CEO Today - March 2023

Selection and Maintenance of the Aim Selection and Maintenance of the Aim is the core principle of Mission Command, around which everything is built. In more modern terms, this can be seen as developing a clear and compelling purpose. When organisations are not clear about what they are trying to achieve, there is internal friction and competition, and the organisation lacks purpose. Defining the right aim excites people and gives them something to work towards. ‘Maintaining’ the aim means that the leader needs to make sure that the aim is still relevant. Around this all-important aim, Mission Command insists on a positive culture which includes four key building blocks: Build Trust and Mutual Understanding Internal competition, gossip and friction are discouraged, and different parts of an organisation are expected to support and work with each other in pursuit of the overallAim. Leaders arenot allowed to interfere or micromanage, but instead, they train and empower junior leaders and trust them to do their best. Mutual Understanding is encouraged by sharing information and encouraging connections throughout the organisation. This allows departments to better support each other. Trust is fundamental to allowing leaders at all levels to make timely decisions on behalf of the organisation without referring decisions upward for approval. Objectives Within the Organisation Must Align When the internal objectives of an organisation are properly aligned, everybody is clearly working towards the same thing; the energy of the organisation is connected and focussed. The objectives of each teammember should feed into and support the objectives of the person they report to. Everybody’s work clearly contributes to the overall aim of the organisation. When objectives are aligned in this way, team members at the lowest level feel a sense of purpose; they see the big picture and understand how their work supports the organisation’s strategic aim. An important aspect of this is that everybody clearly understands what the person they report to is trying to achieve, which allows them to use their initiative and creativity to support that. This is energising, and it engages and empowers people. When direction is given leaders are told WHAT to achieve, and WHY, but not HOW The What is a simple and easily understood statement, and the Why gives the reason and purpose that helps to motivate people by creating an emotional connection to the task. But allowing people to work out the How for themselves is important. Leaders at every level are trusted to create their own plan and given as much freedom as possible. The role of the senior leader is to support and resource and potentially even coach the personwho has been given the task, but not to meddle or direct. This means that people feel ownership of their part of the plan, and it frees senior leadership to focus on more strategic work. By being allowed to create their own How leaders at all levels are encouraged to think creatively and develop the plans which they will themselves carry out. Usually, these plans will be better linked to reality than plans created by people further away from the situation. Keeping Up Tempo Mission Command involves making effective decisions quickly and turning them into action. In Mission Command this is called Tempo. Leaders at every level are expected to have the knowledge and the confidence to make decisions, rather than passing decision-making upwards to more senior people or committees. The Mission Command way of working makes Tempo possible, because everybody is focussed on the same objective, and the culture of Trust and Understanding allows senior leaders to trust their team to make decisions on their behalf. In Summary A true Mission Command environment is hard to achieve and harder to maintain. Gossip and internal competition tend to undermine trust and mutual understanding, and people lose sight of the aim they should be working towards as process and procedure take precedence over

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