Because I Can

The robust guide to being effective

Tim Bradshaw

• Publisher: Practical Inspiration Publishing
• Year: 2022
• ISBN:
  9781788603041
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Leadership
• Index: Business

From special duties selection to an earthquake on the side of Mount Everest, from a gunfight in Afghanistan to a year of endurance challenges, Tim Bradshaw has had to develop a robust toolkit and mindset to enable him to overcome serious challenges in hostile circumstances.

What's remarkable is that he achieved these feats in the face of imposter syndrome and depression. Tim's mantra is 'Because I can', because whatever you're facing, you can do so much more than you think. This is a toolkit to help you take on any challenge. Whether you're making an attempt on Everest or taking the next big career step this toolkit will make you more effective.

Tim attended the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst aged just 19. His first job was to lead 37 soldiers. Since then, he has served as a surveillance and target acquisition patrol soldier and covert human intelligence officer. In 2015 he attempted to climb Mount Everest to persuade mental health sufferers to ask for help. After a year of physical endurance challenges, he is now a Director of Sandstone Communications, an international leadership and team building consultancy.

Part 1

FOCUS ON USING INTELLIGENCE, NOT INFORMATION

In the first part of the book, we are going to look at the core principle of only dealing with intelligence. We will look at filtering background information and ensuring that we are making decisions and responding to situations as they are happening.

Increasingly, we find ourselves in an ever-changing environment. We have witnessed an astonishing level of social and economic change. It covers everything from the way we communicate, to the way we interact and the way we do business. There are career paths now available to students that did not even exist as little as five years ago. It is possible to connect from almost any location on the planet and communicate whenever and wherever we choose. I will never forget walking into a tiny town in rural Tibet; we were on our way to Everest at the time and being greeted by the locals. The first thing they offered us with great pride was a can of Coca-Cola. Reaching for my phone in order to take a picture of this I then realized that I had a full 4G signal! The village had no running water and no formal sanitation. Therefore, by definition, the way that we operate needs to be adaptable to changing circumstances and situations.

As a rule, human beings don’t like change. Our routines and patterns provide a degree of comfort and a handrail for us to cling to when we are unsure of a situation. When removed, it creates anxiety and can affect our behaviours. Some years ago, I served as a covert human intelligence officer. The roles and requirements are not for the content of this book. It would be inappropriate to discuss the exact exercises and procedures used to select personnel for special duties training. But the concepts behind it are interesting.

For a period of time, we were subjected to a battery of challenges and tests. Some physical, some mental and some practical. I remember running through the woods as a group and at various stages being stopped and told to perform additional physical challenges, things like carrying one of your teammates up a hill, and then you would resume running. During one such interval we were stopped and told to drink water. We were then ushered into a clearing where a car was parked with its boot open. In the boot were a series of objects that we were told to memorize. The running and exercises then resumed. You might think that this all sounds as you would expect; however we were never given any of the usual parameters. We were taken out for a run but given no idea how far or how fast we would be running. We would be told to memorize the random objects but with no idea why, for how long or what we would be expected to do with the information. We would climb into bed not knowing whether we would be there for one hour or ten. It was never ten! Our usual patterns and routines had been removed. This causes immense stress and self-induced pressure. It is a test of resilience and an ability to operate in ever-changing environments without a handrail.

We design processes that provide a step-by-step guide to almost any situation that we happen to find ourselves in. The problem is that a process is primarily designed to work in an environment that is not changing and remains stable. You only need to visit any form of major manufacturing plant to see this in action. If we are assembling a car, for example, the input of the operator is not required. The various components need to be fitted in the right sequence and at the right time with as little variation as possible. Nobody wants the one car where the operator decided to fit the wing mirror somewhere random!

The same cannot be said when we are dealing with people or fluid situations. A process simply won’t be adaptable and can force us into thinking in a linear pattern. Anyone that drinks their coffee black will have experienced this. Early in the morning you walk into your favourite chain coffee store. You stand patiently in line before telling the “barista” that you would like a regular black coffee. I am then asked for my name. Frankly a dangerous thing to do if it is before 0800hrs! Almost then without a pause I am asked if I would like milk in that? My reply, of course, is that then it wouldn’t be black! The reason for this confrontation is that somebody at the coffee store has designed a process for dealing with customers. The staff are then trained to follow that process without question. After a period, this becomes autonomous with the barista barely conscious of their actions. The process designed to create a great customer experience has achieved the opposite.

One way around this problem is to develop a tool kit rather than a process. Take any given challenge that you face or outcome that you wish to achieve and break it down into a series of skills. Be as specific as you can. If you need to deliver a career-changing pitch to a prospective client, break it down. Some of the skills needed might be presentation design, public speaking and negotiation. Take each skill in turn and seek to learn from an expert in that skill, not necessarily from the sector in which you work. As an example, who better to teach negotiation than a former hostage negotiator? As you acquire new skills, you add them to the toolbox of the ones that you already have. Now whenever you are faced with a different set of circumstances, rather than trying to make a process fit, you identify the outcome that you are trying to achieve and select the appropriate tools for the job.

If you follow a set process that is designed to work in a specific set of circumstances it is unlikely to be adaptable and will only be effective in a controlled environment. As discussed earlier, this is not the world in which we live and operate. The military have a fantastic expression which is that no plan survives first contact with the enemy!

So what?

• Build a tool kit not a process

• Break any challenge down into its specific component parts

• Work out the individual skills you need to accomplish a given task

• Collaborate with those who provide the missing skills or knowledge.

What is real?

Before we get into the next key area of discussion, have a go at this exercise. Allow yourself a specific time limit: 20 minutes works well. Read through the UN Rescue Mission scenario below and then by your allotted time come up with a solution to the problem. The stricter you are with yourself, the more effective this exercise will be.

UN RESCUE MISSION

The blizzards in Fifedom have finally passed and the winds abated. A year of horrific storms and blizzards have left the population with ruined houses, ruined infrastructure and severe refugee and medical problems. You and Paul Horwood travel to the country to join the staff of a small but efficient charity. The charity runs the Fifedom storm relief programme and aims to deliver much needed supplies and medicines to isolated regions, especially to medical centres and orphanages.

You arrive in the town of Tyninghame on Sunday 21 November and find yourself assigned to a team led by Tim Bradshaw. He tells you that there is a briefing at 1800 hours and asks you and Paul to attend. Having settled into makeshift accommodation, you join the others. Tim introduces you to his team: Cedric, an engineer, Clive, and Emily, a nurse. They are delighted you have arrived to replace two other volunteers who were injured in a traffic accident. With the introductions over, the briefing begins. The last convoy of the year will leave tomorrow at 0900 hours. Essential supplies of blankets and winter clothing will be taken in three trucks; medical supplies will be carried in two Land Rovers and one truck. The convoy will travel the 225 miles along route 930 to the medical centre and orphanage at Dunbar. It will stop for 30 minutes at the small village of Linton some 150 miles away. The Land Rovers will be driven by Emily and you. The weather forecast is poor: storms, freezing temperatures and the possibility of snow. The aim is to deliver the supplies to Dunbar by 1830 hours which is 30 minutes after last light.

The journey starts off well and you keep to the scheduled timings but by the time you reach Linton at 1500 hours your Land Rover and two trucks, one of which is carrying medical supplies, need to stop at a garage for repairs. Tim decides to leave you, Paul and Cedric to do the work and then to carry on to Dunbar in the morning. Before he leaves, Tim places you in charge and says he will telephone the garage later in the evening; he hopes you will not need your first-aid experience. Cedric tells you that the truck is using too much fuel and that if four-wheel drive has to be engaged, consumption will drop by half, from 8 mpg. The tank holds 38 gallons.

At 2020 hours, Tim telephones on a bad line. He tells you that Route 930 is hazardous and weather conditions are worsening. At Balmoral, he was told that the doctor is visiting some remote villages, but they hoped he would return by midday on Tuesday. The forest road has a reasonable surface, but it is likely to be used by refugees. As a result, your speed would be reduced to 15 mph; in addition, bandits are thought to be using the woods for cover. To the east there is a drivable track: although it is heavily cratered, you should be able to manage 10 mph in a four-wheel drive. The bridge was damaged by floods last month, but has been repaired, albeit temporarily. The situation in Dunbar is horrendous: a fire has damaged the medical centre and orphanage and Emily says that the medical supplies must arrive by 1500 hours if not before. Tim tells you not to travel at night but to leave at first light which is at 0720 hours. The route is up to you but as there is no petrol in Dunbar you must take the return journey into account.

You think about the best route to take and set off at dawn, telling the others you will make a final decision on the route when you reach the junction 20 miles north of Linton. Nearing the junction your eyes are drawn to the side of the road. Slowing down, you see a woman and two children, aged about 3 and 5. They are weak, emaciated and bleeding. Just before the woman passes out, she begs you to save her children. You recognize the signs of hypothermia and realize you must act quickly.

You must assess the problem; decide your aims, consider the alternative courses open to you and arrive at your plan giving your reasons.

Fifedom

As you read through the exercise you probably experienced varying degrees of frustration, annoyance and possibly decided to give up and skip to the next section!

Why was this relatively simple problem so frustrating and difficult to work out? There is too much information. As we start to read, we are not sure which sections are relevant and which are not. The level of detail becomes more and more overwhelming and eventually we start to skim-read the document. Once we begin to skim-read it leads us to make mistakes and we jump to false conclusions. Depending on our own backgrounds, beliefs and motivations, differing sections and details will appear relevant to you. As an example, some of you will have focused on what to do with the woman and children whilst others will have spent time trying to work out fuel calculations. You can see that depending on which details you focus on, the mission emphasis and, therefore, outcomes change. This problem occurs in two directions, incoming and outgoing.

If we receive incoming, overwhelming quantities of information we will experience the same anxiety and frustration as you may have just experienced whilst trying to solve the UN Rescue Mission. You focus on the wrong elements and find yourself suffering from what we call analysis paralysis. We must take a tactical pause (more of this later) and work out what is real. We must focus on dealing with intelligence not information. In order for information to become intelligence it must be all of these three things:

• Accurate

• Timely

• Relevant.

A simple method is to go through the document with a marker pen and discard any waffle or information th...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Introduction: Making it work
• Part 1: Focus on using intelligence, not information
• Part 2: Continually evaluate the situation
• Part 3: Relieve pressure to increase performance
• Part 4: Build resilience by explaining the “In order to…”
• Part 5: Focus on the people first
• Conclusion: Think in circles and select the right tool for the job
• About the author