Guiding doctrine for transparent decision-making amidst turbulent periods
Published in 2022 by L. Lauren Schulz and Sampath Sowmyanarayan
In the face of rapid change, complex processes, and unclear trends, businesses are often left grappling with uncertainty. However, the principles of Commander's intent and empowering teams can provide a roadmap for navigating crises by enabling quick, decentralized decision-making aligned with a clear, shared purpose.
Commander's intent clarifies what needs to be achieved, why it matters, and which constraints or boundaries exist. This empowers frontline teams to independently make decisions that align with overarching goals, even when communication with leadership is limited or disrupted. In business crises, such as IT outages or product failures, rapid response and adaptation are critical.
Empowering teams entails decentralizing control and building trust so that those closest to the problem can make decisions promptly without waiting for approval from above. This reduces bottlenecks at leadership checkpoints and speeds response times. It also fosters accountability and proactivity among team members, who understand their roles and responsibilities within the crisis framework.
To apply these principles effectively, leaders can implement specific strategies:
- Define and communicate clear leadership intent: Articulate the mission purpose, key priorities, and non-negotiable constraints to provide teams with guiding principles that shape decision-making.
- Decentralize decision-making authority: Delegate power to smaller teams or individuals trained to handle emergent issues, enabling rapid localized responses without awaiting centralized commands.
- Train teams in decision-making under uncertainty: Use realistic simulations or live-virtual constructive training to build proficiency in operating autonomously aligned to leadership intent, which builds confidence and resilience.
- Communicate early with empathy and transparency: In digital-era crises, timing and messaging are critical; leadership must combine rapid fixes with sincere communications ideally within the first few hours to maintain trust and control narratives.
- Invest in resilience and operational readiness: Maintain resources, logistics, and leadership development so teams are prepared to sustain operations and adapt as crises evolve.
- Encourage accountability and structured debriefing: After a crisis, review decisions taken against intended outcomes to learn and reinforce adherence to leadership intent while refining decentralized command models.
By combining a clear commander's intent framework with empowered, well-trained teams, companies can reduce delays, enhance agility, and sustain alignment during fast-moving, complex crises, thereby significantly improving crisis outcomes. These principles, originally derived from military and emergency service practices, have been adapted to business contexts, particularly in special forces and firefighting units, as well as in high-profile corporate crises.
Success is a team effort and should be acknowledged after the mission. Despite the widespread use of agile technologies, very few companies realize the full potential of agile methodologies. Only about 35% of these projects can be considered successful. Empowering teams and focusing on the seven critical factors necessary to realize the full benefits of agile processes are crucial for achieving enterprise agility.
[1] Schulz, L. L., & Sowmyanarayan, S. (2022). Leadership principle for clarity during uncertain times. Harvard Business Review. [2] Kotter, J. P. (2019). The heart of change. Harvard Business Review Press. [3] Boyd, R. A. (2008). Patterns of conflict. Presidio Press.
In the business world, adopting a Commander's intent framework and empowering teams can significantly improve remote work outcomes, especially in finance careers, as it facilitates quick, independent decisions aligned with the overall objectives, even during crises. Investing in resilience and operational readiness, providing training in decision-making under uncertainty, and encouraging accountability and structured debriefing are key strategies for leaders to effectively apply these principles and achieve enterprise agility, which is crucial for success in many business careers.
