losses were not the 50 and 70% variety feared (they were, in fact, 10% on day one and 4% overall). When Leigh-Mallory called Eisenhower to report the results, he apologized for the worry, proof that the decision process was respected. Disagree and commit works.


I know of no successful team that does not have healthy freedom around conflict. Do you allow your team to speak truth to power? Do they understand disagree and commit? We all benefitted because Ike did.



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