Thursday, August 25, 2011

Remarkable Strategy for Connecting With His Commanding Officers

How about this for finding out where your people stand?

Let them know where you stand.  And find out where they stand by exchanging 'commander's intent' messages.

I have not seen anything like this before.  Imagine: A senior leader sends his destroyer squadron his "Commodore's Intent" and asks each of his Commanding Officers to send him 'their' intent in the form of a handwritten essay of their command intentions for the next two years.  This is a novel way of finding out if your Skippers can write and a great way for them to connect their command intentions with those of the Commodore.

Commander's Intent - A way to deal with incomplete or changing requirements

Commander's Intent is a military concept. It seems to have been first articulated by the Prussians after their defeat by Napoleon's conscript army in 1806. Commander's Intent is "the commander's stated vision which defines the purpose of an operation, the end state with respect to the relationship among the force, the enemy and the terrain; it must enable subordinates to quickly grasp the successful end state and their part in achieving it".

by Sanjay Mishra
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3 comments:

  1. SteveAugust 25, 2011 at 9:21 AM

    The German General Staff categorised officers aas follows: brilliant, stupid, energetic, and lazy.
    - Brilliant and energetic officers made the best front line leaders and prevailed in battle;
    - Brilliant, lazy officers made the best staff officers and strategic planners;
    - Stupid, lazy officers will be cannon fodder in battle;
    - BUT by all means BEWARE of the officers who are both stupid AND energetic!

    Steve Myers

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousAugust 28, 2011 at 12:59 AM

    C10F are you paying attention!!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousAugust 29, 2011 at 3:05 AM

    Captain Lambert,

    If we believe for one instant that the Commanding Officers of ships in a Squadron will give an honest opinion to the “Commodore’s Intent” by saying anything other than following the intent of their superior, and congratulating the Commodore for his unique style of leadership and his/her excellent leadership to all who fall under his command. We would probably be wrong, and if we expressed an intent that was in conflict with the Commodores Intent our job might be in jeopardy.

    Very Respectfully,
    Navyman834

    ReplyDelete