Leadership in the Shadows by Lamb Kyle

Author:Lamb, Kyle [Lamb, Kyle]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2015-10-05T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 24, COMMANDER'S INTENT

What the heck is Commander’s Intent , and why would I want to apply this scary military term to my business or department?

Commander’s Intent is the end state that your commander desires. It can be verbalized or written. End state means, after the mission is complete, what will have been accomplished. The Commander’s Intent will help his unit, or subordinate units, focus their combat power to attain the end state. The importance of the Commander’s Intent , from a purely practical view, is this: Here is what I want done at the end of the day. He or she is not telling you how to conduct that mission, or when, but what they want the battlefield to look like at its completion. Of course, you will have the occasional Micromanager-Commander who dictates the exact manner in which the end state will be reached. But this is not truly Commander’s Intent . If you want to be successful as a leader, you must use the strengths of all of your assigned personnel. Not only will this make things go smoothly, but also you, as a commander, will be able to better facilitate the desired end state if you command and not micromanage. There are normally a few caveats to any Commander’s Intent . There may be a desired line of attack or you may have adjacent units of which you must be aware because they have their own Commander’s Intent to follow.

Now for you business folks. Simply replace Commander’s Intent with Goal or Leader’s Goal . You have selected your desired end state, or goal, and told your people what it is. If you are a great leader, you will step out of the way and watch your great women and men strive towards this common goal. Of course, as leaders we must constantly supervise in order to keep things headed in the right direction. However, supervision and controlling are two different things. Supervision will be received well and inspires your people to perform using their own fresh ideas all along the way. Controlling destroys motivation and initiative. It results in bad attitudes toward the goal and the leader. Micromanagement is a type of controlling behavior. I look at micromanagement as interference whereas supervision is ensuring your mission is accomplished in accordance with your Commander’s Intent . Additionally, a great leader is always available to his people to answer questions and give advice when needed.

You may also refer to your goals as vision. While some of you may think vision can be used to replace Commander’s Intent as well, I wouldn’t recommend it. I say this because vision means something slightly different to me. Vision is more of an overarching, long term view that you, as the leader, have for your organization. Not necessarily the goal that you are attempting to reach in the next week or month, but the direction you are trying to take your company in the next one to five years. Vision is not mission specific but a representation of your present and future plans for your organization.

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