Principles for Tactical Leaders (#132)
Tactical leaders are the first line supervisors in your company. And these low level, tactical, leaders that have a magnified impact on how your company or your brand is perceived. Not sure you’ve got them? Think about the shift leader that caused a decrease in traffic to your store by 50 percent and who was the only factor in three employees quitting. Think about that call-center leader whose team had the worse problem solving score in the company. Or think about manager that caused your Glass Door ratings to plummet. Those are just a few examples of the “corporate tactical leaders.”
There is a desire to develop tactical leaders in corporate America, but often times the leadership training is limited by time and money. The business world can borrow some of the military leadership techniques to train these front-line leaders. Other posts which would be useful for any organization trying to train these tactical leaders are Strategic Corporals (Post #116), Dick Winters’ Principles (Post #72), and the Core of Leadership (Post #9).
Nine Principles to Guide Your Tactical Leaders:
Set the example. Lead your team by personal example.
Know yourself and seek self-improvement. Determine your strengths and weaknesses; work to leverage your strengths and improve your weaknesses.
Seek responsibility and take responsibility for your actions. Perform every task, big or little, to the best of your ability. Take every opportunity that offers increased responsibility.
Make sound and timely decisions. Rapidly evaluate a situation and make a decision based on that evaluation. If you make a wrong decision, don’t hesitate to revise your decision. Announce decisions in time to enable your team to plan.
Ensure each task is understood, supervised, and accomplished. Communicate your instructions in a clear, concise manner. Allow your team to to ask questions or seek advice. Allow your team to use their own techniques, and then periodically check their progress.
Know your people and look out for their well being.
Keep your people informed. Provide your team the information you received from your boss. Whenever possible, explain why tasks must be done and how you intend to do them.
Do the harder right over the easier wrong. The West Point Cadet Prayer was written by Colonel Clayton Wheat when he was the Chaplain at United States Military Academy from 1918-1926. This rule of thumb is taken from the 2nd paragraph of the Cadet Prayer which states “Make us to choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong and never to be content with a half truth when the whole truth can be won.” The line resonated with me as a cadet and still does today. Leaders must make hard choices. There are no easy shortcuts.
Hope for the best and expect the worst. Balance optimism with worse case preparation.
Improving the leadership of your tactical leaders takes hard work and effort. Go on the offense and use these ideas to enhance your tactical leaders in 2021.
If you found this article helpful, check out more blog articles from TFCG here or podcasts here. Having problems with your tactical leaders? Then start the discussion with TFCG here today about how a keynote or webinar can teach these and other skills to your tactical leaders.