What Your
Business Can Learn From the Army
By Elaine
Dumler
Most people think of the Army and their own business as two
entirely separate entities. The fact is the Army is in the business
of protecting our country, with a workforce of thousands and
processes in place for getting the job done in many different
situations. Have you ever thought about how your business can
benefit from what the Army already does well? The answers may
surprise you.
1. Help your
employees deal with business travel challenges: Do your employees travel to meet with clients and
customers, forcing them to spend long hours away from their
families? When they worry about how their families are coping with
the latest business trip they are less focused on the job. In
today’s climate, soldiers are deployed more than ever and that puts
a strain on them and their families. The Army has seen how the
distraction of separations can affect a soldier’s job performance so
they provide programs and resources to make family connections a
priority. While your employees’ lack of focus may not be life
threatening, it certainly can and probably does cost you money. Try
providing flex schedules, comp time off and employee/family
recreation activities. When they know you respect the balance
between their work and family life, it will result in increased
productivity while “on the road.”
2. Focus on
resilient behavior:
Resiliency is the
ability to accept the reality of a situation or assignment as
it is initially given, take responsibility for making it
work, and be innovative enough to improvise a solution as you
continue to move forward. Resiliency can help keep employees
focused and steady, especially when the economy seems so unstable.
Acceptance:
When a service member receives military orders they may not
be happy with it, but they still accept the reality of what needs to
be done.
On the business side, your employees need to show the same
trait. The ability to accept an assignment at its original face
value opens the door for the critical analysis of any challenges
that need to be overcome. Only then can forward progress be made.
Train your employees to accept that not all conditions will be
ideal. Scope creep - when project timing continually changes - may
affect your ability to get it done on initial deadline, or the
project may expand as other things become important.
Responsibility: Taking responsibility allows decisions to be made. In a
combat zone, each soldier knows the specifics of his or her job in
that particular situation. Each fits together like a puzzle toward
the solution. Responsibility and habit are the basis for
split-second decision making, which can literally save lives. There
is no time for questions.
Your office has its own “combat zones” and most arise when
people play the “blame game.” If you’re on a team, start off by
communicating with each other. Discuss what each person’s
responsibility is to the completion of the project and close by
asking if each person understands and accepts that
responsibility. As roadblocks affect the outcome, you know exactly
who might have the ability to solve the problem. This saves your
team a huge amount of time - and that translates into monetary
savings. The “blame game” often starts when the wrong person is
initially approached and taken by surprise.
Innovation:
Innovation allows you to imagine possibilities where none seem to
exist. When a soldier deploys, the family must imagine the ways they
will stay connected and stay strong, while making changes to their
everyday lives that incorporate the absence of a family member. On
the battlefield, a soldier must immediately access a situation and
be able to improvise all the solutions he or she can take to make it
to safety when the initial line of defense is cut off. There is
always more than one way to solve a problem, and innovative thinkers
are the ones who get promoted!
Resilient organizations are filled with innovative thinkers
and doers. In the business world, the key is to give people the
authority to implement their new ideas. Be willing to say, “get it
done” and then remove the boundaries that restrict problem solving.
If a group of people are caught in a deadly snowstorm they will
discuss how to survive the crisis. Ideas will be analyzed and the
best ones implemented. No one has to tell them how, they’ll just do
it. It’s amazing what people will come up with on their own.
3. Retain current
customers:
The Army has
learned that retention saves money. It’s important to keep a solider
because it costs more to recruit and train new soldiers than to
retain those they have. It’s the same with your customers. It costs
more to “recruit” new customers than to retain the ones you have and
keep them happy. When was the last time you saw an ad that featured
discounted services for only current customers? Never! Most
ads say something like “discounts for new customers only.” Customer
loyalty is extremely important in these economic times. Try a
promotion that focuses on your current customers. Make them feel
special with retention bonuses or loyalty discounts. A strong
customer base is the foundation of your business.
4. Respect
leadership:
The Army respects
experience and leadership. Can you imagine a platoon of soldiers,
all of the same rank, being tasked with an important mission? Of
course not. Immediate critical decisions are made by individuals who
have experienced the situation before. Leadership and experience
should be important to your company, too. It seems that in a time of
budget cuts, the first employees to be laid off are those who have
been in their positions the longest because they probably have the
largest salaries. If you are constantly lopping off the top, you
will always be suffering the loss of your company’s most experienced
experts. Show that you respect experience as a core value because as
you grow, your current leaders will train your leaders of tomorrow.
5. Go to your
employees and customers and ask “How are we doing?”:
Military families
are the customers of the armed forces. They yield amazing influence
over the retention of their service members (the army’s employees).
By taking care of them and checking in regularly the military gets
feedback it can use. They create family readiness groups, support
resources, and opportunities for families to be heard and provided
for. The Army invests in this “feedback” and your business has the
same responsibility to its customers and employees. If you want to
know what new products to produce, what trainings to provide and
what will create a better work environment, then go directly to the
source and ask!
6. Provide
resources and training:
The first priority of the Army is to have a well- trained force and
they provide what’s necessary to get the job done. When the military
has a budget cut, training doesn’t take a hit. Lives rely on that
well-trained military.
Most businesses don’t acknowledge the importance of training.
When the economy suffers and belts need to be tightened, the first
thing eliminated is training. How is that productive? You’re
trusting the future of your company to individuals who aren’t
properly prepared to work in your best interest. A manager once
remarked: “In today’s workforce no one stays in a job very
long so why should I invest money to train them if they’re just
going to leave anyway?” The response to that is: “What will
it do to your company if you don’t train them and they decide to
stay?”
The Army has been a functioning work force for 234 years and
is built on sound practices, strong employees and the ability to be
resilient in times of stress. Can you build your business on the
same foundation?
Read other articles and learn more about
Elaine Dumler.
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