Tag Archives: Command

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How to Write Your Own User Manual

by Jim Perkins

One of the constants of military life is the cyclic change of scenery and organizations. While this iterative churning serves many purposes, it has a clear drawback in that with each new assignment, leaders and subordinates must learn to work with each other. What should be a simple task, managing group dynamics distracts from more pressing issues at hand and is often in conflict with other priorities.

Perhaps it is precisely because of these other demands that what I’m about to propose is not widely used in most organizations. What if it were possible to bridge that psychological gap more quickly and reduce the friction between leaders and their teams? Can we accelerate Tuckman’s Form-Storm-Norm-Perform cycle of organizational development? We can.

User manual

U.S. Army Second Lt. Mark Lucas, a platoon leader with the 82nd Airborne Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team, briefs his soldiers before a logistics resupply mission July 8, 2012, at Forward Operating Base Arian, Ghazni Province, Afghanistan.
U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Michael J. MacLeod, Task Force 1-82 PAO.
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Passing Judgment (Habit Series #3)

Marshall Goldsmith’s What Got You Here Won’t Get You There is packed with useful insight. If you are a leader looking to improve the quality of your interactions and the influence you have on your team, his book is a must. #3 of “Twenty Habits That Hold You Back from the Top” is Passing Judgment.

Now, why would the effects of passing judgment concern a military leader whose granted authority clearly allows, almost encourages him to judge the quality of his organization and its members’ activities? Isn’t it monumentally important for leaders to scrutinize teams in training so that they are better prepared for war? And when in war, is there not an argument that there is no room for error, necessitating judgment at every turn?

judgment

A Navy SEAL instructor watches as BUD/S students participate in surf drill training at the Naval Special Warfare Center in Coronado, Calif. U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Eric S. Logsdon.
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Success Depends on a Proactive Mindset

by Alan Hastings

Recently, a West Point Cadet asked me what I, as a Troop Commander, expected from a Platoon Leader. I provided four traits that I believe define successful lieutenants: unquestionable integrity, an aggressively proactive attitude, a willingness to engage in open and candid communication, and a commitment to self-study.

I want to highlight the second trait, maintaining a proactive mindset, which in my mind separates mediocre and outstanding junior leaders. Being proactive, especially in the face of potential obstacles and failure, is a key determinant of one’s level of success.

Lieutenants share four common situations that can lead to failure:

  1. You don’t know how to accomplish a given task.
  2. You know how to accomplish a given task, but (you think that) you can’t.
  3. You know how to accomplish a given task, but choose not to.
  4. You know how to accomplish a given task, but make mistakes or errors that cause you to fail.

For each cause of failure, there is a proactive response that leads to success. Let’s explore each of the reasons for failure and corresponding reactive and proactive responses.

success

U.S. Army Capt. Chad Pilker (right) and a lieutenant from Headquarters and Headquarters Troop, 2nd Cavalry Regiment discuss strategy during a decisive action training environment exercise, Saber Junction 2012, at the Grafenwoehr Training Area in Grafenwoehr, Germany, Oct. 15, 2012.  U.S. Army photo by Specialist W. Ryan Livingston/Released.
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It’s Time to Rethink 360 Degree Reviews

by Nathan Wike

The Military Times recently published an article discussing the usefulness of the 360 degree reviews in assessing leaders. This study (which was not included in the article) concluded that 360 degree reviews “probably should not be used as a part of the formal military evaluation and promotion process.” It cited “a long list of legal, cultural and practical concerns…(and that) Stakeholders were overwhelmingly against using the tool for evaluation.”

Given the integration and widespread use of performance feedback tools, this topic is clearly relevant. This year the Defense Entrepreneurs Forum asked its followers and readers to offer their opinion.

Here is my take.

360

Nathan Wike is an officer in the U.S. Army, and an associate member of the Military Writer’s Guild. The opinions expressed are his alone, and do not reflect those of the U.S. Army, the Department of Defense, or the U.S. Government.

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Insight from TED You Can Use Right Now

This TED video featuring collaborative engineering expert Tom Wujec is 9 minutes long…and yet you’ll be hard-pressed to find another way to find so much insight packed into 9 minutes. The task Wujec presents his clients is simple:  “Draw how to make toast.” What seems like an elementary exercise explodes into a multi-faceted lesson on collaboration, organizational creativity, decision-making, motivation, and leadership.

In case you don’t get to sit down with this video and take notes, here are some clear connections to military leadership that I observed through his talk. As I watched, I saw application to a wide range of situations:

  • A commander and Command Sergeant Major bringing the new team together to cast the vision statement for their time in command
  • Any staff member staring at a blank Excel spreadsheet or map of the training area, tasked with planning the unit’s next phase of training
  • A supply sergeant frustrated with how to reorganize the broken shop she just inherited
  • Unit leaders piecing together the events that tragically led to a Soldier’s death
  • Any one of us handling a piece of military equipment and wishing there was some better way to do X
  • Unit leaders searching for how to implement Sexual Harassment and Sexual Assault Program guidance
  • Strategists writing future policy and operating guidance
  • An icebreaker exercise for unit team building and leader development events
  • Visualizing alternate courses of action for a tactical problem
  • A lesson on simple versus complex systems and plans
  • Advice on how to communicate complex ideas to your team
  • Insight into how the team members perceive situations, analyze problems, and express their thoughts
  • An after action review process for reverse-engineering events like training exercises, unit functions, and campaign plans
  • A way to explain the abstract Design Process and simplify the convoluted Military Decision Making Process
  • A method for walking out of meetings feeling like you actually accomplished something.

Ready to watch?

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8 Supervisor Tips For Getting More Done

by "Be Mission Capable"

When I took over my duty position, my supervisor told me that in order to succeed, I needed to get more involved in orders and taskings than the officer I replaced. I did the opposite and got better results. Here’s how.

Supervisor

Gen. Raymond Odierno presents a coin to a Soldier wearing a Level A, hazardous materials, suit Jan. 13. Soldiers from the Incident Response Training Department provided Odierno with a demonstration of the different equipment, training and techniques used in case of a chemical incident. Link to photo.
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Adding Too Much Value (Habit Series #2)

Have you ever stood in formation and listened to a commander or senior NCO spout off a tangent of meaningless topics? There’s no coherent string of thoughts, just awkward pauses followed by ramble. The person adds comment after comment as if there’s a minimum time of talking required to be a good leader.

Or how about this one…every time you’re at a unit meeting and someone offers a good idea, the commander can’t resist the urge pile on with his own advice, diminishing the contributor. Or worse, the leader publicly states that the idea won’t work.

Those are frustrating situations because either it feels like the content we are receiving isn’t worth the time it takes to hear it, or because the leader creates an environment where his opinion is the only one that really matters. In any case, it’s exasperating.

Marshall Goldsmith says that these environments occur when leaders fall victim to Habit #2 of “Twenty Habits that Hold You Back from the Top”…Adding Too Much Value.

Value

Gen. George W. Casey, speaks with Master Resilience Training School students during a visit to Fort Jackson, S.C.
U.S. Army photo by Susanne Kappler.
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How to Leverage Digital Leader Development

by Mike Denny

As an Army National Guard officer, I get infrequent opportunities to connect in person with my junior officers. To hold effective leader development sessions, I learned that I have to engage outside of our 63 days together a year. But in the past few months, I felt that I was not effectively developing a cadet or my staff Lieutenants, many of whom are relegated to assistant to the assistant duties.

Luckily, some talented and more seasoned officers posted leader development content that caught my attention, particularly Lieutenant Lessons…Continued and Iron Major’s Survival Guide. I shared these articles with my officers and gave them a simple homework assignment:  write a one page essay outlining their views on the articles.

(It may sound asinine to tell Army officers to write a simple report, but as often discussed on #CCLKOW and #MILPME on Twitter, the ability to write coherently and simplistically is dying art in the midst of today’s PowerPoint decision making methodologies.)

Then, Joe Byerly provided inspiration with his Company Command Article on developing a team through a digital LPD. Digital leader development typically refers to professional products stored on mobile devices for easy access, and but also represents the methods leaders use to connect external enablers to the unit (videos, speakers, or directly by phone or Skype).

I took action to develop our own. Here is how we did it.

Leader development

Sgt. 1st Class Jason Wright, Observer Controller, HHC Joint Multinational Readiness Center, coaches, teaches and mentors Canadian Soldiers from I Company, 2nd Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment during practice for a live fire event Wednesday during Cooperative Spirit 2008 at JMRC near Hohenfels, Germany. Cooperative Spirit 2008 is a multinational Combat Training Center rotation intended to test interoperability among the American, British, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand armies (ABCA). Link to photo.