Podcasts about commander's intent

Purpose: To equip you with purpose to lead and inspire your staff and to manage uncertainty with command intent, to emerge powerfully, ready for the new normal. Process: I'll explain how uncertainty causes stress because our brain craves certainty, purpose, and direction and lastly how you can be a different type of leader, the sort of leader who provides the very certainty, purpose and direction that will empower you to emerge stronger. Payoff: You'll learn how to energise your staff to continue in the face of difficulties. You'll know how to communicate certainty, direction and purpose and what success on the other side of the current difficult time looks like and how you and your now continuity energised staff will achieve it. Times of crisis demand a different type of leader where the only certain thing is that there is no certainty. Dr John Kenworthy Uncertainty causes stress, and we go into our "critter state" Your brain has a single primary concern: to keep you in the "not dead" state. That is its first and foremost function. It really doesn't matter how brilliant, rich or talented you are when you are in the "dead" state. When the world around us becomes even a little uncertain, your brain is marvellously designed to allow your older "critter brain" to take charge of survival. In a time of crisis, the "critter brain" rules the day until you deliberately choose to intervene. For leaders who haven't been close to a crisis before, managing during such times can feel thrilling. Your brain triggers norepiphrene and adrenaline spikes as you make decisions and take action. You feel a sense of adding tangible value. The stress hormone, cortisol, steadily builds up in your body and pressures from the home front add to your anxiety. The longer you struggle, directionless through a crisis the more stress and anxiety builds up that could blow any second. Before long, more people look to you for decisions and direction as they begin to flounder trying to make sense of the latest information and like Sisyphus, you discover the boulder you are pushing uphill becomes less stable with each step. Leaders need to guide people towards the best possible outcome over time. Your focus is on what is likely to come next and preparing to meet it. You go beyond the immediate to anticipate the next three, four or five obstacles. At the same time you need to address the urgent needs of the business, making immediate choices and allocating resources quickly and decisively. On any normal day your "critter brain" is assessing the environment asking three questions: Am I safe? Do I belong? and Do I matter? This isn't a once in a while process, it is every minute of every single day. "Am I safe?" is simply checking your surroundings for threats. An "all is well" response allows your brain to relax for a brief moment and if this extends for some time, you will physically relax and your brain waves will slow down. When "Am I safe?" gets the answer: "No" then the amygdalae are brought swiftly into the action, the stress hormone norepinephrine production is triggered in your brain and your body produces adrenaline is ready for "freeze, flight or fight". If the threat is not judged to be imminent, the "Do I belong?" question may get out to check on the whereabouts of fellow tribe members. After all, who wants to face a ravenous wolf alone? If there is a wolf, the "Do I matter?" question probably doesn't even get a cursory glance. A crisis is, by definition, a time of intense stress, difficulty or danger. Even if you only experience it through a social media feed or a news bulletin. Our safety is being threatened in a crisis. And in times of difficulty or danger, we're usually better of with our tribe on our side. At least then we might stand a chance of survival, let alone emerging triumphant and ready for the post-crisis world. A great leader knows this and pulls and energises the team together towards a clear and tangible command intent. Your brain could use some coaching even if you think you don't. Your brain craves certainty, purpose and direction Am I safe? Do I belong? Do I matter? Every minute of every day. And your brain wants an answer that is Yes, YES and YES!!!!! James F. Parker knew this very well. He was CEO of Southwest airlines during and after the 9-11 attacks and he believes that Southwest succeeded in part because its employees work together towards the intended big-picture goal of serving customers, instead of only focusing on their own jobs. Effective leaders, Parker says, create an atmosphere where employees are proud of their jobs, they understand the mission and purpose, and want to do the right thing. “You can’t make people do the right thing, because if they don’t want to do it, there’s always going to be a way around it. But what you can do is make people want to do the right thing.” James F. Parker, CEO Southwest Airlines Your brain is also programmed to narrow focus in the face of a threat. The norepinephrine production in your brain narrows your focus and attention. An excellent survival mechanism for your cave-dwelling ancestors and somewhat useful in the modern office. The trap is that your field of vision is restricted to the immediate foreground. Leaders need to intentionally pull back and look up to manage the immediate whilst anticipating the future obstacles. Or else you react to each and every threat as it emerges, flipping from one danger and flopping through the next. To anyone watching, it looks as though you haven't a clue what you are doing and that doesn't instil a great deal of confidence or respect in your ability to get us through this crisis. Literally lifting your eyes heavenward can break the spell of immediacy crowding out your executive brain functions and enable you to engage considered thinking to the problems keeping in mind the longer term mission and purpose, the command intent and the people you lead. A great leader knows that a crisis is a crisis because it affects people. Though leaders can fall into the trap of worrying about daily metrics of share price, revenue and costs. Of course these matter, but they are the outcome of the coordinate efforts of people, the tribe to which the leader belongs. Energise your staff to continue in the face of difficult times to emerge stronger. The great leader's solution is to unite people in their efforts and goals as valued members of a cohesive team. This begins with a clearly communicated mission that infuses the work with purpose. The mission and purpose is then animated through an inclusive leadership approach where each person understands how they and their skills and talents contribute—and that their contribution is appreciated and recognised. What you need is what the army calls a "Command Intent". What is Command Intent and how do I create one? Command Intent is the definition and description of what a successful mission will look like to the commander (or CEO). You need to articulate specifically what you will see, hear, feel, smell and taste when you have achieved success. You will know exactly what you will win when you are successful and what it will cost. You will know who, what, where, when and how the people will execute the mission. Command intent is what success looks like whilst fully recognising that the situation will be chaotic, that there is a lack of complete information, that the enemy (competition, virus, laws, Government) changes the situation and anything else that may impact the situation to make the plan completely or partially obsolete when executed. Critically, Command Intent empowers subordinates to guide their improvisation and to take the initiative to adapt the plan to the changing environment. It enables the whole team to keep the clear vision of a successful conclusion whilst being agile and taking initiative to change when necessary. Why not just use SMART goals? The downside of SMART goals is their lack of purpose. SMART goals are terrific, but they don't tell me why, nor what to do should the specific result become impossible given a change in the situation... and there will be a change in the situation. A quick way to arrive at a useful Command Intent is to use one or both of the following questions as suggested by the NATO Combat Manoeuvring Training Center: “If we do nothing else during tomorrow’s mission, we must . . . , so that . . .” “The single, most important thing that we must do tomorrow is . . . , so that . . . ” But how do we plan for the unknown dynamic change? One big problem for leaders on a "normal" day is that the environment of business competition and goals are dynamic. During difficult times, that truth simply accelerates and in new and previously unseen ways. As soon as you are fully aware of the current situation, that situation has already changed. Leaders need to gain dynamic situational awareness. Gain situational Awareness Shared Situational awareness is perhaps one of the most critical skills for collaboration in a crisis. Situational awareness is the ability to create a mental model that identifies, processes, and comprehends the critical elements of information about what is happening to you and your organisation in relation to the current situation. More simply, it’s knowing what is going on around you. Shared situational awareness is have a shared perspective of the changing current situation and a shared mental image of what is happening and trust each other to act based on these shared mental models. Heavyweight boxing champion, Mike Tyson has a tremendously useful philosophy about plans: Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. To avoid the punch in the mouth, you and your team need to be empowered to strategically improvise. Everyone has a plan, until they get punched in the mouth! In every battlefield there are knowns and unknowns. All plans and intentions start with the ridiculous idea that we know everything that we need to know. We don't. And, when we are honest, we know that we don't know. And we need to get comfortable with that. No plan survives contact with the enemy Attributed to Helmuth von Moltke in the 19th century. In any crisis, leaders often under immense pressure and with compressed timelines and high stakes, must formulate a new approach to the changing situation. They then execute new responses or a combination of responses to manage the situation as they see it in light of their Command Intent. In other words, leaders must improvise in order to develop a strategic response and follow a simple 3-step process: Make a decision! Communicate Evaluate The only difficulty is that it takes a strong leader to accept that they might make a less than perfect decision. Only a strong leader accepts responsibility and holds themselves accountable in light of mistaken decisions. Only a strong leader knows that clear communication is key, and that communication is the response they get. Only a strong leader makes sure that they evaluate and when successful and they achieve the Command Intent, only a strong, great leader passes the praise and glory to the team. Only those leaders who energise their staff for continuity will thrive in difficult times. And to emerge stronger, leaders need a clear Commander's Intent, with Shared Situational Awareness and staff empowered to strategically improvise. Of course, if you want your team to lack confidence, fear failure, have endless meetings revisiting the same old things again and again and encourage second guessing then don't do this. Empower yourself today: “If I do nothing else tomorrow, I must ... so that...."

At YNAB there is a document called the Vision Doc, which spells out the “commander’s intent” for the company, how to behave and act on the company’s behalf. Employees must make many decisions on a day to day basis, but with a clear commander’s intent they have the freedom to make those smaller decisions while adhering to the company’s greater goal.   It’s useful to develop the same commander’s intent for your budget. With a clear goal and aim for the budget, it becomes easier to make those small, day to day money decisions that, as we know, can add up to big dollars over the course of a year!   Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com

Expository preaching from the book of Joel

AIRWaves Episode #39: In this episode of AIRWaves, we sit down with NAVAIR Commander, Vice Adm. Dean Peters, to discuss this past year and NAVAIR's priorities in the year ahead.

In his recent book (co-authored with Bing West), former Secretary of Defense and Marine Corps General Jim Mattis writes about his military career and the key factors for battlefield success. An important element is what he call the commander's intent. It is vitally important that all the troops under his command understand and act in concert with this intent. In this commentary, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, discusses how understanding the commander's intent relates to the political turmoil we currently face in the United States.

Pastor Royce Wilson

Pastor Royce Wilson

This week's guest on the Sales Leadership Podcast is Kyle Morris, founder of SifData. Kyle is a former Special Forces Army Ranger who offers insights from his military experience that he has applied to his highly successful company. He believes that it's hard to stay in high-growth mode for a long period of time. The only chance you have is to have a bullet-proof sales process. According to Kyle, you have to have systems to find the right people and then have systems to plug them into. A mature leader can scale by learning to comfortably delegate. His most important point? You can delegate authority but you can never delegate responsibility. So listen this week—you'll come away with a new appreciation of the 80/20 rule and Commander's Intent.

Commander's Intent is used in the military to describe what constitutes the success of a mission.  What is the Commander's intent for you and I?  Join Pastor Kelly to discover God's intent for you.   CLICK HERE for notes that accompany this message.

In the military, officers are trained so that, even when they cannot contact their commander, they still know what to do, exactly as the commander wants them to do it. We have our mental habits that sometimes limit our freedom, because we forget our Commander's intent, even though Jesus left very clear guidance, over and over again. His intent is that we have faith in him, and that we love just as he has loved us. As visiting Pastor Fred Veerhuis makes clear, that's a tall order — fortunately, he also empowers us. [Organ/Choir - Pentecost 15]

Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. Mike Tyson's excellent response to a reporters question before his fight with Evander Holyfield. And isn't that just true about all of the best laid plans we make? No plan survives contact with the enemy Attributed to Helmuth von Moltke in the 19th century. All such quotes ring true because you know that it concurs with your own experience. On June 6th 1944 the long planned sea and airborne invasion of France began and the months of practice and detailed planning unravelled as parachute forces dropped into unmarked landing spots, gliders landed in wrong areas and thousands of soldiers from many different units found themselves mixed together during the night. A military disaster appeared to be in the making yet just hours later, the original objectives were being accomplished by ad-hoc units who faced much fiercer than expected German resistance. Leaders and soldiers at all levels understood that no matter where they found themselves on landing and no matter who with, they had to form into units, seize bridges and key terrain. The plan had vanished, but good Commander's Intent and superior training allowed leaders and soldiers to improvise and take the initiative to save the mission. What happens in your team at work when a plan changes? Does everyone know what to do next or is there confusion, prevarication and people standing around waiting for direction? Planning is time-consuming and difficult, whether you're planning a military operation, a product launch or planning your career. The military most often uses a concept known as "Commander's Intent" as a key concept to help a plan remain relevant and applicable during chaos in a dynamic ever-changing and resource-constrained environment. That is, they use it for real-life application. In the military, Commander's Intent is the definition and description of what a successful mission will look like to the commander (or CEO). Again, in the military, a Mission Statement describes Who, What, Where, When and Why (the 5W's) of How a mission will be executed. Thus, Commander's Intent describes the vision of the battlefield (or market, for example) at the accomplishment of the mission. Commander's Intent is what success looks like whilst fully recognising that the situation will be chaotic, that there is a lack of complete information, that the enemy changes the situation and anything else that may impact the situation to make the plan completely or partially obsolete when executed. Commander's Intent empowers subordinates to guide their improvisation and to take the initiative to adapt the plan to the changing battlefield environment. It enables the whole team to keep the clear vision of a successful conclusion whilst being agile and taking initiative to change when necessary. Why not just use SMART goals. SMART goals are what we are supposed to be setting, right? The downside of SMART goals is their lack of purpose Goal setting is essential, but even SMART goals are not enough in a rapidly changing, dynamic and shifting environment. SMART goals are terrific, but they don't tell me why, nor what to do should the specific result become impossible given the change in the environment... and there will be a change in the environment. When you take a SMART goal and turn it into an intention reduces the risk of the plan to achieve the goal being rendered useless in the event of unforeseen circumstances. To reduce the risk of becoming unusable, the Commander’s Intent is purposely ambiguous. Regardless of your seniority, any team member can improvise and align their behaviour without jeopardising the mission; and if need be, specify for clarification and without the need for instruction from their leaders. Simplistically, an intent takes a great SMART goal and adds a "so that" to it. For example, Score twice tonight so that we win the match. If the other team score three times, your goal remains achieved yet your mission is stuffed. Increase your market share by 30% could easily be a SMART goal... and there are myriad ways to do so. An MNC I worked with had that exact goal - and they achieved it! Whoopido! Sadly it was at the expense of making a profit. Fortunately we could turn it around the following year by finding the real answer to why they wanted a 30% increase. James Carville and Paul Begal recall Herb Kelleher’s description of Southwest’s Commander’s Intent in their book Buck Up, Suck Up, and Come Back When You Foul Up: 12 Winning Secrets from the War Room: "We are THE low-cost airline". When you understand the you are working for THE low-cost airline, it's easy to measure any action you take against that intention. Does giving passengers free water during their flight align with that intent? Commander's Intent allows trained, confident and engaged employees to understand the plan and when they have to deviate to ensure that Commander's Intent is accomplished. They employ a "Spectrum of Improvisation" as they adapt the plan without changing proven processes nor common work techniques that are part of the plan and strengthen operational outcomes. Most often a good plan is a source of strength and you only need to adapt portions of the plan that require adjustment. The Spectrum of Improvisation retains the processes and systems that support business and mission excellence while adapting necessary elements to ensure mission success. Clear Commander's Intent gives yourself and your team members direction and confidence. If you lead your team, then you are responsible for identifying a worthy and compelling vision and articulating it to the team. People continually need to be shown the team's compass clearly and creatively so that their actions align, and they stay motivated by a captivating picture of the future. In their book, "Made to Stick", Chip and Dan Heath share help from the unit in charge of military simulations for NATO, the Combat Maneuver Training Center, who recommend that officers arrive at the Commander’s Intent by asking themselves two questions. And to be completely certain that you include a clear communication of purpose, I suggest that you add "so that" “If we do nothing else during tomorrow’s mission, we must . . . , so that . . .” “The single, most important thing that we must do tomorrow is . . . , so that . . . ” Using a Commander’s Intent can help you get more done and strip your to do list down to its most important task. Leaders who are unable to articulate clarity of command intent often find that the team fails to commit and: This creates ambiguity among the team about direction and priorities Team member's watch windows of opportunity close due to excessive analysis and unnecessary delay It also breeds lack of confidence and fear of failure Team's revisit discussions and decisions again and again And also encourages second-guessing among team members Of course, if you want your team to lack confidence, fear failure, have endless meetings revisiting the same old things again and again and encourage second guessing then don't do this. “If I do nothing else tomorrow, I must . . . " call a prospect write to my mother prepare for that presentation Establish a clear command intent for myself and my team so that...

If something is true, then it is true for all people at all times in all circumstances or it isn't really true at all.

Based on a military term Commander's Intent, this message is designed to help us understand the End State of God's Plan, our purpose and place in this place, and finally the key tasks of us carrying out God's Plan in our lives.

Based on a military term Commander's Intent, this message is designed to help us understand the End State of God's Plan, our purpose and place in this place, and finally the key tasks of us carrying out God's Plan in our lives.

Based on a military term Commander's Intent, this message is designed to help us understand the End State of God's Plan, our purpose and place in this place, and finally the key tasks of us carrying out God's Plan in our lives.

Based on a military term Commander's Intent, this message is designed to help us understand the End State of God's Plan, our purpose and place in this place, and finally the key tasks of us carrying out God's Plan in our lives.