How to drive change from within… Lessons from a Royal Marines Commando Officer
Welcome to part two of my Royal Marine Commando-based motivation series. The star of the show is Ryan Kestle, with 14 years as a Marine under his belt, including three combat tours in some hairy places.
Part one discussed a framework to tackle enormous challenges by breaking them down into manageable chunks. This blog is about building a strong organizational or team dynamic, especially during times of stress. Let’s go.
You’re an officer, in charge of Marines. How does that relationship begin?
Royal Marines Commando training is conducted in the same training centre, Lympstone Commando, for both Officers and enlisted Marines. This is unique across the British Armed Forces. We live and eat in our separate accommodations, but our training is done in exactly the same places.
For example, in the first eight weeks of training, we conduct our physical training in the gym and there would always be at least one troop of Marines training beside us. The same would happen later in training on the Assault Course — this immediately builds trust through shared experience.
What kind of impression do you want to make when you take command?
I was drafted to 40 Commando, based in Taunton, and on the Monday morning following my Pass-Out from training, I was greeted by an immaculately presented individual — Sergeant Trev Law, Royal Marines. I’d never met him before, and for the next 12 months, he would be my Second-in-Command and confidant.
I remember him being incredibly professional, but also extremely welcoming — he recognised that it was his job to put me at ease in those first few minutes before meeting my marines, and I knew it was my job to learn quickly and not make any “command” decisions without first consulting him. (There have been many occasion where the new officer has charged in and made a poor first impression, never to recover!)
He had my troop formed up as a smart unit, he brought them to attention calmly and then introduced them to me. I did what came naturally and asked each individual about their most recent experiences and what they wanted to do next. While it took some time, it gave both me and my Marines the opportunity to get to know each other a little, and Sergeant Law and myself soon found ourselves operating very well together for the next year.
So the first impression was of someone who was calm and in control?
Yes, calm, in control, and harmonious with their existing routines.
In our earlier talks, you spoke about protecting the men and keeping them out of unnecessary risk. How do you keep everyone aligned, especially if you’re in combat?
It’s helpful to draw a line between Officer and Marine. I care for my men and I am accountable for what happens to them, but I rarely build friendships with people under my immediate command — I build relationships. In combat, it’s really important to have everyone on the same page. You’re trying to scale your reach as a leader.
How do you do that?
It’s about creating responsibility. For example, while I could collect the men from their barracks or send my highly qualified Sergeant, instead, I’ll delegate this to one of the Marines. I’ll have identified this person as having natural leadership ability — someone who makes sure that the less capable are keeping up. Everyone likes a leader: someone who knows what’s going on and when.
I also liked to include my marines in the actual design and organisation of a task. As officers, we’re always asked, “Why are we doing this?” Or, “Why don’t we do it like this?” In combat or an emergency, there isn’t time to think like this or ask these questions. So we have to trust each other, and that trust works both up and down the chain of command. By including the Marines in the process of why training is designed like it is, why we have so many safety precautions and why we “can’t just do it like this”, we all become more effective and efficient. It also starts teaching the Marines the responsibilities they will have when they are promoted.
So the combination of understanding, drills, respect and a leadership that is infused in the ranks helps ensure that we operate collectively to achieve the task.
Does the system get pressured when you go into combat?
It’s hard to explain, but going into combat isn’t as much of a upheaval as you might think. You land in a new country, but you get up at the same time, the drills are similar… By making routines and processes in your daily actions and engagement plans, you’re automating part of your behaviour.
The military keeps as many things consistent so there is always a sense of familiarity. It serves us well. We also had a mantra: Select and maintain the aim. Whether it was training or combat, we always used this phase.
At the end of the day, you’re doing your job.
OK: Quick recap. To lead effectively, you did the following:
- Found natural leaders or ‘micro influencers’ amongst your men
- Empowered them through responsibility
- Used them to scale your message, to keep everyone aligned
How does that sound?
That’s it!
Then that’s a wrap!
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Simon is the Founder of STANCE, a brand storytelling agency.
