No Time, Literally, for All Requirements
Q. What do you see as the most important elements of deliberate planning within your unit?
Leading Like a Gardener
Q. Do you agree/disagree with the concept of "leading like a gardener?" Explain your answer.
Q. What do you see as the most important elements of deliberate planning within your unit?
ReplyDeleteThis is a great article and a subject I have debated for several years because of my job and the important task to train Soldiers. There is too much to train with not enough time. With all the training requirements and not enough time, it is important to balance the time we do have and try and cover all the pertinent training.
For me, the most important element of deliberate planning is to take care of Soldiers, to train Soldiers, and to be ready to mobilize. I have a job as commander of a unit to use as many of these days in "peacetime" conditions so me and my unit will be ready to fight and operate in a deployed environment.
Taking care of Soldiers - If Soldiers know you care, they will care and work. I can't think of another organization where my end state is to take care of Soldiers. It isn't to sale a certain amount of something, or an increased gain by the quarter. Our job in the military is to serve, work hard, and take care of each other....thus, defend our country.
Train Soldiers - I think it is important to take my MTOE unit, select my METs, and break the METs down to the more important collective and individual training requirements that will allow my Soldiers to be ready to do their job. (Many Collective and individual tasks have duplicate or similar requirements) Depending on what is accomplished during drill weekends, ATs, or other training, will determine they way ahead for that section.
Be ready to deploy - Every unit is different and every unit will require unique attention. It is important to trust section leaders and Sr. NCOEs to train their sections in the important collective and individual training tasks. HONEST feedback is required from the section leaders to assess the units readiness. If we are weak in areas, commanders need to hear it so we can give more attention to that area. We are in the military to deploy at any given time. We need to be physically fit, and mentally strong.
I honestly believe that if Soldiers know we care, they will adjust to anything thrown there way. There is no way to train on everything, but we can adjust, be flexible, and work together to figure out any problem.
CPT Jackson
This is a topic about which I have some strong opinions. We have all heard and understand the conundrum: too many mandatory tasks and not enough time. While I do agree that there are (were, up until this newest revision of AR 350-1) way too many mandatory training requirements, I also believe that we could do a much better job at the unit level of time management. This isn't me pointing fingers at the company-level units....believe me, I have been there and understand the demands. However, we complain about lack of time to complete training ad nauseum, but still (on average) release Soldiers before dinner on drill days. We are allowed to keep Soldiers from 0001 on day one of an IDT period until 2359 on the last day, as needed....but that rarely happens.
ReplyDeleteThe new AR 350-1 (10 Dec 2017) gives the commander much more flexibility in how often mandatory training takes place. Several tasks are now designated as "Commander's Responsibility". Appendix F states, "For these topics, the commander determines the frequency, method of delivery, duration, tracking, and if information/education is sufficient, or training is required in the context of being common to all Soldiers in the unit."
But to answer the question posed by LTC Strong, I believe there are at least four essential elements of deliberate planning: a well-organized training meeting, excellent (and doctrinal) division of workload, great communication between drills, and an engaged command team. If any one of these elements is broken, then I believe unit training will fail.
The most important element of deliberate planning within the unit is to consider the needs of the Soldiers. This is going to vary company to company, and in many cases Soldier to Soldier. With the rise of mandatory training, planning for those needs may become difficult.
ReplyDeleteI am all too familiar with overloading requirements in my civilian career as an educator. At times I feel like my students' education suffers for how much we are required to do in a year. As their teacher, I suffer right alongside them when I see kids struggling to grasp a concept but being forced to move on regardless. It seemed almost hypocritical that my administrators required so much and still expected every student to succeed and be ready for a world outside of school. It was emotionally draining.
However, life is easier when I analyze what my students need to be successful. I become more confident in disregarding some requirements in order to fulfill the more pertinent standards. I do have to suffer through the consequences of such actions, but I think it’s worth it because, simply put, there are some standards that are more important than others. By doing so, my students are more prepared than they would be if I tried to cram in everything. The same could be said for my life as an Officer.
I remember having a discussion with the command team about the possibility of incorporating more than one MET for the unit. I was against this notion because the MET we have currently for our HUMINT company is rather extensive. My main argument was that if we were to add to what we have now, we’d devalue the main essential tasks. I felt this would lead to not being fully prepared to mobilize.
One point the article touched on very well is that leaders have to prioritize what training is really important for the Soldiers. I think there is value in all of the required training, but some are more valuable than others. Some training our Soldiers need to study in full, while there are others we can simply touch on. In the end, it is up to us as leaders to discuss and evaluate what we need to sacrifice in order to reach the higher goal of Soldier readiness, safety, and motivation. Understanding what the Soldier’s needs are will help in the planning process.
Reading the article did not come as much of a surprise. There are so many mandatory trainings that it appears to decrease the importance of the most important trainings. I believe that the most important element of deliberate planning is Soldier care and readiness. There are several elements that the Military has deemed as detrimental to Soldier readiness and address each one in a pin-point fashion, so much to the point that there are now dozens and dozens of training to address each item. I believe organizing training in this fashion takes away the actual message of Soldier readiness. The responsibility of Soldier readiness should be addressed at the company level, with general guidlines from the big Army. Addressing Soldier readiness at the company level will not only eliminate the dozens of mantaory trainings, but it will be addressed on a more personal level. We are taught to follow the Commanders intent, so why shouldn’t we follow the intent of the Army to take care of our Soldiers how we see fit at a more personal level.
ReplyDeleteIn spite of my limited time in service, I can understand the Major's sentiment regarding AR 350-1. For Guardsman the challenging task of training compliance is multiplied tenfold as we drill once a month and two weeks per year, all while yet being held to the same standard as the active component. No amount of hip-pocket training can compensate for the time deficit. The only resource we as leaders have to combat the scarce resource of time is deliberate planning.
ReplyDeleteThe most important element of deliberate planning in this environment, in my view, is to treat planning like the priorities of work, or triage. As CPT Jackson said, the main priority of leadership is to prepare soldiers to mobilize. While Resiliency Training, GAT, CEI, and SHARP are important, they are ancillary to Basic Soldiering Skills and MET tasks. When organizations focus on core skills and values, our need for peripheral training will minimize as soldiers feel personal success in their duties.
The Guard is successful because it is forced to plan deliberately. Communication between drills in the form of conference calls and emails, training schedules that are locked in months prior, and command teams with private sector employment make the loss of valuable training time especially burdensome and the need for deliberate planning imperative. In my opinion, deliberate planning is most effective when done in the context and focus of basic soldiering skills, field work, and MET fulfillment, while planning for 350-1 training at the margins.
When I was a PL in B Co., there always seemed to be two trains of thought: What HAS to be done and what CAN be done? To expand on those two trains of thought, the “HAS to be done” was what mandatory items must we check off during the training year while the “CAN be done” was focused on what interesting and/or fun training are we allowed to include. The “HAS to be done” path was always the first and most important aspect of planning. And as the training schedule would allow, we would try to fit in events that were unique and would keep the Soldiers engaged.
ReplyDeleteI think CSM Nelson hit the nail on the head with his comment: “I believe there are at least four essential elements of deliberate planning: a well-organized training meeting, excellent (and doctrinal) division of workload, great communication between drills, and an engaged command team.” And now as I reflect on the innumerous training meetings and planning sessions we held, I think the most important planning elements were the division of our workload and the engaged command team.
During my time at B Co., we had various changes in the command team and each team had their unique approach to training. One thing I can honestly say though was that each command team was very engaged with our planning processes. This allowed our company to have some pretty exceptional trainings alongside the usual mandatory ones. This is not to say our planning was always on target. We did learn the harsh truths about dividing the workload and not trying to accomplish everything in our monthly training meetings alone. In order to have successful trainings, Officers, NCO’s and enlisted Soldiers all need to be engaged to ensure the planning is done properly.
Let’s be honest, as an Officer, most of my ideas are amazing, (naturally) however, I was frequently reminded by my NCO’s and Soldiers that my amazing ideas weren’t always realistic. It was only by dividing the workload, both in planning and execution, that we were able to consistently have doctrinal and engaging trainings.
Excellent article and discussion. I've enjoyed the different perspectives represented so far on the blog. I especially liked CSM Nelson's comments on this being not only about prioritizing requirements, but also about using the time we have.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was Avenger Company's commander, we had a set of priorities that guided our efforts and some very effective best practices that maximized time.
Priorities: After reading the book "Essentialism", I found that there is so much power in focusing on the critical few rather than the trivial many. For Avenger Company, our three priorities were:
1. Individual Readiness (language proficiency, APFT, MOSQ)
2. Collective Readiness (training as HUMINT Teams, plts, company)
3. Taking care of Soldiers (ensuring that each Soldier's needs were met; opportunities, etc)
Time: I relied heavily on my AGR team to ensure everything was flowing throughout the month (OERs, training plans, etc) so that when we had drill, we were not bogged down with admin tasks. We would go to the field at every opportunity (typically 6 times a year)...this allowed for overnight ops and training (CPT Cox also does this with "Super-Drills". We always had a tent with mifi and laptops in order to take care of any alibi admin tasks, so when Soldiers weren't training, they were still productive, but not in a distracting way. ATMS was extremely helpful at the beginning of the year as we had locked in all of our training plans--our training meetings could then focus on other critical things, such as recruiting and Soldiers at the name-tape level.
My favorite quote in the article: "One officer said he called his subordinates on the radio with the simple message 'Don't touch women' and thus SHARP training was accomplished that quarter."
MAJ Mulholland
BN XO
This is a great article that raises many questions! It’s frustrating to think that mandatory training carries enough weight that it can shut down or alter the way we conduct training.
ReplyDeleteI believe that this is a two-part question. Why do we do it and who gets paid to develop it? If we as leaders could better understand these two basic questions, then the military as whole would be able to better define what’s really important and what’s not.
It’s disheartening to see the number of requirements versus the number of actual training days that we need to adhere to. I’m embarrassed to read that our senior officers would encourage subordinates to pencil whip or straight out lie about completing mandatory training. It’s their job to identify problems and fix them, not cover them up and pass them off. I’m quite surprised that it’s taken us this long to finally realize that we need to take a red pin to the majority of AR 350-1, but I do understand the government bureaucracy behind these issues and the time required to make change happen.
After reading this article, it reconfirms my thoughts that unit transparency and the significance of planning and preparing soldiers for deployment is the critical task at hand, but i’m pleased to see our senior leaders listening to the troops on the ground and delivering on promises to eliminate waste and make us a more efficient fighting force.
Sam
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ReplyDeleteQ. What do you see as the most important elements of deliberate planning within your unit?
DeleteFantastic feedback from the team! The best so far!
I believe the most important element of deliberate planning is priority. Simply put, priority answers the question of what to do first given limited time and resources. The big problem is there is never enough time and resources to accomplish everything required. This forces commanders to make trade offs and leads to the question of "where can I accept risk." Mitigating or accepting risk is a key part of determining priority and significantly helps in developing a viable deliberate plan.
Communication is another major element of deliberate planning. Be it scheduled meetings, follow up emails or phone calls, etc., there must be multiple touch points in place for a unit to ensure coordination and communication occurs to accomplish a given plan.
Leadership and initiative are also vital parts of deliberate planning. I group them together because in most cases, it's hard to have one without the other. A leader who lacks initiative could also be called a "good idea fairy", whereas someone who has initiative, but lacks leadership could be called "misguided." When leadership and initiative are linked together, priorities will be made clear and communication can be accomplished.