Operational Leadership with Aaron Mauldin

A successful Protective Operation hinges on having strong, capable operational leadership at its core. 

Operational leadership involves igniting purpose, offering clear direction, and providing unwavering motivation to empower agents as they tackle intricate challenges in perilous and high-pressure environments. 

A successful Protective Operation relies on strong, capable leadership at its core. Leadership ignites purpose and provides clear direction, empowering agents to perform in high-pressure environments. My first leadership experience came in the United States Marine Corps Infantry, but some lessons didn’t translate to the corporate world. One lesson that stuck was troop welfare: take care of your team, and they’ll take care of you. 

Over two decades, I’ve led, developed, and managed dozens of security programs. I’ve found that poor company culture and ineffective operational leadership are the most common causes of employee resignations. Working with hundreds of clients, including family offices, corporations, and security providers, I’ve identified a few key issues:

– Leadership lacking field experience.
– Information siloed by managers.
– Anxiety about others climbing the ranks.
– Lack of self-awareness.
– Neglecting teammates’ needs.
– Excessive self-preservation.
– Not asking: “What will help us enhance performance and achieve our goals?”
– No team evaluations involving colleagues and senior management.
– No monthly team meetings for brainstorming and strategizing.
– Not understanding individual team members’ strengths and weaknesses.

Five years ago, I moved to a small town in Utah and volunteered for the local fire department. From day one of Wildland Firefighter training, leadership roles were clearly defined. Everyone knew everyone’s roles and responsibilities. Everyone is trained to the highest level of Incident Command so that if communication fails, or we are short command or crew members we can perform when lives are on the line.  

The operational leadership outline below shares my experiences from the Marine Corps, Fire Department, and 20 years in Protective Operations. It ensures leaders at every level are ready to step in and perform when the situation requires. 

In challenging and unclear circumstances, a top-notch operational leader will: 

• TAKE CHARGE of assigned resources. 

• ASSESS SITUATION by gaining intel.  

• MOTIVATE Agents with a “can do safely” attitude.  

• DEMONSTRATE INITIATIVE by taking action in the absence of orders.  

• COMMUNICATE by giving specific instructions and asking for feedback.  
• SUPERVISE at the course of action. 

DUTY 

It’s important to excel in your role both technically and as a leader. 

• Take charge when in charge.  

• Adhere to professional standard operating procedures.  

• Develop a plan to accomplish given objectives.  

MAKE SOUND AND TIMELY DECISIONS. 

• Maintain situation awareness in order to anticipate needed actions. 
• Develop contingencies and consider consequences. 
• Improvise within the leader’s intent to handle a rapidly changing environment. 

Ensure tasks are understood, supervised, and accomplished. 

• Issue clear instructions. 
• Observe and assess actions in progress without micromanaging. 
• Use positive feedback to modify duties, tasks, and assignments when appropriate.

Develop your subordinates for the future. 

• Clearly state expectations. 
• Empower yourself by delegating tasks that don’t require your personal touch. 
• Consider individual skill levels and developmental needs when assigning tasks.

RESPECT 

Get to know your team members and prioritize their welfare. 

• Put the safety of your Agents above all other objectives.  

• Take care of your Agent’s needs.  

• Resolve conflicts between individuals on the team.  

Keep your subordinates informed.  

• Provide accurate and timely briefings. 
• Give the reason (intent) for assignments and tasks. 
• Make yourself available to answer questions at appropriate times. 

BUILD THE TEAM. 

• Conduct frequent debriefings with the team to identify lessons learned.  
• Recognize individual and team accomplishments and reward them appropriately. 
• Apply disciplinary measures equally. 

Employ your Agents in accordance with their capabilities. 

• Observe human behavior, including with other staff members
• Provide early warning to Agents of tasks they will be responsible for. 
• Consider team experience, fatigue, and physical limitations when accepting assignments

INTEGRITY 

KNOW YOURSELF AND SEEK IMPROVEMENT. 

• Understand your character and skill level to leverage your strengths and improve upon your weaknesses.
• Ask questions of peers and superiors. 
• Actively listen to feedback from subordinates. 

Seek responsibility and accept responsibility for your actions. 

• Accept full responsibility for poor team performance. 
• Credit subordinates for good performance. 
• Keep your superiors informed of your actions. 

SET THE EXAMPLE.  

• Share the hazards and hardships with your subordinates. 
• Don’t show discouragement when facing setbacks. 
• Choose the difficult right over the easy wrong.

COMMUNICATION RESPONSIBILITIES 

ALL AGENTS HAVE FIVE COMMUNICATION RESPONSIBILITIES:  

1. Update others as needed. 
2. Debrief your actions. 
3. Communicate hazards to others. 
4. Acknowledge messages. 
5. Ask if you don’t know. 

LEADER’S INTENT 

Additionally, all leaders of Agents have the responsibility to provide complete briefings and ensure that their Agents have a clear understanding of their intent for the assignment as follows: 

Ø Task = What is to be done?  

Ø Purpose = Why do we need to do this? 

Ø End State = How should it look when completed? 

HUMAN FACTOR BARRIERS TO SITUATIONAL AWARENESS 

LOW EXPERIENCE LEVEL WITH LOCAL FACTORS 

• Unfamiliar with the area or the organizational structure. 

DISTRACTION FROM PRIMARY TASK 

• Radio traffic.
• Conflict. 
• Previous errors. 
• Collateral duties. 
• Incident within an incident. 

FATIGUE 

• Dehydration. 
• Heat stress. 
• Poor fitness levels can reduce resistance to fatigue. 
• 24 hours awake affects your decision-making capability like .10 blood alcohol content.

STRESS REACTIONS 

• Communication deteriorates or grows tense. 
• Habitual or repetitive behavior. 
• Target fixation – Locking into a course of action; whether it makes sense or not, just try harder.
• Action tunneling – Focusing on small tasks but ignoring the big picture.
• Escalation of commitment – Embracing greater risk as the task nears completion.

HAZARDOUS ATTITUDES  

• Invulnerable – That can’t happen to us. 
• Anti-authority – Disregard of the team effort. 
• Impulsive – Do something even if it’s wrong. 
• Macho – Trying to impress or prove something. 
• Complacent – Just another routine movement. 
• Resigned – We can’t make a difference. 
• Group Think – Afraid to speak up or disagree.

STRESS MANAGEMENT 

A high Op tempo is often stressful and sometimes traumatic. It can take a toll on mental health. It is normal to feel overwhelmed sometimes and it is vital to address these thoughts before they become a mental health issue. Mental fitness for duty is just as essential as physical fitness for duty.  

AWARENESS – Stress Injuries can be caused by:  

• A Life Threat: Due to an experience of death-provoking terror, horror, or helplessness. 
• A Loss Injury: A grief injury due to the loss of cherished people, things, or parts of oneself. 
• A Moral Injury: Due to behaviors or the witnessing of behaviors that violate moral values.
• Cumulative Stress: Due to the accumulation of stress from all sources over time without sufficient rest and recovery. 

RECOGNITION – Stress Size up to Monitor yourself and others for:  

• Hazardous attitudes and stress reactions: 
• Behavior changes (not talking, isolating, outbursts, increased use of substances, making mistakes). 
• Troubling feelings (fear, anger, anxiety, sadness, guilt, shame). 
• Thoughts or mention of self-harm or suicide. 

MITIGATION – Stress First Aid:  

• Shrink the stigma – talk about it! 
• Provide opportunities to calm: 
• Take a tactical pause. 
• Refocus; identify what really matters. 
• Try tactical breathing or similar techniques. 
• Get additional time off if needed. 
• Get help: just like in a medical incident, a higher level of care may be necessary. 
• Reach out for support to friends, peers, loved ones, etc.

AFTER ACTION REVIEW (AAR) 

The climate surrounding an AAR must be one in which the participants openly and honestly discuss what transpired, in sufficient detail and clarity, so everyone understands what did and did not occur and the reasons why.   

Most importantly, participants should leave with a strong desire to improve their proficiency.  

• An AAR is performed immediately after the event, if possible, by the personnel involved. 
• The leader’s role is to ensure skilled facilitation of the AAR. 
• Reinforce that respectful disagreement is okay. Keep focused on the what, not the who. 
• Make sure everyone participates. 
• End the AAR on a positive note. 

• What was planned?  

• What actually happened?  

• Why did it happen?  

• What can we do next time to correct weaknesses and sustain strengths?

Aaron Mauldin is the founder of Katalyst Training Group and KTG Consulting. As an internationally recognized thought leader with over 20 years of high-level private sector experience, Aaron offers a singular perspective on the needs and challenges facing corporate executive protection programs. Aaron has extensive experience managing a wide range of international security operations, logistics, procurement, and training projects. He specializes in starting and fixing complex executive security programs, including design and implementation of effective hard and soft-skills sustainment training programs. Aaron’s passion for training and unparalleled global network of top-tier instructors empowers KTG to deliver fully customized training solutions to address the unique needs of public and private sector clients, corporations, and family offices.