The Marine Corps Way: Using Maneuver Warfare to Lead a Winning Organization
Decentralizing Decision Making
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Specify what needs to be done, leave the how to your people, and always remember to explain the why.
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No one can exceed expectations that he or she does not understand.
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Trust your people to crimp detonators with their teeth.
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But demand honesty and open communication in return.
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Leadership Reaction Course: train people to make decisions and lead under simulated conditions of uncertainty. Evaluate them and provide immediate feedback.
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Teach-ins: convey your philosophy to your people from the outset so they can understand how you think; eventually they will be able to anticipate your thoughts.
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Align individual decisions by communicating commander s intent ”final result desired ”throughout the organization.
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Provide commander s intent two levels up.
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Remember that commander s intent is a two-way street; it requires the willing participation of both leader and follower.
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The S in BAMCIS stands for supervise .
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Be ever vigilant and hold people accountable for their actions.
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Inspect what you expect.
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Reinforce the right behavior among your people.
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Provide them with real-time feedback.
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Correct mistakes on the spot.
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Punish timidity, indecision, and lapses in integrity in a forceful manner.
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Develop systems that share information both vertically and horizontally throughout the organization to increase the information available to and thus the decision-making capacity of those in your charge.
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Be creative in leveraging the capabilities of existing ERP (enterprise resource planning) systems.
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Always remember that you are ultimately responsible for everything your team does or fails to do.
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You can delegate authority, but you can never delegate responsibility.
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