{"id":5446,"date":"2013-04-02T16:56:14","date_gmt":"2013-04-02T23:56:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nomadicminds.org\/blogs\/?p=5446"},"modified":"2013-03-29T10:00:37","modified_gmt":"2013-03-29T17:00:37","slug":"how-to-command","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.nomadicminds.org\/blogs\/2013\/04\/how-to-command\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Command?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>New managers actually do not know how to &#8220;command and control.&#8221;  Heck, many experienced ones don&#8217;t either.  The class trap is to be explicit on the procedure and process.  Do this, then do that, talk to that guy, then do that.  They usually leave the intention ambiguous &mdash; too much explanation and not necessary. But the result is usually not satisfying: the subordinates felt they are mere robots carrying out mindless tasks; the manager is frustrated from the lack of innovation and motivation from the staff; the procedure and process become long and boring; people start to cut corners; worse, they do it only in form; management became tedious and tiring.<\/p>\n<p>In modern &#8220;knowledge-based&#8221; world, the manager needs to communicate the &#8220;intention&#8221; of the decisions.  There are several elements* in such communication:<\/p>\n<style>\n#ex { font-style: italic; }\n<\/style>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>What&#8217;s the purpose?<\/td>\n<td id=\"ex\">Our troops need more supplies.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>What&#8217;s the objective?<\/td>\n<td id=\"ex\">We will secure the port so that supply ships can dock.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>What is the processes, steps, tasks, that need to be accomplished in what sequence?<\/td>\n<td id=\"ex\"><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Why are we doing it this way?<\/td>\n<td id=\"ex\"><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>The key points of the plan that would have force us to re-plan or abort.<\/td>\n<td id=\"ex\">We suspect alternative sources of supply.  In that case, we shall switch to plan B.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>The things that should not happen, the goals that should not be reached.<\/td>\n<td id=\"ex\">Civilians activities should be minimally impacted.  The unloading equipment cannot be damaged.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>The key constraints and conditions.<\/td>\n<td id=\"ex\">Ships arrive in 18 hours.  There will be no air-cover in this mission.  Radio communications can only be done in these frequencies.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<p>Memorize these points and make sure you cover them in your communication.  In fact, the preparation for them will already make you a better manager.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 8pt; text-align: right\">*Gary Klein: the Sources of Power.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New managers actually do not know how to &#8220;command and control.&#8221; Heck, many experienced ones don&#8217;t either. The class trap is to be explicit on the procedure and process. Do this, then do that, talk to that guy, then do &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nomadicminds.org\/blogs\/2013\/04\/how-to-command\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[84],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.nomadicminds.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5446"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.nomadicminds.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.nomadicminds.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.nomadicminds.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.nomadicminds.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5446"}],"version-history":[{"count":35,"href":"http:\/\/www.nomadicminds.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5446\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5814,"href":"http:\/\/www.nomadicminds.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5446\/revisions\/5814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.nomadicminds.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.nomadicminds.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.nomadicminds.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}