Mission Command and “Turn the Ship Around” by Louis David Marquet
27/02/2018
Turn the Ship Around’s main premise is that many organisations’ management techniques have created Leader-Follower environments, even in the US Navy it seems, and David Marquet sought to bust this approach and develop a Leader-Leader style of Management on board a US submarine – the USS Santa Fe. This book, which will be reviewed in an upcoming blog, gives some excellent pointers on some concrete steps that can be taken to move from the Leader-Follower (often referred to as Command & Control or Micromanagement) style to the Leader-Leader (“Mission Command” or “Centralised Intent”) style.
Per our previous blogs, Mission Command is a technique that began with its rudiments towards the end of the Napoleonic Wars and that has been significantly refined and honed between then and now by most western militaries.
And management (both academic and corporate) today has overlooked this powerful approach to successfully developing and implementing Strategy – mainly because the Industrial Revolution, happening at the same time, gave rise to a parallel methodology starting with factories and then services industries building their own management techniques that have led to the way many organisations are run as we see them now in the 21st century. Generally speaking these techniques have shown themselves time and again to be “patchy” at best.
We’ve had the opportunity to work with several organisations to develop a Mission Command style. Three examples:
- Working with the Command Teams from two Fire Services looking to develop a Strategic Collaboration, by working methodically through the first 2 – 3 stages of our 8-stage process, we were told we had accomplished in two 1-day workshops what these teams had been attempting for the best part of 2 years
- Working with a global technology company, we were driven into the details of solutions (Stages 4 – 6) before completing Stages 1 – 3, and have hit the pause button to see if we can re-engage appropriately
- Working with a large Public Sector body in the North-West of England, we observed a first attempt to align Strategy Execution with the Central Intent, where far too much depth and detail was being covered – leaving many of the senior management confused and the executive team frustrated. A second attempt was much more successful using elements of Mission Command techniques and sticking with the first stage of our 8-stage process – fundamental Central Intent coming through, and then looking at the next level of management down to start fleshing out further stages in more detail.
More case-studies will be developed, and, along with our 8-stage process, will be revealed in forthcoming blogs. It seems as if we’re catching Glimpses of the Blindingly Obvious (GBOs), as we peel back some of the traditional management techniques and begin applying learnings from the military.
As Stephen Bungay observes in discussing GBOs in his book, Art of Action (this quote supposedly attributed to Winston Churchill): “Most people, sometimes during their lives, stumble across truth. And most jump up, dust themselves off, and hurry on about their business as if nothing had happened.”
What will you do?
Categories & Tags:
Leave a comment on this post:
You might also like…
Systematic Literature Review – combining your search strings
Our previous posts on the systematic review have looked at: Systematic Literature Review – Where do I begin? Systematic Literature Review – Selecting your Sources Systematic Literature Review - Identifying your search terms and constructing ...
Academic writing and being critical
Academic writing is daunting. Capturing all your thoughts and analysis and putting them down onto paper in some sort of understandable fashion is a challenge. Did you know we have resources in our Cranfield Study ...
Bank holiday hours for Library Services: Monday 6 May
Library Services staff will be taking a break on Monday 6 May for the early May bank holiday. You will still be able to access all the resources and help you need via our library ...
Cranfield’s Manufacturing and Materials Students’ Showcase Innovation at Project Day
On 26 April, Cranfield University buzzed with excitement as students from across our Manufacturing and Materials MSc programmes presented their group projects at the annual Group Project Presentation Day. This annual event presents ...
Come to a virtual study session in May
What are virtual study sessions? These are online study sessions facilitated by Library staff, where you can study independently alongside other students via Teams. They are a great way for you to dedicate specific time ...
Getting started on your School of Management thesis
Writing a thesis, business plan, internship project or company project can be a daunting task, and you might have some uncertainty or questions around how to get started. This post will share some ideas and ...