Topic(s): Leadership
Risk has impacts in many different arenas. This past weekend I spent some time taking a close look at the FBI’s activities in high intensity, high risk engagements where lives are on the line. The question that comes to mind is ‘how do you get people to do this job while mitigating risk and providing a level of comfort to old guard agents and teammates that the person next to you is up to the task? What is it that you need to do to measure up?
Some interesting aspects about FBI SWAT is the number of hours, days, weeks, months, and years it takes to get to a level of excellence to make the SWAT team.
1. You must be of sound physical stature and capability to even be considered for FBI SWAT;
2. You must be of sound mental strength and endurance to even be considered for FBI SWAT;
3. You must be committed, understanding the length of the training and the impact to your personal life and lifestyle;
4. You must understand that there are many who have been doing this for a number of years and that you will need to fill the gaps as they become available in the food chain.
When lives are at stake, both yours and those around you; when civilians are at risk due to hostile activities that either directly or indirectly impact the air that you breath; when you must depend on a small team of compadres for execution and survival; risk mitigation strategies become core the effort. Most would not interpret the incessant training as a risk mitigation strategy. Most would just call it training. The reality is that the level of execution required to even qualify for this job is beyond what most would even consider if they understood the commitment required.
If you were four years or more into the FBI SWAT program, how would you feel if your teammate was completely inefficient in their behavior? How would you react or respond if weapons weren’t cleaned, plans not followed, backup during busts not provided, doors not knocked down per codeword, rooms not breached within the given timeframe as trained? Would this be acceptable to you?
Is there any potential analogy here for information technology organizations? What if defects in your code determined your suitability for a job or not? What if maintaining standard operating system builds was an objective you had to meet with each implementation or you were off the team? What if excessive privileges to regulatory managed, mission critical systems meant your partner was terminated even though it was your negligence? Would that change how you design, develop, and maintain the next Internet-facing, high transaction, application that processed customer credit card numbers and PII?
Execution, teamwork, and sense of unified purpose is what is missing in the corporate world. Military precision based upon mission principles would go a long way in forcing maturation within IT departments. I recommend that all IT staff spend 1 year minimum compulsory service in the military service of their respective countries to learn what it means to work together. If IT departments don’t wake up, they will go the way of manufacturing and the whole effort will be an offshore program.
My hat is off to the men and women of the FBI and the FBI SWAT for the dedication to service and exemplary demonstration of excellence and teamwork. If you are so inclined, you might want to take a look at the FBI. If you are up for a challenge, give it shot. When you are done, look me up. I can always find a home for disciplined teammates.
