The Mission
Not too long ago, a SEAL platoon was given the task of providing information about an enemy military installation. To plan this mission, the platoon worked backward from the final objective,transmitting the target information from the field.
The first question was, when was information about the base needed? Moving backward, when did the members of the platoon have to complete their surveillance in order to transmit the information on time? Moving further back, when did they have to begin their surveillance to allow for a sufficient number of eyes on the target? Moving still further back, when did they have to reach the target site in order to set up their surveillance positions on time? When did they have to begin moving from else where in the enemy country in order to reach the enemy base on time? When did they have to get into the enemy country in order to begin their movement? When did they need to depart from a friendly base in order to reach the enemy country? When did they need to reach the friendly base?
When did they need to depart from where they were now in order to get there on time? When did they need to begin packing?
The Take?Away
It’s the same in business. Plan backward from where you want to be. A new product has to be on the shelf by December of next year. When does it have to arrive at the store in order for the store clerks to get it onto the shelves? When do delivery trucks need to leave the factory in order to get it to the store on time? When does the product have to be at the factory loading dock in order to get on the trucks? When does production of the product have to be completed? When does production need to begin?
It doesn’t stop there. When does the decision to begin production need to be made? When must product testing be finalized in order to make this decision? When does a prototype need to be completed in order to begin testing? When must art and design work be finished in order to build apro to type? Finally, when does the decision to go forth with the project or not have to be made?
Setting the overall goal and a series of objectives allows you to build a team that is designed to meet the overall goals, while still meeting the immediate needs. Here’s how it’s done.
Define the Overall, Long?Term Goal of the Team
One goal of the SEAL organization is to continuously be able to provide SEAL forces on demand. After one bang?up ambush operation, the SEAL organization wants to be able to conduct another quality operation somewhere else, maybe a hostage rescue, and then another, maybe a warlord take?down, and then another. The overall, long?term goal of the SEAL organization is to provide elite commando forces whenever they are needed—over and over again. In fact, at any given time, somewhere around the world, consistent with this objective, a SEAL platoon is operating.
That means that the SEAL organization not only has to produce individual SEALs and platoons that are extremely capable, but also needs to maintain that high level of capability at all times. That means it also needs to continuously position SEAL forces so that they can respond rapidly.
In order to continuously achieve this goal, the SEAL organization has to maintain a pipeline so that the right people become SEALs. It has to continuously maintain these people at an exceptionally high capability level. It has to continuously maintain a leadership structure to employ its forces. And it has to continuously maintain a culture that consistently support sand reinforces its troops. Any short?term goal must be consistent with these themes.
What are your organization’s long?term goals?
Work Backward to Define Benchmarks and Short?Term Objectives That Are Consistent with Your Long?Term Goals
What objectives have to be met in order to provide the SEAL organization with what it needs?
Short?Term Goal 1: Provide the right people.
Initial, basic SEAL training, otherwise known as Basic Underwater Demolition School(BUD/S), is perhaps the most arduous military training in the world, and yet the system attracts hundreds of applicants every year. Enthusiastic, physically fit, patriotic, extremely confident team players fight to get to the SEAL community, where veteran SEALs tear them to pieces. A fraction of them pass the rigors of training. Maintaining the lure so that the organization attracts certain individuals and maintaining the tough initial screening process are key short?term goals that support the long?term goal of supplying the right people.
Short?Term Goal 2: Maintain outstanding capabilities.
Once people are accepted into the SEAL community, they train almost continuously, both individually and in teams. After basic commando training, SEALs attend an advanced com man do school, and then jump school, and dive school, and sniper school, and communications school, and dozens of other schools. Then they are placed in platoons that undergo a continuous cycle of team training. Urban warfare. Jungle warfare. Mountain warfare. Years go by. SEALs earn the equivalent of a doctorate in commando operations.
Then they deploy to operate, and the training continues. Local languages. Regional tactics.
Training with forces from other countries. Then back to the United States and into another platoon. Training never ends. Maintaining this tempo is a key short?term goal that supports the long?term goal of providing the United States with a continuously high capability.
Short?Term Goal 3: Provide effective leadership.
The SEAL organization employs leaders with operational experience, political savvy,technical expertise, and managerial know?how. Officers—the leaders and managers in the military—go through the same training as enlisted personnel to ensure technical proficiency and team bonding. Senior enlisted personnel—the technical masters and operational foremen of the military—are given enormous influence over strategy. Both officers and senior enlisted personnel become regional experts, receive postgraduate degrees, and are loaned out to other special operations staffs, where they learn and leverage their skills.
At the same time, officers and enlisted personnel are repeatedly placed in positions where they can hone their leadership skills. This continues throughout the officer’s career: at the squad level, the platoon level, the task unit level, and the SEAL team level. One SEAL officer whom Jon worked under in California and the Middle East has wartime experience in the Gulf War, Somalia, and a half?dozen other conflicts; speaks another language; and has an advanced degree in low?intensity conflict. And he’s not unusual. An enlisted SEAL who mJon knows can speak two exotic languages; has operated in Bosnia, Central Africa, and dozens of other countries; and has worked on several senior battle staffs.
Rotating leaders through different theaters exposes them to different methods, customs, and solutions. Assigning leaders to different missions increases their ability to grasp operation alcapabilities and limitations. Sending them back to school, again and again, increases their ability to shoot, jump, analyze, and plan. Maintaining extensive corporate and leadership expertise, as well as a deep sense of community loyalty, is a short?term goal that supports the long?term goal of employing SEALs effectively and wisely.
Short?Term Goal 4: Maintain a strong culture.
SEALs trust SEALs with their lives. From the first day of initial training, this theme is reinforced continuously. Trainees are organized into inseparable pairs in BUD/S. From that day on, they are taught never to leave each other on a swim, never to leave each other when securing a ship, never to leave each other in the field. With two people, one can always cover the other’s back, carry the other to safety, and take watch while the other rests.
A bond is created. Trust follows. Trust is the lifeblood of the SEAL community. SEALs pack each other’s parachutes, monitor each other’s dive equipment, cover each other when under fire, and give each other blood transfusions. You could be the fastest sprinter in the world,but if you leave your buddy behind, you’re out. SEALs have never left a buddy behind in combat, not even a buddy’s corpse. You’re hurt yourself? No matter. Mike Thornton had several rounds in him and still slung his mate over his shoulder and fought his way back to the beach in Vietnam. Enforcing this philosophy is a short?term goal that supports the long?term goal of maintaining a warrior culture.
What short?term goals do you have in place that support your long?term goals?
Build Your Leadership around Your Long?Term Goals
SEAL teams are built primarily around three individuals who have several years of experience with the SEAL organization and who implicitly understand the long?term goals of the SEAL organization. They understand operational concerns. They know budget issues.
They know the direction in which the world is turning. They know what can and can’t be done.
Each of the following is a position that exists on every SEAL team. There is a rough business equivalent for each of them. What’s important, however, is that all the seresponsibilities are handled within your business, whether or not the position as such officially exists.
The Commanding Officer. The commanding officer’s job is to see the big picture and to move the team forward in alignment with that strategic vision. “We’re moving forward quickly into more cold?water training,” a commanding officer once announced to Jon’s team during their weekly meeting. “The Soviet Union is our main adversary, and we’re going to do everything we can to train like we’d fight.” His commanding officer in Europe moved them,operationally, into Eastern Europe. His commanding officer in Panama pushed forward the concept of foreign internal defense (FID), in addition to their traditional mission of crisis response.
The Executive Officer (XO). The executive officer’s job is to ensure that the organization runs in accordance with established procedures. In his next job he will be the skipper, but right now he’s getting down the rules of the road. In corporate terms, he is the equivalent of chief counsel, chief financial officer, and the head of human relations, all rolled into one job.
There are many ways to obtain bullets, pay your troops, maintain your base, and resolve disputes. The XO makes sure these things are all done the right way. This ensures the long?term goal of maintaining a sound organizational foundation.
The Command Master Chief. The command master chief ensures that the pack is taken care of. How is morale? What does Foxtrot platoon think of its officers? How’s Betty Smith handling the triplets while her husband’s deployed to Colombia? This ensures that people have a source to go to for advice and counseling. It also ensures that there’s someone who is able and willing to tell the commanding officer what’s really going on and how the skipperis really doing.
Which of your leaders will ensure alignment with long?term goals? Which of your leaders will ensure that your short?term operations are done in accordance with established procedures? Which of your leaders will ensure that the rest of your people aren’t left behind?
Each of these three individuals plays a distinct role on a SEAL team that can’t be duplicated or shared by one of the other two. The commanding officer can’t play the philosopher king ifhe’s dragged down into the reality of running the day?to?day organization. The XO can’t run the day?to?day shop if his head is in the clouds being the commanding officer. The command master chief can’t talk offline to the troops if they regard him as the commanding officer. Moreover, the command master chief acts as the enlistees’ advocate during punitive movements by the XO. And the commanding officer needs the command master chief to tell him what’s really going on.
Build Your Team Operators around Short?Term Goals
SEAL teams have several small?unit leaders who ensure that the team can respond immediately if it is called upon. These are the people who look out into the near future, see bad guys in the house next door, and get the wolf pack into their gear. Again, whether or not these positions officially exist in your organization, you need to ensure that all these roles are covered.
The Operations Officer. The operations officer knows what missions are being conducted in the field and what missions are coming down the pike. He ensures that platoons are out of the starting blocks fast, and that they are in the right place at the right time. This job is acombination of civilian operations boss and brand category manager.
The Training Officer. The training officer ensures that platoons and individuals are up to speed in the warfare skills they need in order to rule the battlefield. He squeezes untilsnipers hit dead?on from thousands of yards back, divers rupture engine spaces without being detected, and assault teams blow through doors before the enemy can react. This is the equivalent of the executive trainer as well as the gatekeeper. You do it his way. If he says you’re not ready, you’re not.
The Platoon Commander. This is The Man. He’s always pushing to do righteous things with his men, and his men love him for it. He’s the hungriest project manager in your business.
The Intelligence Officer. The intelligence officer lets the platoon know what it’s up against,both right now and throughout the operation. Water temperature? Enemy weapons? Full moon? Hostage location? This oracle provides the answers. His counterpart is the corporate analyst and market researcher.
Who on your team can get the team to meet short?term objectives? Who on your team can get things moving? Who makes sure that contingencies can be dealt with? Who is going to be the pain in the ass, always trying to stoke the fire?