7 Mar 2012 - Australian prisoners of war had higher survival rates

Today I was listening to a motivational speaker at work, who was talking about ways to motivate and lead staff. One of her strategies was to lead by example and to participate with staff in training programs that are linked to major change in the workplace. Staff would then see that the managers were on board with the changes and would feel more supported by their managers. This would then lead the team to become a more cohesive work unit that is better able to tackle the challenges presented in the workplace. An example she used of how successful this strategy was in practice, was, that during World War II in the Prisoner Of War (POW) camps, leaders such as Sir Weary Dunlop created a kind of calm within the storm, they lead by example and got all the prisonsers to see their commanding officers were right beside them. This boosted morale and made the prisoners feel like part of a whole, which made them feel more supported, and better able to live in the harsh circumstances. The benefit of this form of leadership was later shown in the statistics, that Australian prisoners of war were reported as having a higher survival rate compared to other nationalities in the same POW camps. 

I think it is amazing that our officers, like Sir Weary Dunlop, were able to lead their fellow prisoners in this way, and assist people to survive these harsh conditions. Having said that, I did find it interesting that the speaker compared our workplace to a POW camp. I know that sometimes people don't have a great time at work, but I think that the conditions are much better than those to which the prisoners were subjected. Also people at my workplace get paid to be there! I do understand the point the speaker was making, that the leadership method is an effective way to form a more cohesive work unit and build morale within a team. However I don't believe that the comparison of achieving workplaces goals with this leadership strategy is in any way similar to the goal of surviving the harsh conditions in the POW camp.