Make Decisions like A Military Commander in 7 Steps
Army commanders are faced with many challenges. As with civilian leaders, success depends on making good decisions.
Military commanders use a tool called the Military Decision Making Process. MDMP helps them and their staff to make better decisions based on the best evidence.
Lt. Col. Christopher Vernon is the Chief of Operations for the 204th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade and Sgt. Maj. Jed Lundell is the operations sergeant major. Together they oversee the problem-solving functions of the unit.
“MDMP helps take on complex problems by breaking them into manageable chunks,” Vernon says.
The steps of MDMP can help you and your organization in civilian life.
Step 1: Mission receipt
A mission signals to leaders that they have a problem to be solved. “This step alerts all participants of the pending planning requirements, enabling them to determine the amount of time available for planning and preparation,” according to the Army’s MDMP Handbook.
Step 1 is when the commander gives some initial guidance and the staff begin to gather the tools required to solve it.
In your work or business, you can explicitly acknowledge a problem and give some definition to it. That will help put it into focus and perspective.
Step 2: Mission analysis
Once leaders know they have a problem and have outlined it, they begin an in-depth analysis. In this step they “gather, analyze, and synthesize information to orient themselves on the current conditions of the operational environment,” according to the MDMP Handbook.
Important byproducts of this step is a problem statement, a mission statement, and a statement of the commander’s intent.
Analysis also includes intelligence gathering, accounting for capabilities, and identifying risks and constraints. In your organization, you may be constrained by policy, regulation, or contract. This step helps you pay attention to those so you are not wasting resources on a solution that won’t be feasible.
Similarly, in your business, you can take account of what your organization’s larger strategic objectives are and gather information about your problem relative to those objectives.
Step 3: Course of action development
A course of action (COA) is essentially a possible solution to the problem. Armed with the problem statement, mission statement, and commander’s intent, Army leaders can begin to develop several solutions.
This important brainstorming step to problem-solving can bring out the creativity in your teams, military or civilian.
If you are a leader, assemble diverse teams that can give you real options. Each COA should be distinct from the other. If you are on a planning or solution team, use this step to think about options that give leaders a real choice.
Step 4: COA analysis
In the analysis step, leaders use tools to assess the quality of each COA and identify potential execution problems.
One of the critical tools is wargaming. Soldiers war-game with maps, computer simulations, and other representations of the terrain.
“Wargaming is about making sure you account for external factors,” Lundell says. “In addition to including your own capabilities, you need to make sure that you know what your enemy’s capabilities are as well as any civilian considerations.”
In business, external factors can include the labor market, your competition, pending legislation and even social media trends.
Step 5: COA comparison
After leaders have analyzed several courses of action, they compare them against one another.
According to the Army’s MDMP Handbook, “Identifying the strengths and weaknesses of COAs allows for the COA with the highest probability of success to be selected and further developed in an operation plan or operation order.”
Commanders and staff rely on a decision matrix. “It helps you make sure you don’t miss factors that are critical to your decision, as long as you weigh those factors correctly,” says Vernon.
In your business, it’s important to compare your possible solutions in a deliberate way with effective measurement tools.
Step 6: COA approval
Once the analysis is complete, the commander can choose a course of action. In the military, commanders are accountable for the decision. The principle of singular accountability helps organizations make decisions and execute efficiently.
For Lundell, the bottom line for MDMP is a sound decision. “A good decision will make sure Soldiers get what they need to do their part and prevent them from wasting time or resources, or even worse, putting them in harm’s way.”
In business and in life, good decisions are often ones that put your people in a position to succeed.
Step 7: Orders production dissemination
The final step in the process is the production of an operations order. It summarizes the commander’s decision and coordinates the activities of everyone participating in the mission.
“At this point, the important step is to distribute information. Everyone needs to know the plan if they are going to execute it, so it’s critical for leaders to be precise and thorough in their communication,” says Lundell.
Having a clear written reference to the decision and plan for execution will help members across the organization contribute their best.
“It’s easy to get stuck in the weeds,” says Vernon. “My advice [to all Soldiers] is to take a step back to see it from a higher-level view, get a bigger picture.”
Leaders across all types of organizations should take care to distribute information in a way that promotes understanding from top to bottom.
“Historically, a unit’s success is directly related to the ability of the staff to execute the military decision making process,” according to the MDMP Handbook.
“MDMP is a long process, and a mental workout,” says Lundell. “It’s like getting ready for the Army Combat Fitness Test. The test itself is when you get evaluated, but you’ve got to put in a lot of work ahead of time to get a good outcome.”
