Originally Posted by
alfred_the_great
it’s not harmless, it’s not fun, and it degrades operational capability.
”Posted @withrepost • @mace_curran With Halloween rapidly approaching this seems like an appropriate question. Is your team playing dress-up?
Looking back at the various teams I’ve been part of, there’s a distinguishing factor that greatly affected my performance
Whether or not I was able to be ME
This was something I didn’t recognize until years after
In the thick of it, I was too busy trying to act how I thought a young fighter pilot was supposed to act
A lot of energy went into worrying about what everyone else thought
Was I laughing at the right jokes, was I not easily offended, was I being a “bro”?
What I should have been worrying about was the flying, the tactics, and being as good at my job as possible
When members of your team feel like they have to create two versions of themselves that don’t align, it’s not sustainable
It’s a surefire way to lose talented people…to burn them out
I’ve talked a lot about trust lately
Part of that environment of trust is inclusivity
Don’t create barriers that don’t need to be there
Invest in getting to know your people
Understand what motivates them…this investment will pay for itself 10x over
They aren’t all the same, even if they all wear the same uniform
#culture #inclusiveleadership #trust #community
📸: 2011, while in the Intro to Fighter Fundamentals course... starting to realize I need to "dress up" to fit in”
The bit you may have missed from Haraka's post is this
(Male OR female newbies !), that's harmless banter. If you're being targeted by your peers and mocked then I agree with you that is entirely unacceptable, but that's a totally different animal to the definition of harmless fun.