Meditations On Leadership
These are my thoughts on leadership related topics and ideas. It is meant to be a sort of journal for me and if you find it useful than I am happy to have helped.
As far as I am aware the concept of Commander's Intent originated in the military. A good example of what it is can be found in the D-Day strategy of World War II. Troops from the U.S., Canada, and Britain were parachuted into strategic areas ahead of the landing troops so that they could capture bridges and other key points to aid in the effort to liberate Europe from Nazi Germany. However, hardly any of the troops landed where they needed to and everything and everybody was mixed up. It was well on its way to being a military disaster except it wasn't. The soldiers formed into new units and captured the key locations helping to make D-Day a success. This was largely because all of the soldiers knew that the Commander's Intent wasn't for them to find their exact unit and capture the exact area they were assigned. The Commander's Intent was to capture key locations so the larger operations could succeed. The concept of Commander's Intent is that each individual understands the Intent of the overall project or plan. That way when unexpected things happen, and they always do, the individual can adapt their actions so the larger plan succeeds. Planning is important so people have a direction to move in but having a Commander's Intent is key to allowing your people the flexibility to react to changing circumstances. The Commander's Intent has to be well thought out and easily understood by every individual. For example: Let's say you are the CEO of a Widget company and you want your company to beat out the competition and become the number one choice of Widgets in the world. A goal would be to capture 50% market share by March 15th. But that isn't a Commander's Intent. Commander's Intent includes a list of key tasks that need to be accomplished as well as what the end state will look like. It would look more like this: Widget Company GoalOur objective is to capture 50% market share by March 15th in order to strategically place our company for long term success. The key steps to this undertaking are: 1-Increase customer retention by 31% measured by number of subscription renewals month over month. 2-Decrease costs of production by 8% measured strictly by the cost of producing Widgets excluding the cost of overhead or investments in other areas. 3-Increase customer referrals by 19% based on our customer referral program and measured month over month. We will know we have succeeded when we have captured 50% or more of the market share based on our monthly Widget sales vs our competitors and have reached a consistent customer retention rate of 75% for three consecutive months. We will also have reduced our production costs to maintain our current level of profitability while also acquiring a surplus of $1 million dollars. This will allow our company to retain profitability and move into the Gizmo market by the end of the fiscal year to maintain our competitive edge. Now if I am a front line employee, let's say I work in the Widget factory, and I understand this Commander's Intent. Let's pretend I find a way to cut cost by 3% but I think it might reduce customer retention by 40%. I am less likely to try to implement that action because I understand the larger goal. Let's pretend that instead I find a way to increase customer retention by 40% but it may increase production cost by 3%. If I understand that the Commander's Intent isn't just to cut costs (which is usually what a front line worker thinks in this sort of situation) but it is rather to position our company in the way described above I am more likely to suggest that change. And with any luck the production cost cuts can come from somewhere else if they are even needed after a 40% increase in customer retention rather than a 31% increase. This is the power of harnessing Commander's Intent.
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AuthorJ. LaVarr Roberts Archives
April 2021
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