Learning leadership from armed forces

“The safety, honour & welfare of your country comes first, always & every time. The honour, welfare & comfort of the men you command, come next. Your own ease, comfort & safety come last, always & every time.” Thus was expressed the precept of military leadership by Field Marshal Sir Philip W. Chetwode. The words are even today worth their weight in gold and are enshrined at the Indian Military Academy to serve as motivation for everybody in uniform.

While the fundamentals of military leadership and business or corporate leadership may appear to be same, there are for certain, monumental differences in so much as application and enforcement is concerned. There are scores of lessons that can be learnt from the military and which can be adapted as functioning tenets in the corporate world.

Military leadership is the manner of impelling others to accomplish the mission by providing validation, bearing, and inspiration. Your basic responsibilities as a military leader entail accomplishment of an objective and ensuring the welfare of those junior to you. Towards this, the most elemental but vital organisational system that is made use of is the chain of command. Command refers to the authority to be exercised officially over juniors that is vested in a person accruing because of rank or appointment. Chain of command, on the other hand, implies a sequence of commanders who have direct command functions and primary charter to attain all assigned objectives; care of personnel and material assets also being their responsibility. Considering the foregoing, the duties that are required to be performed by a military leader can be detailed, dictated and implicit ones.

The importance of ethics in any conduct needs no emphasis. Action indeed is the sole medium of expression for ethics. Professional military ethics symbolise loyalty to your country and organisation; your obligations and calling; and your self-sacrificing service. In all these, the requirements of your country, organisation and subordinates invariably have a higher priority than you. To be able to go along such ethics, everybody who wears a uniform must have four values:

· Courage: Physical and moral courage are inherent to functioning.

· Forthrightness:  It is a necessity to be upfront, amenable, truthful and genuine in all dealings with juniors, colleagues and seniors alike.

· Proficiency: Adeptness is essential in requisite professional familiarity, discernment and dexterities.

· Obligation: Everybody is obliged to contribute for the attainment of all organisational objectives; and also fulfil all national and organisational values.

The effectiveness of leadership at all levels manifests itself in the form of high morale; pride in and loyalty towards the organisation; prompt obedience to orders and initiation of action in the absence of orders; and organisational ability to accomplish mission. Therefore, it is no surprise that military leaders imbibe certain character traits, notable being confidence, pluck, uprightness, resoluteness, initiative, self-discipline and fellow-feeling. Accordingly, inter alia, the following tenets that have stood the test of time are invariably followed:

· Proficiency, self-awareness and self-improvement.

· Intimate knowledge of subordinates and ensuring their welfare.

· Dissemination of requisite information on a timely basis.

· Setting and leading by examples.

· Participation in training as a team to facilitate development of sense of responsibility.

· Employment of teams to be done in accordance with its capabilities.

· Seeking responsibilities and taking responsibility for your actions.

Prerequisites apart, a military leader is essentially a public servant trusted with the responsibility of the country’s defence. And this accentuates the necessity of professionalism in the armed forces. Further, it is the armed forces as an institution that are intrinsically responsible for the life of its personnel. Professionalism calls for a military leader to be able to provide direction, purpose and motivation. And towards this, he should be an individual of impeccable character and capable of sorting out complex principled quandaries. He should be an illustration of individual values.

In armed forces throughout the world, the dignity of individuals is upheld. A leader never eats before his men nor does he rest before them. Should a mission fail, no blame is apportioned to a senior nor is it passed down to subordinates. And of course, there is no place for bias, favouritism and nepotism in the armed forces. Important motivational imperatives are:

· Individual needs have to correspond with organisational tasks.

· Individual and team conduct that support organisational tasks should be rewarded.

· Disciplinary action should be initiated against individuals whose conduct goes against organisational tasks.

· Leaders at all levels should lead by example; this boosts morale and camaraderie. Use of statistics for the purpose should be avoided.

· Subordinates have to be kept in the loop about forthcoming happenings.

· Welfare measures should free subordinates of worries on their personal front so that they can focus on their jobs.

· The tasks of subordinate should be made as stimulating, stirring and consequential as possible.

· No form of detrimental tête-à-têtes or conduct should be stomached.

Can the experience of the military be translated in the corporate world? If supervisors, managers, directors and CEOs take cues from the armed forces on how to lead, there is no doubt that they will excel as individuals and their organisations will prosper.