“Well, if I find out that you’re accusing me of doing something I didn’t do, then I’m going to accuse you of making false accusations.” – Schitt’s Creek

One of the issues I often hear about when I work with clients is a lack of clarity on who is responsible for what. This can result in team members being frustrated at each other because, in their mind, the other person keeps interfering with their responsibilities... or conversely things get missed because everyone thought it was someone else’s responsibility.

In the military, geographic areas are clearly spelled out so who is responsible for what is clearly spelled out…if it happens in this area it is my responsibility if it happens in another area it belongs to someone else…

As a leader you need to establish that clarity for your people, and there are multiple tools out there to do that…there is the Accountability Chart, which you can find in the book Traction by Gino Wickman, or Functional Accountability Chart from Verne Harnish…and I am sure there are others.

If you find multiple people working on the same thing….or things falling through the cracks, look at how you have established responsibilities within your team. If it is a lack of operational boundaries and then those problems may simply be a symptom…and you need to provide that clarity for your team.

Create clarity in your organization around these areas and watch many of these issues disappear!

“I’ve made a huge tiny mistake” – Gob, Arrested Development

Lets talk a little bit more about communication and what the business world could learn from the military. I specifically want to talk about CLARITY.

I want to talk about two tools that the military uses (and of course some other organizations too) to make sure everyone is clear.

The first tool is the “back brief”….you may have heard it said, “tell me what I just told you”…maybe you have said this to your kids. Normalize this in your organization when giving direction, it is amazing how many times what you wanted to convey was not understood by your team…this will help you start to communicate better, and also give you and opportunity to address any misunderstandings before they go any further.

The second tool is the rehearsal…when groups need to be coordinated this is a terrific tool. I can feel a little silly at first, but uncovers a lot of issues and helps everyone when it is time. You wouldn’t want to see a band play who had never rehearsed, or attend a wedding that was just “winging” it…when this tool is appropriate make sure your performance is spot on as well…Rehearse.

“That's all right, Randy. He won't get far. He doesn't know you're supposed to put your foot over the hole in the floor to keep the exhaust out.” – My Name is Earl

In another installment of what business could learn from the military I have something simple for you that every battle captain…that is an officer monitoring and helping to coordinate what is going on with units in the field should be asking themselves…and as a leader in business you should be doing and teaching your team members to be doing and that is asking three questions:

1) What do I know?

2) Who needs to know?

3) Who have I told?

Business is a challenge even if you do everything right, but it seems like often the simple things are the hardest to do. I’ve seen, and experienced, it when team members are failing to do important things for the teams success…..BECAUSE NO ONE EVER TOLD THEM.

When you experience communication problems, start with these three questions before you look elsewhere…they are easy to ask, easy to fix AND cover a large portion of the communication challenges in many organizations.

“Why you going to the airport? Flying somewhere?” – Dumb and Dumber

Does your team ask questions that seem like dumb questions? Could it be that they don’t have the whole picture that you have?

I’m starting a periodic series about things I learned in the military that the business world could do a better job of applying

An important piece of the picture for everyone to know is the “Commanders Intent”…simply meaning, WHAT DOES SUCCESS LOOK LIKE?...not how to get there.

What are the chances your team will “hit the target” when they don’t even know what they are aiming for? What about when things don’t go as planned (because they won’t). Try letting them know what success looks like, and you will be surprised by the results.