Number 26 of 52 Lifelong Communication Lessons: Yes Sir! Three bags full, Sir!
June 29, 2015 |
| President Bill Clinton publicly denies having sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky, January 26th, 1998 |
The year was 1998.
President Bill Clinton denies having sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky. Frank Sinatra dies at age 82 of a heart attack. Google is founded (Type "Google in 1998" into Google Search and you'll see what the search engine looked like back then). In Vancouver, Chip Wilson founds Lululemon - The company is still making headlines today :)
I was doing cross country work for the federal government. The contract included involvement in major events. One included the RCMP Musical Ride - an iconic event in our country. One of the perks of the PR business is the opportunity to connect to many sectors and get an insider's view of their world. This one landed me in Regina, the training headquarters for RCMP officers. I could not wait for the tour of the compound.
Raised without curfews or many rules and regulations made me even more fascinated by structured environments. As our tour guide proudly showed us the rigor of the fitness expectations via gym equipment I had never seen, he was eager to demonstrate the toughness required. Equally eager to show I was not a wuss, I tried out a few of the weight resistance tests and failed miserably. Even with my regular workouts, I was not a candidate for this profession.
Fascinated by the required order taking (never my strong suit), I bombarded him with questions about obedience and how it was instilled. I wanted to know if he really thought it was the best approach. I could see he found my critical thinking "individual-judgement" attitude a bit irritating. As we walked through the barracks, I got a full-on display of how they inspired teamwork and got people to toe the line.
Picture neatly made bunks alongside open closets of buttoned up shirts on hangers and knee-high boots below fully laced. Add in a chest of drawers opened to reveal socks, shorts and other clothing all in perfect alignment. As our tour guide explained, the discipline of doing up shirts and boots, even though it seemingly defied logic, reinforced the command and obey culture. We were half way through our second barrack when our guide spotted a pair of boots unlaced. Before you could say "oops", our man started ripping apart the entire barracks. Boots were flying, bedsheets were being tossed and drawers emptied. It looked like a cyclone had whipped through the place. I stood, mouth agape and thought our buddy had flipped his lid.
Calmly he explained how our lazy recruit would never make the same mistake and his bunkmates would make sure of that. One screw up by a member of the team could mean disaster in a life or death situation. Got it.
While this little trip through RCMP land confirmed it was not the world for me, I gained a new respect for police of every stripe. The grueling training actually made sense.
No words needed to be spoken when those newbie RCMP trainees returned to their barracks after a long day of drills. They would know someone screwed up and they were all paying the price. I expect they were ever more diligent the next day.
Communication Lessons:
- Never underestimate the power of peer pressure.
- Pick environments that work for your personality type.
- Value and learn from circumstances foreign to your way of thinking.
Fast Forward to 2015:
Perhaps our senators might take note. When one messes up, it impacts the brand of them all. When more than one subscribes to lax procedures, the whole group comes under scrutiny. What a costly, embarrassing mess for our country.
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